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Old 04-12-2012, 10:36 PM   #211
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Default Re: UEFA Champions League - News and Rumors

Mancini masih pengen City main di Eropa

Manchester City target Europa League despite fears over fatigue

• 'We need to stay in Europe,' says Roberto Mancini
• 'I am disappointed not embarrassed by our performances'


Sean Ingle in Dortmund
The Guardian


Manchester City's Champions League hopes have long been neutered and spayed, but an unpalatable dilemma remains. Beat Borussia Dortmund and nine Europa League matches that could derail their Premier League prospects may lie ahead; lose or draw and their Uefa co-efficient drops like a stone, ramping up the chances of another brutal Champions League group stage next September.

However, ahead of Tuesday's game at the Westphalian Stadium, Roberto Mancini is insistent that City are better off in Europe than out. "It will be difficult because in the Europa League you play Thursdays so you don't have a lot of rest before Premier League matches," he said. "But we must try to play in the Europa League. We need to stay in Europe."

There is another, entirely rational, reason for Mancini's determination to salvage something from this season's campaign. If City fail to get a point against Dortmund they will finish with the lowest tally of any English team in the group stages of the Champions League. Even the widely derided Blackburn side of 1995-96 – who sparred with themselves more than their opponents and finished last in a group containing Spartak Moscow, Legia Warsaw and Rosenborg – managed four points. City currently have three. "I am disappointed not embarrassed with our performances," said Mancini. "We wanted to get to the second stage but we didn't play as well as Real Madrid or Dortmund. We should accept this and try again next year."

Mancini knows that City's hopes of reaching the Europa League are out of their hands. They need to beat Dortmund and also hope that Real Madrid do not lose at home to Ajax – a far from forlorn hope given that the Spanish champions have won five matches against Ajax, outscoring them 16 to one, in the past two seasons.

However, history is not on City's side. The last time Dortmund lost to an English team at home in Europe – a 6-1 tangoing in the 1964-65 Fairs Cup by a Manchester United side inspired by a Bobby Charlton hat-trick and goals from Denis Law and George Best – Harold Wilson was in power and Sonny and Cher had just got hitched. City's record in Germany – played five, lost four – hardly inspires confidence either.

But while history is against them, circumstances may end up working in City's favour. Dortmund have qualified in first place in Group D; they can afford to rest some players and experiment with others. Neven Subotic, who injured his pelvis during the 1-1 draw with Bayern Munich, is out. As is Dortmund's captain Sebastian Kehl and the defender Sven Bender. And there are also doubts over Lukasz Piszczek and Mario Götze, who will undergo fitness tests. When Dortmund drew 1-1 with Bayern Munich at the weekend the average age of their side was only 24. Against City it may be even younger. This certainly will not be the Dortmund team that repeatedly punctured City's defences at the Etihad only to fail to land the death blow before Mario Balotelli's injury-time penalty equaliser led to an unlikely point.

Even so, Dortmund's manager, Jürgen Klopp, is in confident mood, praising his players and confidently dismissing reports linking Manchester United with his Polish striker Robert Lewandowksi.

"I am not afraid he will be leaving," he said. "United are one of many teams showing interest in him but I have no worries. His contract is with us. The time when rich English clubs tried to take our players from Germany – thank God that time is over."

Klopp was just as enthusiastic about his side's Champions League campaign so far, calling it: "Great, sensational, fantastic. What can I say? I didn't think it would be this good."

Mancini, meanwhile, has been left trying to making the best of a bad situation. A place in the Europa League could be construed as a consolation. It may also prove to be a poisoned chalice.

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Old 05-12-2012, 07:20 AM   #212
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Default Re: UEFA Champions League - News and Rumors

Manchester City crash out of Europe after defeat at Borussia Dortmund

Champions League

Borussia Dortmund 1
Schieber 57
Manchester City 0
Sean Ingle at Westfalenstadion
The Guardian,




Another fitful performance, another soulless defeat. When some Premier League cheerleaders predicted that Manchester City might make a statement in Europe this season this, surely, was not what they had in mind.

