Champions League Matchday 2 (Tuesday) LiveBlogaganza

By: Daryl | September 30th, 2008

For Champions League Matchday 2 we’re going to try something a little different. Rather than LiveBlogging just the one game here on the front page, we’re going to do an all inclusive LiveBlogaganza to try and follow all eight games simultaneously.

Foolish? Probably. But the plan is to have a place where we can discuss all the action as it happens. If I stop typing at any point it’s because either my fingers have fallen off or my head has exploded. Either way, please call for help.

Thanks to everyone and anyone who read and/or commented. I need to lie down in a dark room for a while now, but we’ll be doing this again tomorrow.

Here are tonight’s final scores:

Zenit 1-2 Real Madrid
Aab 0-3 Man Utd
Villarreal 1-0 Celtic
Fiorentina 0-0 Steaua Bucharest
Bayern Munich 1-1 Lyon
Arsenal 4-0 Porto
Fenerbahçe 0-0 Dynamo Kyiv
BATE 2-2 Juventus

FULL TIME (finally in BATE)

Just BATE and Juventus still playing, and it’s 2-2 in the FIFTH minute of stoppage time. Next goal wins?

FULL TIME in Turkey where Fenerbahce and Dynamo Kyiv have failed to produce a goal between them. Not that I’m complaining. Same deal in Florence with Fiorentina and Steaua.

FULL TIME in Denmark where Man Utd have beaten AaB 3-0. Two goals for Dimitar “not Digeo Forlan” Berbatov there.

FULL TIME at the Allianz and the Madrigal too. Bayern 1-1 Lyon and Villarreal 1-0 Celtic.

FULL TIME at The Emirates, it’s finished Arsena 4-0 Porto. That means Hull would beat Porto 6-1 I think.

88′ Fiorentina vs Steaua and Fenerbahce vs Dynamo are still 0-0.

86′ Very telling sub from Lyon: Juninho off and Boumsong on. That says to me that either they’re settling for 1-1, or they want Boumsong to revive his Newcastle days and match Demichelis’s own goal.

83′ Last ditch defending from Celtic to stop Villarreal doubleing their lead. McMannus flung himself infront of Llorente’s first shot, Boruc got down to block the second. But it’s looking like a heroic defeat for Strachan’s men.

80′ Celtic are doggedly chasing an equalizer in Spain. But they just don’t seem to get any luck away from home.

79′ AAB 0-3 MAN UTD Berbatove gets a second. Ronaldo crossed, Berba volleyed. Very nice goal – sort of a half volley/half scissor kick type deal. And now he’s officially not the new Digeo Forlan.

78′ A Ribery free kick just hit the Lyon wall. He’s done well to last this long. Wonder if he’ll go 90 for Bayern.

73′ Ronaldo just absolutely skied one for Man Utd, after Tevez cut it back to him.

And, as Laurie points out: “Ronaldo still looks orange”.

Another picture puzzle. This guy is playing today, in one of the two games that are still 0-0. And no, that’s not Sarah Silverman.

71′ ARSENAL 4-0 PORTO Adebayor with a pen. This is a tonking for Porto.

66′ VILLARREAL 1-0 Celtic Marcos Senns just put a free kick past Artur Boruc.

- Tevez has come on for Rooney and just had the ball in the net for Man Utd, but disallowed.

55′ AAB 0-2 MAN UTD Big(ish) news: Dimitar Berbatov has his first goal in a Man Utd shirt. An AaB defender – under no pressure – literally chipped the ball up for Berbatov to smash past the keeper. Maybe Christmas comes early in Denmark?

51′ ARESENAL 3-0 PORTO Another one for ~~Adebayor~~ Van Persie.
BAYERN 1-1 LYON Ze Roberto with a powerful header.
50′ Giuseppe Rossi just dribbled through half the Celtic team before pulling a shot wide.

48′ Demichelis booked for a tackle on Benzema. Not really his night is it?

47′ Luca Toni just missed a chance for Bayern. Not the first time he’s done that tonight. He’s having a bit of a Euro 2008 repeat.

45′ OK, we’re off again.

Here are the HT scores:

Aab 0-1 Man Utd
Villarreal 0-0 Celtic
Fiorentina 0-0 Steaua Bucharest
Bayern Munich 0-1 Lyon
Arsenal 2-0 Porto
Fenerbahçe 0-0 Dynamo Kyiv
BATE 2-2 Juventus

Vid of Demichelis’ own goal:

HALF TIME

45+’ BATE 2-2 JUVENTUS Iaquinta again! All square in Belarus now.

