UEFA Champions League: Bayern upset, other favorites victorious

Valencia disposed of Lille without too many problems at the Estadio de Mestalla, with goals on either side of half time from Jonas and a helpful red card to Mathieu Debuchy setting the hosts up for an easy win. Lille seemed to be still reeling from their shocking 3-1 home loss to BATE Borisov (which doesn’t look so bad now that the Belarussians have dispatched the hitherto unstoppable Bayern Munich by the same scoreline), and weren’t really up for this match,

At 2-0, the match was won, but there was one more mishap to befall Lille when Debuchy picked up his second yellow card for a foul on Andres Guardado. The right back will miss the next game, but at this point it doesn’t seem like there’s much hope for the Ligue 1 outfit with or without the France international.

The most shocking result of Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League fixtures came courtesy of Belarusian champions BATE Borisov, who put in an absolutely stellar performance in a 3-1 victory over Bayern Munich. Bayern struggled to break down their compact midfield, and their risky substitutions led to two of BATE’s goals.

BATE opened the scoring 23 minutes in through Denis Polyakov. Aleksandr Volodko provided an unintentional assist, completely fluffing a shot attempt from 15 yards. Luckily for him, his botched attempt fell right to Pavlov, who was left unmarked by a surprised Bayern defense. Manuel Neuer was caught off guard by Volodko’s poor/lucky shot, and had no chance to make a save.

Galatasaray were the aggressor, but Braga were efficient as the Portuguese side went in to Turkey and defeated the Cimbom 2-0. Ruben Micael and Alan did the damage for the visitors.

Things were much the same in the second half, with Galatasaray having most of the ball but simply not being able to do anything with it. The Turkish side out shot Braga and had a better than 2 to 1 advantage in possession (but we all know how meaningless that can be).

Chelsea spent a majority of the first half camped out in Nordsjaelland’s half of the pitch, sitting around the campfire, telling stories and roasting marshmallows. While that may sound absurd, for as control as they were of the match, the Blues didn’t spend it peppering the Danish side’s goal. In fact, by halftime the two teams were even on shots, but unfortunately for the Wild Tigers, it’s the one that gets through that counts.

The win puts Chelsea a top the group with the surprising Shakhtar Donetsk who drew 1-1 with Juventus.

Modou Sougou set up Pantelis Kapetanos for the opening goal with a low cross on a quick move, giving the hosts a surprise lead. United would strike back 12 minutes later on a set piece, with Rooney finding the head of Robin van Persie for the equalizer.

From the start of the second half until the very end of the match, United were the better side. Rooney and van Persie combined again for the winner early in the half, with Rooney providing a perfect diagonal ball. Van Persie made the perfect run and got himself in position to hit a creative first-time finish to the far post, giving United a deserved lead.

Benfica looked strong at the start of the second half, evening out possession a bit and generating some solid pressure, but a moment of lost focus cost them.

Messi made one of his patented slicing runs through the midfield, drawing the attention of nearly ever Benfica player before dropping the ball off to the right to a charging Cesc Fábregas who slotted a low shot past Artur to put Barca ahead 2-0 in the 56th minute. To Benfica’s credit, they fought back, nearly pulling a goal back right off the restart, but Valdes was there again with another tough save on a shot from distance by Eduardo Salvio.

Barcelona did what the always do at the start of a match, control the ball. For six minutes they passed it around and yet Benfica had the best chance after a rare giveaway allowed the Portuguese side to break and force a somewhat lucky save from Victor Valdés. Then Barca scored...of course.

After some clever passing, Lionel Messi made a break right on the right edge of the box and sent a low cross that Alexis Sánchez redirected in to the goal from about 2 yards out. It was classic Barcelona, quick passing that picked apart the Benfica defense ending with a through ball to Messi who makes a great play. Making the incredibly difficult look so easy, such genius.

That was all the scoring in the first half, but there was more fun to be had. It’s been a thoroughly entertaining clash of styles, with considered, studious work from Juventus contrasting thoroughly with the buzzing orange shirts of their guests. Shakhtar are unlucky to be level here, so we’ll see what happens in the second half.