A second-half goal from Julian Schieber ensured that City tumbled out of the Champions League without a victory and with the lowest group stage points tally of any English team in the competition's history. Even the Blackburn side of 1995-96, hitherto regarded as representing the nadir of English incompetence in Europe's premier club competition, managed four points. City could only get three.

As defeats go, this at least has its compensations. Finishing bottom of Group D ensures that Roberto Mancini's side escape being parachuted into the Europa League. No trips to Russia and Ukraine, Greece or Romania. Potentially nine fewer matches. And no wearying carousel of Sunday-Thursday-Sunday matches. It might just help their prospects of retaining their title, however outlandish that statement seems after such a dire display.

"We are the champions, the champions of England," sang the City fans, defiant to the last. But on this freezing night in Dortmund the gap between them and the elite teams in Europe looked as deep as a chasm.

With Yaya Touré suspended and David Silva injured, City were missing their engine and their engineer. Instead Scott Sinclair made his Champions League debut for the club alongside Carlos Tevez and Samir Nasri in City's attacking three, with Edin Dzeko leading the line. Still, this was as close to a first-team as Roberto Mancini could be expected to pick, with only Sergio Agüero and Pablo Zabaleta left on the bench with Sunday's derby against Manchester United in mind.

Dortmund, having already qualified in first place in Group D for the last sixteen, had no such qualms. Only five of the team that sliced and diced City's defence at the Etihad started, with the captain Sebastian Kehl, the defender Sven Bender and Mario Götze injured and the Polish trio of Lukasz Piszczek, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Robert Lewandowski all named as substitutes.

Their lack of cohesion showed. The first 10 minutes was a training ground exercise in keep-ball, with Dortmund's players searching for familiar runs from unfamiliar team-mates and City content to prod and wait. It took 12 minutes for the first attempt on goal, although Oliver Kirch's gentle lob from 20 yards was easily saved by Joe Hart. City were hardly in danger but they weren't threatening much either, especially with Javi García mistiming passes in midfield, although Carlos Tevez kept coming deep looking for the ball before looking for the runs of Samir Nasri on the right.

On 20 minutes Marco Reus, who opened the scoring when these teams played at the Etihad, skipped past two players before running into the boot of Matija Nastasic but halfway through the first half neither side had created a significant chance on goal.

That nearly changed a minute later after Nasri, who had temporarily switched to the left, drifted into space and played in Dzeko, whose cross rolled across the six-yard the box with no City player close enough to capitalise. However the game was opening up and Dortmund nearly went ahead when Moritz Leitner, Dortmund's exciting 19-year-old playmaker, only just evaded Schieber with a cross.

With the stadium alerting the crowd that Cristiano Ronaldo and José María Callejón had put Real Madrid 2-0 up against Ajax before the half-hour, City knew that a win would open the door to a Europa League place and they finally seemed to up their tempo, with Dzeko's 20-yard shot palmed around the post by Roman Weidenfeller.

But it was Reus who had the best shot of the first half, drifting in unchallenged from the right to a more central position only for Hart, at full stretch, to tip his shot on to the post. As the first half drew to a close Dortmund were pressing with greater venom and Hart had to be smart to save a speculative effort from Ivan Perisic.

From the restart, City nearly went ahead when Nasri's cross found Dzeko, but his header from six yards lacked force or direction. Dortmund, however, soon reasserted their dominance.

A battery of chances came and went: Mats Hummels, no more than three yards from goal, made minimal connection with a dipping inswinging inviting Marcel Schmelzer free-kick. Hart palmed over Perisic's flying volley from Ilkay Gundogan's deep cross, before, a minute later, made an even better stop, getting a late wrist to Kevin Grosskreutz's drive from close range.

Just before the hour City brought on Sergio Agüero for the disappointing Sinclair but only seconds later they went behind as Blaszczykowski's skinned Nastasic down the right before sending in a low cross that was tapped home by Schieber. The 23-year-old had wounded City, and a minute later he should have killed them off. But after being put through to a one-on-one with Hart he had one eye on YouTube as well as the scoreboard and his dink was saved at full stretch.

By now Dortmund were toying with Manchester City, and the home supporters were purring. The jovial pre-Christmas mood was only interrupted when Mario Balotelli replaced Dzeko. The Italian was greeted with shrieking whistles – the legacy perhaps of his late equaliser in the first game – which only eased when the Italian trod on the ball with his first touch.

