Champions League Matchday 5 Wednesday LiveBlog

Stream of eight-game simulcast at the bottom of this post.

Shh! Don’t tell the authorities…

Final scores:

Bordeaux 1-1 Chelsea
CFR Cluj 1-3 Roma
Inter 0-1Panathinaikos
Anorthosis 2-2 Bremen
Shakhtar Donetsk 5-0 Basel
Sporting 2-5 Barcelona
Atletico 2-1 PSV
Liverpool 1-0 Marseille

Total goals: 26. Congrats to Peter Katsiris who predicted it spot on.

Thanks to everyone who read and/or commented.

Final whistles are starting to go…

That makes 26 total goals. Peter Katsiris now has the all clear to shout “victory is mine!” ala Stewie from Family Guy.

87′ Bremen are level through Hugo Almeida. That’s Anorthosis 2-2 Bremen. Poor Anorthosis, so very very close to knockout qualification. With current scores Panathinaikos will leapfrog them into second.

85′ Lampard gets first use of the soap. Sent off for a second yellow.

If Group A scores stay as is, it will look like this going into the final matchday:
Roma 9pts
Chelsea 8pts
Bordeaux 7pts
Cluj 4pts

83′ Equalizer in France! Alou Diarra gets his head to a corner and it’s Bordeaux 1-1 Chelsea.

78′ We’re at 24 total goals with well over ten minutes to go. Prediction competition is between Gaston (25) and Peter Katsiris (26).

75′ Shakhtar 5-0 Basel. Seleznov with the fifth. This is getting silly, no one wants to be in the UEFA Cup this much do they?

73′ Shakhtar have scored again and again. Two more for Jadson and now it’s Shakhtar 4-0 Basel. They must really really want to be in the UEFA Cup. Weirdos.

72′ Bojan has come off the bench and scored a pen for Barca. Keeper got a touch but it went in. SP 2-5 Barca. Great for young Bojan’s confidence, which has apparently been in tatters recently.

70′ All sorts happening in Cyprus. Diego just buried a pen to make it Anorthosis 2-1 Werder, and Anorthosis have had a man sent off (he wasn’t, my mistake). Tense last 20 minutes there as Anorthosis hold on for dear life.

69′ UpsetWatch: It’s Inter 0-1 Panathinaikos. Julio Cesar saved from a header, but Sarriegi poked in the rebound.

68′ Great save from Pepe Reina there to deny Marseille.

66′ Now it’s Sporting 2-3 Barcelona, which is weird because it was 3-0 to Barca last time I looked. SP goals from Miguel Veloso and Liedson. And now it’s Sporting 2-4 Barca. Own goal I think.

64′ Brighi gets another. That makes it Cluj 1-3 Roma.

62′ Nikolaou just sidefooted home for Anorthosis against Bremen. From a corner kick. Bremen suck at defending and can kiss their tiny CL knockout hopes auf wiedersehn. Anorthosis on the other hand could be going through if the score stays the same. Anorthosis 1-0 Bremen.

61′ Anelka runs through and scores. Bordeaux 0-1 Chelsea. Maybe Chelsea don’t need Drogba anyway.

60′ True story. On the screen to my right, Inter are looking for a goal against Panathinaikos. On the screen to my left Didier Drogba is unzipping his jacket and getting ready to come on. For a second my little brain was confused and I thought Drogba was coming on for Inter. Did I just get a glimpse of the future?

54′ Inter’s Ibrahimovic matches Gourcuff (see below) with a great spin move in the box that baffles two defenders. His shot is blocked though.

50′ Bellisimmo goal in Donetsk, say the Italian commentators. Willian burned two defenders before firing home to make it Shakhtar 2-0 Basel. His team will make the UEFA Cup now. And Matchday 6 of Champions League Group C will be utterly utterly pointless.

50′ Controversy in Lisbon: Dani Alves took a Barca freekick very very quickly and played Messi through to score before the Sporting players knew what had happened. Lots of protests, but it’s SP 0-3 Barca.

47′ Danny Koovermans has pulled one back for PSV. Bit of a six yard box scramble and he (accidentally I think) flicked it up and then stuck his leg out to poke home. Atl. Mad 2-1 PSV in Spain.

45′ Second halves are go.

H/T scores:

Bordeaux 0-0 Chelsea
CFR Cluj 1-2 Roma
Inter 0-0 Panathinaikos
Anorthosis 0-0 Bremen
Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 Basel
Sporting 0-2 Barcelona
Atletico 2-0 PSV
Liverpool 1-0 Marseille

Eight total goals so far.

