Champions League Matchday 3 Tuesday LiveBlog

Back at it again with the Liveblog covering all the happenings of today’s Champions League games.

FT Scores

Zenit 1 – BATE 1
Juventus 2-1 Real Madrid
Villareal 6-3 Aalborg
Manchester United 3-0 Celtic
Bayern Munich 3-0 Fiorentina
Steaua 3-5 Lyon
Fenerbahce 2-5 Arsenal
Porto 0-1 Dynamo Kyiv

And this is the part where somebody checks the record for most goals on a CL matchday.

4:36 Aaron Ramsey just scored at 90+4 for shits and giggles.

4:35 And it’s over in Torino, with Juve taking their 2-1 victory. Hang this one on Pepe.

4:32 Ze Roberto caps Bayern’s day at 3-0. And Fred ends the drama in Steaua 5-3.

4:25 AaB has been officially taken out back. 6-3 and Llorente completes his hat trick.

4:24 32 goals now by Daryl’s count. I can’t count that high, so it goes unverified.

4:23 Dani Guiza takes one back for Fener to make it 4-2, but that one looks like it’s been over since minute 11.

4:22 And Pires takes serious offense to that Danish goal, making it a 5-3 game. What a game down there.

4:19 And AaB bring it within one in Spain to make that two 4-3 games right now. Very unexpected. Before this Villarreal had conceded 3 all year, they matched that total today.

4:18 Rooney scores ManU’s third first and it’s all over but the whistle at Old Trafford.

4:14 Rumor has it Lyon have made it 4-3 through Benzema. Something in the water in Romania tonight.

4:12 UEFA stopped updating and in that time Llorente of Villarreal scored two to make it 4-2 against the Danes. I guess it was just a lull, back to normal proceedings.

4:11 Lyon even it at 3 all from Fred. Yes, he still plays football.

4:09 Juve have been on their back foot for a large part of the second half and Ruud makes them pay, being left all by his lonesome right in front of goal for the easy header. 2-1 with plenty of time remaining.

4:05 Fair play stat: no red cards thus far. Everybody loves everybody.

4:03 Berbatov taken off before he scores an embarrassing hat trick of offside goals. Can imagine Celtic players, coaches and fans alike will be mighty pissed after this one.

4:01 All is quiet now after that torrid first half. Perhaps the quotas have been filled.

3:52 And Arsenal are just scoring for fun at this point. 4-1. Alexandre Song.

And Berba scores number two after Boruc drops the ball, literally, in the box. Oh and Berba was offside yet again. So that’s Linesman 2 – Celtic 0.

3:50 Pepe makes a criminal blunder and gifts Juve their chance for #2. Passes the ball directly to Pavel Nedved just outside the box, who crosses in to Amauri who, featuring one of the best noggins in the world, heads it in.

3:49 One minute gone and no goals yet. Good sign.

3:48 Most games are back at it, it seems.

HT Scores.

Juventus 1-0 Real Madrid
Villareal 2-2 Aalborg
Manchester United 1-0 Celtic
Bayern Munich 2-0 Fiorentina
Steaua 3-2 Lyon
Fenerbahce 1-3 Arsenal
Porto 0-1 Dynamo Kyiv

Count ‘em: 18 goals in 45 minutes. Can they match it in the second half for 36?

3:33 Looks like it’s halftime in every game now, thankfully. I think all of Europe needs a breath.

3:29 Steaua score from yet another setpiece, 3-2 against Lyon. Sounds like Lyon will look forward to that trip back to France, whatever the outcome.

3:26 I’m going to call no less than 6 nil-nil draws for tomorrow. Percentages and all that.

3:23 Madness in Spain: Villarreal 2-2 AaB. Enevoldsen. Have the planets aligned today or something?

3:22 The Fenerbahce scorer has been changed from Senturk to Silvestre og. Wonder if he got hurt on the play too.

3:18 Capdevila for Villarreal. 2-1. Please make it stop. I’m rolling over my fingers for a sub, no one’s paying attention.

3:17 Lyon tie it 2-2 via Karim Benzema. So that’s 15 goals in 7 games at the 30 minute mark. Absurd.

3:16 More kids, more carpal tunnel for me: Schensteiger makes it 2-0 over the Purple People Eaters in Bavaria and Beppe Rossi has tied it up for Villarreal in the 28th against AaB.

3:14 There we go. Now every game has a goal. Berba for 1-0. Even though he was criminally offside. Celtic should know you don’t get those calls in OT.

3:13 Aliyev for Dunamo Kyiv, 1-0 over Porto, and now every single game but the one ESPN is showing has had a goal. Well done, ESPN. Well done.

3:12 Twas Keita, not Makoun, for Lyon. Blame Laurie.

3:10 Seriously. Goals. Galore. Hadn’t even saved the last line before Abou Diaby made it 3-1 for Arsenal. The kids are alright.

3:08 Goals galore in Istanbul. Fener pull on back from Semih Senturk, of Euro 2008 fame, to make it 2-1.

And Lyon have done the same down 2-0, bringing it to within one goal. Jean Il Makoun.

3:06 Hope someone from Porto or Dynamo scores soon, then every game but ManU v Celtic will have a goal. Take that, ESPN.

3:05 AaB have just taken a 1-0 lead in Spain against defensive rocks Villarreal via Saganowski.

3:00 Daryl says “ESPN knows how to pick these games, eh”. Aye.

2:57 And Arsenal get right back into matters, with Theo Walcott scoring the second just a minute later. 2-0 Arsenal in Istanbul.

And we’re off to a maddening start to this CL Matchday.

2:55 Adebayor opens up against Fenerbahce in the 10th minute. A Fenerbahce squad who are a far cry from last year’s edition, despite pillaging Euro champs Spain this summer.

2:55 Whoa, 2-0 for Steaua, and they’re extending a rude welcome to Lyon, who continue France’s terrible showing in Europe this year. This one Goian.

2:54 Arthuro for Steaua. Whoever he is.

2:53 All fast starts all the time. Steaua 1-0 over Lyon already.

2:52 Bayern have obviously left their Bundesliga form in the Bundesliga. 1-0 over Fiorentina after the 4th via Miroslav Klose.

2:50 1-0 Juve. Real had an epic brain fart, letting Del Piero have acres of space to run into, and he beat Casillas with a nice ball from 20-25.

2:47 MyP2P has seemingly crashed, so if you’re looking for streams, use Roja Directa.

2:44 Celtic’s lemon-lime kits already have me turning away from the television, and the game hasn’t even begun.

But they don’t 1-1 it stays, and Zenit can start hoping for a chance to defend their UEFA Cup title. Group H now looks…

Real – 6
Juve – 4
BATE – 2
Zenit – 1

Zenit scores, Fatih Tekke makes it 1-1 and they could well win this thing.

Pogrebnyak just missed a header from about 2.5 yards out, keeper flailed his arms with a prayer and saved it.

And Chris is back. 2-for-1 dimebag day on the corner.

Still 1-0 BATE in the 75th…somehow. I’d say this seals Group H if the scoreline stays as is. BATE is a wonderful little underdog, but matching and surpassing the might of Real or Juve is impossible. Zenit was really the only one with a chance, and if they lose, they’ll be sitting on 0 from the first three games. Just a continuing year of disappointment for the UEFA Cup Champs.

And this is Laurie, keeping you up-to-date while Chris is out buying drugs or something. (Or maybe it’s diet Red Bull. Whatever.)

In the Zenit-BATE game, Nekhaychik has just scored for BATE in his seventh minute on the field. Current score Zenit 0-1 BATE

At the moment Zenit is being held scoreless by those pesky Belarusians from Borisov at home, now approaching the half hour mark.

A tragic start to the day:

Two Juventus fans are reported dead and up to 30 more injured following an incident involving a coach on its way to Tuesday’s Champions League game with Real Madrid.

Prayers with all involved.

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But while we wait, I’d like to offer up my two cents on something many people have touched on: ESPN’s Prem bias in the Champions League. Every single matchday, it’s either ManU, Chelsea, Liverpool or Arsenal. If you’re a fan of a team in another group, tough shit. Maybe you’ll get to see them in th knockouts…if they wind up playing one of the aforementioned four. And really, it’s getting quite ridiculous, as anyone in the US will get ManU v Celtic today and Atletico v Liverpool tomorrow.

Dear ESPN,

I don’t quite care about the Premiership. I really don’t care about British football in general, for that matter. Not my cuppa tea. And, in what may come as a theory-crushing revelation, I’m not the only one. Which is why I, and many others, really don’t quite care for the Champions League as presented by Barclay’s Premier League. It’s not England & Friends Champions League – though they may be enjoying their day, as Italy and Spain did earlier in the decade – it belongs to all of Europe. I don’t need to see an EPL team every…single…matchday. I don’t. And I certainly don’t need to see ManU v Celtic today, when an Old Lady has put out the coffee and doilies to host a merry band of traveling Spaniards all in white. Sure, “Battle of Britain” is nice and all, but when it comes down to bare bones, I can see ManU play a half-decent British team most any weekend I choose. What I can’t see but a handful of times every twenty years is Spain’s most decorated team, also the most successful team in European history, let’s not forget, play Italy’s greatest trophy hauler.

Were this about ratings, I could perhaps see the angle. But it’s not. The other 3 out of 5 days this week I can use the 230 EST time slot to catch up on the 1992 NBA Finals or 1981 Women’s Snooker World Championships from Reno. Not exactly a “ratings” slot, is it now?

Are there a lot of Prem fans in the US? Sure. But not a single one with even a hint of rationality would complain about some diversity. Switching it up a bit, to give us a true European feel, not Europe as viewed through the lens of England. And it’s not as though I, along with the others, don’t enjoy watching a Prem team’s game every now and again. I would’ve loved to see Fernando Torres on his illustrious return to Madrid tomorrow, were it possible, given the storyline accompanying the fixture. I’d have loved it just as much as I’ll love viewing my 3 inch x 3 inch stream emanating from the bowels of Torino today – at least until it gives out. There’s just a bit more to these games than simply two teams which happen to be quite good playing one another. The entire premise, I thought, behind European football.

And maybe this is why soccer in America will never take off. Because even when given the time, date, the speed and direction of the wind, you’ll never see a good thing coming.

Signed,

Perturbed Viewer

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Category: Champions League, World Football