Cluj stunned United with an early goal after just 14 minutes. Camora sprung Modou Sougou down the right flank with a fantastic switch, and he played a low cross into the penalty area. Striker Pantelis Kapetanos was in the perfect spot and finished off the move to give Cluj the lead.

Braga have made two changes from the team that lost to Cluj on the first matchday, leaving Nuno Andre and Marcio Mossoro out of their team. Galatasaray are dealing with some injury and illness issues, but left winger Albert Riera has surprisingly gotten fit enough to start the match. Gala’s fitness issues hardly affect them at striker, where they still have Burak Yilmaz and Umut Bulut able to go up top.

Galatasaray starting lineup (4-4-2): Fernando Muslera; Dany Nounkeu, Semin Kaya, Selcuk Inan, Emmanuel Eboue; Albert Riera, Felipe Melo, Emre Colak, Nordin Amrabat; Burak Yilmaz, Umut Bulut

BATE have one small surprise in their lineup, as they’ve left Renan Bressan out. He’s been one of their stars during their recent rise to prominence, but he also sat out their 3-1 win against Lille. He’s replaced by Aleksandr Hleb, who was rested over the weekend. Bayern Munich’s lineup features one minor surprise as well, with Javi Martinez coming into the team for Bastian Schweinsteiger.

BATE Borisov starting lineup (4-3-2-1): Andrey Gorbunov; Maksim Bordachyov, Egor Filipenko, Marko Simić, Denis Polyakov; Aleksandr Volodko, Dmitri Likhtarovich, Edgar Olekhnovich; Aleksandr Hleb, Aleksandr Pavlov; Vitali Rodionov

No surprises up front for Benfica as Lima gets the start with Óscar Cardozo out with an injury. The rest of the starters are normal first choice selections for Jorge Jesus.

Benfica (4-5-1): Artur Moreas; Maxi Pereira, Jardel, Ezequiel Garay, Lorenzo Melgarejo; Nemanja Matić, Enzo Pérez, Bruno César, Nicolás Gaitán, Eduardo Salvio; Lima.

Still, you’d have to think they can do better than their opening performance in this year’s edition of the UEFA Champions League, where they were hammered at home by BATE Borisov.

Lille starting lineup (4-3-3): Mickael Landreau; Franck Beria, Aurelien Chedjou, Marko Basa, Mathieu Debuchy; Benoit Pedretti, Idrissa Gana Gueye, Florent Balmont; Nolan Roux, Ryan Mendes, Dmitri Payet.

CFR Cluj starting lineup (4-4-1-1): Mário Felgueiras; László Sepsi, Ionuț Rada, Cadú, Ivo Pinto; Camora, Gabriel Mureșan, Matías Aguirregaray, Modou Sougou; Rafael Bastos; Pantelis Kapetanos

Kickoff is at 7:45 p.m. local time, 2:45 p.m. ET from Dr. Constantin Rădulescu Stadium. You can catch the game on ITV1 in the U.K., FOX Soccer in the U.S. and Sportsnet World in Canada.

Celtic are improbably in a fantastic position to seal a knockout stage place in the UEFA Champions League after they pulled out a stunning road win against Spartak Moscow on Tuesday. They were aided by a Spartak red card in the second half, but held their own for the entire match and their 3-2 victory was well-earned.

Gary Hooper scored the game’s opening goal 12 minutes, finishing off an impressive counter. Victor Wanyama started the move by winning the ball in midfield and sprayed the ball wide right. On a surging run forward, Mikael Lustig curled a great ball around the Spartak defense to the near post for Hooper, who applied a great finish.

Fortunately for the Serie A leaders (and Scudetto holders), they’ve been at their best quite a lot recently, manager or no. Unless something major happens, they should be fine.

Shakhtar Donetsk starting lineup (4-2-3-1): Andriy Pyatov; Razvan Rat, Yaroslav Rakitskiy, Olexandr Kucher, Darijo Srna; Fernandinho, Tomás Hubschman; Alex Teixeira, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Willian; Luiz Adriano.