The boos continued but they seemed to fire up City, with Tevez's jinking run ending with a fine block from Weidenfeller.

But there was to be no late reprieve as Dortmund saw the game out with minimal distress. Indeed they should have scored again with the unmarked Leitner passing his shot wide from 10 yards and Hart smothering Lewandowski's shot.

In the end this defeat flattered City just as much as their 1-1 draw at the Etihad had done. And Balotelli's injury-time booking for dissent just made the victory for Dortmund fans all the sweeter.
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Old 05-12-2012, 07:24 AM   #213
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Default Re: UEFA Champions League - News and Rumors

Olympiakos' Kostas Mitroglou seals miserable week for Arsenal


Olympiakos 2
Maniatis 64, Mitroglou 73
Arsenal 1
Rosicky 38
David Hytner at Karaiskakis Stadium
The Guardian,



Arsenal will tell themselves this was not a do-or-die fixture. Qualification for the Champions League's knockout phase had already been assured and the merits of advancing as the group winners to the last 16 remain dubious. Scary fish are circling in the pot of runners-up. Arsène Wenger's starting XI had also been experimental.

Yet the manner of the defeat by Greece's champions raised familiar questions, which Wenger is sick of hearing let alone addressing. A goal up at the interval, courtesy of a slick assist from Gervinho and a thumping conversion by Tomas Rosicky, on only his second appearance of the season, the scene had been set for Arsenal to show steeliness and professionalism, to slam the door on any Olympiakos fightback.

Instead, the hosts took a grip on proceedings and they floored Arsenal with two goals in quick succession. Wenger raged about the first, scrambled in by Giannis Maniatis, which followed the award of corner that should not have been. Wojciech Szczesny did not get a hand on Paulo Machado's header, which kissed the post and went out, and the goalkeeper said that the additional assistant referee had told him it was to be a goal kick. Why did he not tell the referee? At full-time there was the now standard sight of Wenger remonstrating with a fourth official on a European night.

But Arsenal could have no complaints about the result and it was merely worrying to witness how sharply the tide turned in the second-half, and how they lacked the collective strength of character to halt it. With Montpellier holding Schalke, Arsenal spurned the opportunity to leapfrog the Germans but, more importantly, there would be no soothing tonic after the disastrous home defeat by Swansea City in the Premier League and ahead of the vital visit of West Bromwich Albion.

"We need a good Christmas present," Wenger said, with a nod towards the last 16 draw on 20 December. "The disadvantage is that we have to play the second game away, although it's not statistically proven that it's a disadvantage. The important thing now is to focus on the championship and get ourselves back in decent form."

This was Wenger's 150th game in the Champions League but it had felt like a time for scrutiny rather than appreciation. The buildup had in effect been an argument between the manager and the critics, with the former, uncharacteristically, reacting with hostility and scarcely concealed contempt to those who questioned him. Wenger railed against what he called "superficial analysis" from some pundits but it was clear that the hard currency of a positive result was in order.

Wenger may have dreamed of his team scoring the opening goal to fire the confidence levels and he was left to curse a gilt-edged early miss by Aaron Ramsey. After Marouane Chamakh had headed down Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's cross and Drissa Diakité failed to clear, the ball sat invitingly for Ramsey, close to the penalty spot, only for him to miss his kick completely. Earlier, Oxlade-Chamberlain had dragged a shot so far wide that it went out for a throw-in. Arsenal had looked disjointed.

But, with Olympiakos having grown into the tie and enjoying the better of first-half chances, Wenger's team struck, following their first contribution of quality. Gervinho surged to the byline, jinked sharply to throw his markers and rolled the perfect cut-back into the path of the onrushing Rosicky. His side-footed finish was laced with power and precision. Arsenal had laid the foundation stone for the victory.

Olympiakos flickered as an attacking force in the first half, with the impressive Djamel Abdoun delighting with his skill and vision. His best first-half moment saw him spin away from challengers and threaten the edge of Arsenal's area before offloading to Vassilis Torossidis. The marauding full-back's shot was high. Abdoun almost set up Rafik Djebbour only for Thomas Vermaelen to intervene while Torossidis went close with a header and Abdoun brought a smart save out of Szczesny.