45′ Been a quiet ten mins. But I just saw slo-mo footage of a Riera right footed shot for Liverpool. The ball bounced along the floor but also swerved like a free kick. Marseille keeper got down well to save. People scoffed at that signing (inclduing me I’m ashamed to say) but he’s looking like a very good signing.

32′ Jadson has scored in Ukraine, making it Shakhtar 1-0 Basel. That puts Shakhtar in pole position to win the UEFA Cup booby prize.

30′ Cluj have pulled one back against Roma. Didn’t catch what happened, but UEFA say it’s now Cluj 1-2 Roma, Y. Kone with the goal. Question: Is it just me or are there about a million professional footballers called Kone these days?

-Did anyone catch that spin move from Gourcuff in the Bordeaux vs Chelsea game? He did a Zizou style pirouette to make space on the edge of the box and then got a shot at Cech. Saved, but great stuff.

27′ Maxi Rodriguez just buried one into the top corner as if the ball had insulted his mama. Now it’s Atletico 2-0 PSV. Lots goals today, seven so far.

The simulcast stream at the bottom this post is form Italian TV. Yesterday’s was from Germany. Question for those who’ve experienced both: who does it better?

23′ And now it’s Liverpool 1-0 Marseille thanks to a Steven Gerrard diving header. So turns out everyone who called Gerrard a diver was right. correction: just saw the replay and it wasn’t a diving header. but pretend it was, and then my lame joke at least makes sense.

22′ Totti has just struck a sweet free kick to make it Cluj 0-2 Roma.

17′ Now it’s 2-0 to Barca, Pique (I think) scores ugly and Barca will top Group C.

15′ Henry has scored for Barca, so it’s Barca 1-0 Sporting.

14′ Atletico 1-0 PSV, Simao went round the keeper and slotted home.

Streaming options are limited, but best simulcast I’ve found is here Password is “live”. In fact, I’ll do you one better and embed it at the bottom of this post. Let me know if can/can’t see it.

10′ Brighi has scored for Roma, tapping home into an empty net after Perotta beat the Cluj keeper to the ball. Cluj 0-1 Roma.

6′ Goalless everywhere so far. Final total goals predictions:

Peter Katsiris: 26
Gaston: 25
Daryl: 22
Laurie: 21
Dickon: 19
Javier: 17
Tommy Wong: 15
Rob: 14

0′ We’re underway. In France at least.

So… if you’re in the US, ESPN are showing Bordeaux vs Chelsea. If you were an ESPN viewer watching the CL for the first time this season, you’d be forgiven for thinking the CL fixture looked like this: Premier League team vs random other team. Five minutes until kickoff.

All eight qualifiers from Group E-H were decided yesterday, but the games were a bit… bleh. Not horrible, but the Champions League music promises drama (”The Chaaaampiooons!”) that it can’t always deliver. False advertising I reckon.

Hopefully today will see a few more goals and have a bit more of a pulse. Here’s the who vs who:


Bordeaux vs Chelsea
CFR Cluj vs Roma
Inter vs Panathinaikos
Anorthosis vs Bremen
Shakhtar Donetsk vs Basel
Sporting vs Barcelona
Atletico vs PSV
Liverpool vs Marseille

For a guide to who needs to do what today, you can’t beat Rob’s post on CL Offside. Shamelessly cribbing from that post, here’s the deal today:

Chelsea are through if they beat Bordeaux (which would make Roma happy too).
Cluj are out if they lose to Roma.
Inter can qualify with a draw.
If Inter win, then Anorthosis can qualify today by beating Bremen. That would be huge.
Shakhtar and Basel are out, but Shakhtar make the UEFA Cup with a win today.
Barca and Sporting are both through, but are fighting over top spot (just a point between them right now.)
Liverpool and Atletico both go though if they win. And both can go through with a draw if the other wins. Make sense? It would do if I worded it better: If Liverpool draw with Marseille, they still go through should Atletico beat PSV. Same is true of Atletico draw with PSV and Liverpool beat Marseille.

And in what’s now become an Offside tradition (Dickon and Javier were way ahead of me here) it’s time for our “total goals scored today” prediction game. The prize? A big box of respect. I’m going for 22 today. Dickon’s gone 19, Javier 17. Anyone else brave enough to take a guess?

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Category: Champions League