Neil Lennon and Celtic will look for a rare Champions League away victory as they travel to the Luzhniki Stadium to face Spartak Moscow.

Spartak nearly pulled off a shock win over Barcelona on the first match day, but they’ll have to overcome Celic missing four regular first choice players. The biggest blow is the loss of Romulo to a knee injury. The young Brazilian forward was the man of the match against Barca. Fellow Brazilian Ari will take his place. Andriy Dykan’s shoulder forces Sergei Pesyakov to replace him in goal, while defender and team captain Sergei Parshivlyuk is out as well.

Galatasaray and Braga face off in the least sexy of Tuesday’s Champions League fixtures, but it certainly doesn’t lack in importance. The two sides, along with CFR Cluj, are engaged in a free-for-all fight for a knockout stage place behind Manchester United, making every game in Group H very relevant.

Both teams lost on the first matchday, with Gala putting in the more impressive performance of the two teams. They gave Manchester United a tough game at Old Trafford, while Braga were undone by a Cluj team that included three Braga castoffs in the starting XI. While they might not have anticipated needing points in Istanbul at the start of the tournament, they’re certainly going to be fighting hard for a result on Tuesday after their loss on the first matchday.

BATE Borisov are probably going to lose to Bayern Munich on Tuesday, and that’s okay. Bayern are in ridiculous form and appear to be one of the main contenders for the Champions League title. However, BATE are hardly whipping boys, and have the talent to give Bayern a serious test. During the Belarusian side’s first trip to the Champions League, anyone suggesting that they might avoid embarrassment at the hands of Bayern would have been laughed at.

Renan Bressan provides a legitimate challenge for the Bayern midfield, and it’s not like his teammates are lacking in big-game experience against top opposition. BATE are coming off of a 3-1 win over Lille and a 5-1 win at the weekend, so they’ll come into Tuesday’s match believing that they actually are a good match for Bayern.

Granted, it’s not the same Valencia either, but at least they haven’t done anything crazy like lose at home to BATE. Los Che are on zero points as well, but facing Bayern Munich at the Allianz isn’t something you expect any team to survive these days, and while they were comprehensively outplayed they only ended up losing 2-1. It’d be nice for the drama if Lille managed to get a result in Spain, but it’s unlikely to happen. Valencia are still a top side. The visitors, currently sitting in 15th place in Ligue 1, are not.

A loss here and Lille can kiss any hope of progressing in the Champions League goodbye. And, on the face of it, it doesn’t look like they’ll be returning to the group stages for a while either.

Cluj will look to play stingy defense and count of goalkeeper Mario Felgueiras to have another big match. He made ten saves against Brage on match day one, more than any other keeper in the competition. Despite winning their opening match in all three of their ventures into the Champions League, Cluj have failed to win another match in any of those group stages. They’ll look to turn that around against United, but it’ll be a tall task.

The man to watch for Cluj is Rafael Bastos. He scored both of their goals in the win over Braga.

Benfica head coach Jorge Jesus will be without his leading scorer Oscar Cardozo for the match after the striker suffered a muscle related injury. Brazilian Rodrigo Lima will replace Cardozo and should have plenty of confidence after scoring a brace in Benfica’s win over Pacos Ferreira on the weekend. Don’t think Lima is a step down though for Benfica, he was joint top scorer alongside Cardozo last season.

Our Barcelona blog, Barca Blaugrana, has an in-depth preview of the match.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has 15 goals in the Ukranian Premier League and UEFA Champions League, and it is the 2nd of October. He has scored those goals in just 931 minutes of game time, meaning he scores a goal just about every 62 minutes. He’s not a striker. Just 10 months ago, he was a holding midfielder.

In January of 2012, Shakhtar Donetsk sold Jadson, one of the most entertaining and technically gifted players to ever play for their club. While there were considerations involved in the transfer other than the fee, the transfer fee that Shakhtar received was just €4 million.