Champions League Matchday 4: Goals Galore

By: Bob | November 7th, 2007

It is getting down to nitty gritty time in the Champions League group stages, which sometimes means teams playing defensively for points on the road. Not this matchday. There were goals all over the place with home teams going for broke and breaking the goal bank. Here is a down and dirty look at a day that featured 26 goals in eight matches.

Group E
After a spotty start, Lyon have won their last two in the Champions League. Those two have come against a Stuttgart team that hasn’t been played a lick of defense in the competition. Lyon are now a mere point behind Rangers, whose plans to play for a tie in Barcelona came to an abrupt end after Thierry Henry scored in the 6th minute and Lionel Messi notched another before the intermission. Rangers can still go through if they beat Stuttgart on the road next matchday and Lyon lose at home to Barcelona. Otherwise those two teams will be playing for the proverbial marbles on matchday 6. That could be fun.

Lyon 4-2 Stuttgart
Barcelona 2-0 Rangers

Barcelona 10pts, Rangers 7, Lyon 6, Stuttgart 0

Group F
It has been a stroll in the park for Manchester United this Champions League campaign. Today, that stroll was at the familiar Old Trafford park where they took care of a Dynamo Kyiv side that could very well finish the group stage without a point. Manchester United are through to the knockout stage. Things haven’t been as easy for the roller coaster that is Roma. They got on the board first against Sporting, fell behind and then needed a last minute own goal to pick up a road point. Sporting could end up in the UEFA Cup kicking themselves for blowing points at home.

Manchester United 4-0 Dynamo Kyiv
Sporting 2-2 Roma

Manchester United 12pts, Roma 7, Sporting 4, Dynamo Kyiv 0

Group G
After falling behind by a pair of goals at home, Inter Milan woke from their slumber and put on a goal scoring clinic against CSKA Moscow. Braces by Ibrahimovic and Cambiasso helped earn the three points and essentially a spot in the next round. Fenerbahce may also be on their way to the next round of riches after they took care of PSV with surprising ease. It didn’t help the Dutch side to have Ronald Koeman jump ship midseason.

Inter Milan 4-2 CSKA Moscow
Fenerbahce 2-0 PSV

Inter 9pts, Fenerbahce 8, PSV 4, CSKA Moscow 1

Group H
Every year there is at least one team in the Champions League that makes you wonder how in the world they even qualified for the thing. This year it is Steau Bucharest. The Romanian club has been simply awful. Today, they got smoked by Sevilla, who all but booked their spot in the next round. After beating Slavia 7-0 in the first leg, Arsenal took the day off and got a road point against Slavia with a scoreless draw. Apparently those two sides didn’t get the memo about this being a day for lots of goals. Arsenal are through to the next round.

Steaua 0-2 Sevilla
Slavia 0-0 Arsenal

Arsenal 10pts, Sevilla 9, Slavia 4, Steaua 0

Your thoughts on these groups and who will advance?