39′ ARSENAL 2-0 PORTO Adebayor’s header (I think, saw it out the corner of my eye) hit the underside of the bar and bounced just over the line.

37′ AaB’s Beauchamp (the guy who was sent off in a case of mistaken identity, then reprieved) has just been subbed out, presumed injured.

35′ Bit of a blow for Lyon, Govou injured and subbed out for Ederson.

30′ ARSENAL 1-0 PORTO (going start doing it like that now) – Van Persie just tapped in an Adebayor square ball.

27′ GOAL!!! Another goal in ~~Bulgaria~~ Belarus (sorry). But this time it’s Juve. Iaquinta has scored to make it BATE 2-1 Juventus

And apparently the “defender” that got burned for BATE’s second goal was Pavel Nedved.

Worth pointing out that it’s Alex Manninger in goal for Juve, and not Gigi Buffon. If it was Buffon, BATE would probably have -2 instead of 2.

GOAL!!! it’s now 2-0 to BATE. Juventus in trouble. Stasevich with the goal.

24′ GOAL!!! Bayern 0-1 Lyon. Demicheles got his head to a Juninho free kick. Unfortunately Demicheles plays for Bayern, so it’s an og.

21′ GOAL!!! Rooney on the end of a perfect Giggs through ball. Man Utd 1-0 AaB.

- I have a description of the BATE goal from one of my spies (OK, it was Chris) -
“Goal was a long through ball from deep, Krivets absolutely scorched Chiellini”

17′ GOAL!!! We’ve got our first one, and it’s in the BATE vs Juventus game. And it’s not what you might have expected. BATE 1-0 Juve, Kryvets on the scoresheet.

- Injury for Man Utd. Old-timer Scholes off, old-timer Giggs on.

17′ And Robin van Persie’s just hit a volley into the floor at the Emirates and watched it bounce over (but only just over) the Porto goal.

16′ Revelierre’s just gone very very close for Lyon with a nice bendy long range shot.

- The Bayern vs Lyon game is looking lively. And very shiny (neon yellow vs bright white). Visit Rob on CL Offside for a dedicated Bayern vs Lyon LiveBlog.

12′ Almunia’s just made a great reflex save from a Rodriguez header top keep Arsenal and Porto at 0-0.

11′ So, turns out that LiveBlogging seven games at once is easy. Provided no one scores.

7′ No goals anywhere in Europe so far. Though Theo Walcott’s just gone very close vs Porto.

- Other news in the Man Utd game, Wes Brown has been ditched at right back in favour of Rafael. Bad news for my UCL fantasy team.

- Good news for justice lovers: AaB’s Beauchamp is not suspended, after being sent off in a case of mistaken identity on Matchday 1. He plays against Man Utd today.

0′ We’re off.

Lyon have a fearsome looking forward line of Benzema, Govou and Fred, with Juninho attacking from midfield.

OK, just a few minutes from kickoff. I’ve got one TV and two computers setup. Any help in keeping track of scores much appreciated.

Ten minutes until kickoff. The answer to the player picture puzzle was indeed Alessandro Del Piero. Respect to Rob for getting it.

Full time in St. Petersburg. Real get an excellent 2-1 win away from home.

Quick predictions for tonight’s remaining games, which kickoff in 20 mins:

Aab 0-2 Man Utd
Villarreal 1-0 Celtic
Fiorentina 3-1 Steaua Bucharest
Bayern Munich 2-2 Lyon
Arsenal 2-1 Porto
Fenerbahçe 1-1 Dynamo Kyiv
BATE 0-3 Juventus

4 minutes of stoppage time in St Petersburg. Arshavin just set Danny up with a golden opportunity, but the Portugueezer struck it over the bar.

10 minutes to go in the early kickoff Zenit vs Real game. Real still lead 2-1, but Zenit putting some pressure on. I’ve seen Casillas make a couple of important saves in the last few minutes.

Some team news:

AaB vs Man Utd: Ronaldo, Rooney and Berbatov are starting, with Tevez sitting on the bench.

Bayern vs Lyon: Frank Ribery is in Bayern’s starting XI

Arsenal vs Porto: Walcott starting for Gunners. Vela on the bench.

Quick picture puzzle to see who’s out there. The following images represent a player involved in today’s action: