Champions League Matchday 4 Tuesday LiveBlog

Anyone feeling a bit of déjà vu? That’s because Matchday 4 is the flipside of Matchday 3, with home and away reversed.

And just like last time, we’ll be LiveBlogging all the action as the goals go in. All comments very welcome, especially to let me know about any goals I’ve missed. We’ll also be playing the “total goals
scored today” prediction game, just to pass the time.

Final scores:

CFR CLuj 1-2 Bordeaux
Roma 3-1 Chelsea
Anorthosis 3-3 Inter
Werder Bremen 0-3 Panathinaikos
Sporting 1-0 Shakhtar (Sporting through to last 16)
Barcelona 1-1 Basel
Liverpool 1-1 Atletico Madrid
Marseille 3-0 PSV

Total goals: 24. So our total goals prediction game winner is…a tie between Arvind (23) and Dickon (25). Congrats to both. Next time we’ll have to have a tie-breaker of some sort.

Full-time. Atletico must be absolutely gutted. I’m sure Liverpool fans will disagree, but that’s a horrible penalty decision. If anything Gerrard fouled Pernia, not the other way around.

90+5 And Gerrard puts it away. Weirdly inevitable (see minute 63′). Liverpool 1-1 Atletico.

90+4 I think Liverpool have been awarded a penalty. If so, it’s one of the weirdest I’ve seen in a long time. Gerrard flew in for the ball and clashed with a defender (Pernia) and then somehow a pen was given.

90+ Most games going into stoppage time right about now.

Current total goals: 23 (action packed day). Arvind and his prime number have it right now.

83′ Tziolis puts another nail in Werder Bremen’s Tuesday night coffin. Werder 0-3 Pana. That shouldn’t happen at home.

82′ And young Derdiyok has just equalized for Basel with a weird low volley. It’s Barca 1-1 Basel.

82′ Cruz just headed home for Inter and it’s now Anorthosis 3-3 Inter. Great game.

81′ Deco is headed for the showers in the Roma vs Chelsea game. Red card. Not sure what for though.

We’re now at 20 goals total. I’m hoping for no more, but chances aren’t good.

75′ Roma 3-1 Chelsea. John Terry pulls one back. Possibly with a handball. Will need to see that again.

73′ Derlei has only been on for four minutes, but he’s opened the scoring for Sporting. It’s SCP 1-0 Shakhtar in Lisbon.

71′ Aguero’s on for Atletico. Definitely worse subs to bring on when you’re already 1-0 up. I feel a little sorry for Liverpool, they’ve just brought on N’Gog for Keane. Which isn’t quite the same.

70′ And Ben Arfa just put Niang through for Marseille’s third. O’M 3-0 PSV

69′ Another one for Panathanaikos. Bremen look sunk. Wonderful strike by Karagounis from outside the area straight into the upper 90. Bremen 0-2 Pana

66′ Liedson just went very very close, but it’s still no goals in Sporting vs Shakhtar.

So… 16 goals now. And if Atletico hold on at Anfield then they’ll qualify for the knockouts. Don’t bet against a late Steven Gerrard leveller. Just because that sort of thing seems to happen a lot.

63′ And Niang has just volleyed one home at the Velodrome. It’s OM 2-0 PSV.

62′ Leo Messi comes off the bench. Two minutes later Leo Messi scores. The man is ridiculously talented. Barca 1-0 Basel.

That’s 14 goals total, for those who are counting (like me).

59′ Vucinic just ran around Mikel like he wasn’t there and beat Cech at the near post. Roma 3-0 Chelsea, and Vucinic at the bottom of a big Roma dogpile.

58′ Mantzios has given Panathinaikos the lead at Bremen. 1-0 to Pana there.

49′ Unreal. Anorthosis are now 3-2 up on Inter. Burdisso’s lame clearance didn’t get past Frousos, who fired past Julio Cesar. Anorthosis 3-2 Inter.

48′ Vucinic has just put Roma 2-0 ahead of Chelsea. Huge result on the cards there.

45′ Second half is go.

Half time scores:

CFR CLuj 1-2 Bordeaux
Roma 1-0 Chelsea
Anorthosis 2-2 Inter

Werder Bremen 0-0 Panathinaikos
Sporting 0-0 Shakhtar
Barcelona 0-0 Basel
Liverpool 0-1 Atletico Madrid
Marseille 1-0 PSV

That’s 10 goals total so far, with Barcelona still to open Basel’s floodgates.

For a guide to who can qualify for the knockouts today and how, check out Rob’s preview on Champions League Offside.

45′ That didn’t last long. Anorthosis 2-2 Inter. Looks like Cambiasso headed it against an Anortho player (Panagi) and it deflected past Julio Cesar.

44′ Good week for Marco Materazzi. First the Daily Mail apologized, then he heads home a corner to make it Anorthosis 1-2 Inter. Nearly a diving header, but not quite.

- The Stade Veledrome pitch, where Marseille are currently leading PSV 1-0, is almost muddy enough to qualify for Sunday league status.

38′ Wendel just scored a free kick for Bordeaux, so it’s now Cluj 1-2 Bordeaux.

37′ Goal in Liverpool, but nor for LFC. Maxi Rodriguez flicked it up past Carragher and smashed it in the bottom corner. Liverpool 0-1 Atletico.

33′ Goal in Italy. Panucci has knocked in a Cicinho cross and it’s Roma 1-0 Chelsea. Huge goal for Roma.

- Five goals after 30 minutes. I’m not maths genius, but at current rate we’ll have 15 total and Ian takes the crown.

30′ Bad news for The Special One. Anorthosis have equalized though Bardon. It’s Anorthosis 1-1 Inter.

29′ Bakary Kone has scored for Marseille. So it’s OM 1-0 PSV in the battle of the acronyms. PSV can kiss the knockouts goodbye I think.

17′ Incredibly. Barca still haven’t scored against Basel. Yet.

13′ Inter have one. Balotelli. So it’s Anorthosis 0-1 Inter.

9′ And Dani has equalized! It’s now Cluj 1-1 Bordeaux.

6′ Goal in Romania. It’s Cluj 0-1 Bordeaux through Yoann “maybe the new Zidane” Gourcuff.

0′ And we’re off.

Final total goals scored guesses:

Ian: 17
Rob: 18
Eirik: 19
Daryl: 20
Chris: 21
Diana: 22
Arvind: 23 (because it’s prime!)
Dickon: 25
Inara: 26

- 5 minutes til kickoff. My ESPN2 programming guide says they’re showing Marseille vs PSV. But I’m looking at Steven Gerrarda in the tunnel right now, so… either there’s been some huge transfer news that I missed, or ESPN2 are actually showing Liverpool vs Atletico.

Latest news (thanks Diana!) is that all games are on. But at least two of them are going to be very very wet.

-30 minutes til kick off. Total number of goals scored predictions so far:

Ian: 17
Rob: 18
Daryl: 20
Chris: 21
Diana: 22
Dickon: 25

Anyone else?

-45 minutes to kick off. Random team news:

Once again, Sergio Aguero isn’t starting for Atletico against Liverpool. Apparently Javier Agguire learned nothing last matchday.

Good news for Basel is that Barcelona are resting Messi and Eto’o. Bad news is that they’re fielding Henry, Bojan, Hleb and Iniesta. So we’re still on spankwatch.

Marseille need a win against PSV, and are going for Niang and Kone up front with Ben Arfa behind them.

Roma aren’t holding back against Chelsea either, and Spaletti’s going with two strikers for the first time in years. Follow Chris’s LiveBlog here.

Here are today’s matches:

CFR CLuj vs Bordeaux
Roma vs Chelsea (maybe, weather doesn’t look good)
Anorthosis vs Inter
Werder Bremen vs Panathinaikos
Sporting vs Shakhtar
Barcelona vs Basel
Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid
Marseille vs PSV

Group tables look like this before kick off.

Latest news from my sources (ie Chris) is that the Roma vs Chelsea game is on.

First order of business: predictions for total goals. mele419 won last time with a bullseye prediction of 17 total goals in all games. I’m going to open with a prediction of 20 total goals scored today. Anyone else brave enough to predict before kick off?

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Category: Champions League