Wenger said that it was always the plan to withdraw Rosicky at half-time and his replacement, Andrey Arshavin, twice went close. There was a sight for sore eyes when the eternally frustrating Chamakh crossed and Arshavin headed wide while the Russian drew a reaction stop from Roy Carroll. Arsenal grew nervous and Olympiakos sensed their opportunity. Ljubomir Fejsa had swelled the side-netting when Machado, completely unmarked, produced a header that had Szczesny scrambling across his line. The corner was given, despite Arsenal's complaints and, when Abdoun returned the ball after it had been half-cleared, Kostas Manolas's header struck Ramsey before breaking for Maniatis, who bundled home.

"It was a very bad decision," Wenger said. "You would like for the fifth referee to be concentrated on their job but it was not the case. We have to take it on the chin and focus on our next game."

Arsenal's focus deserted them. The unmarked Djebbour planted a stooping header wide from Machado's cross and an Olympiakos winner had been advertised. It came when one of the three attack-minded substitutes, Kostas Mitroglou, curled a right-foot shot towards the far post. It kept on going, through a crowded area, past Szczesny and into the corner. Arsenal had that sinking feeling.
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Old 05-12-2012, 09:30 AM   #214
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Default Re: UEFA Champions League - News and Rumors

City tersingkir dari kompetisi Eropa...
sama kayak Blackburn dulu jadinya...juara liga yang gak bisa lolos ke babak selanjutnya...
tapi bahaya..karena mereka bisa lebih fokus di liga...

Dortmund atau Schalke...dua-dua itu bisa jadi kejutan di fase knock out...
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Old 05-12-2012, 02:51 PM   #215
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Default Re: UEFA Champions League - News and Rumors

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ucup Carrick View Post
City tersingkir dari kompetisi Eropa...
sama kayak Blackburn dulu jadinya...juara liga yang gak bisa lolos ke babak selanjutnya...
tapi bahaya..karena mereka bisa lebih fokus di liga...

Dortmund atau Schalke...dua-dua itu bisa jadi kejutan di fase knock out...
kalo menurut saya Dortmund & Donetsk yg akan menjadi kuda hitam difase knock out, tp untungnya u/ sementara United terhindar dari mereka karena Dortmund sudah menjadi juara grup & Donetsk seperrtinya akan menyusul (jika hasil Donetsk vs Juve seri)
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Old 06-12-2012, 05:57 AM   #216
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Hasil akhir fase grup



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Old 06-12-2012, 07:04 AM   #217
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Fernando Torres scores two but Chelsea thrash Nordsjaelland in vain


Chelsea 6
David Luiz (pen) 38, Torres 45+2, Cahill 51, Torres 56, Mata 63, Oscar 71
FC Nordsjælland 1
John 46



The death knell sounded shortly before 9pm. Gary Cahill had just made it 3-1 when the news filtered through that Juventus had taken the lead against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Donbass Arena. It was the news Chelsea had been dreading and though Rafael Benítez can reflect on his first victory, the goal-fest felt almost incongruous considering the significance of what it ultimately meant.

The celebrations had to be subdued when the club currently in ownership of the most prized trophy in European football had been plonked into the Europa League, with its ongoing identity crisis and Thursday-night-Sunday-afternoon rota. Fernando Torres at least reminded himself of what it is like to find the goal, scoring in each half and visibly growing in confidence. Yet the joys of old were drastically diminished. It was a clutching-at-straws kind of night, even if bagging half a dozen goals did spare Benítez the prospect of another mauling from the crowd.

David Luiz's penalty started the rout during an eccentric seven-minute spell featuring three spot-kicks, two misses and one whistle-happy referee. After that, the scoring continued at a rate of a goal every five-and-a-half minutes until Oscar, a second-half substitute, completed the rout in the 71st minute. What a pity for Chelsea that they could not have been this prolific when they played Shakhtar. In the end, they have gone out on the basis of their head-to-head record against the Ukraine team. Both sides won on their own ground but Shakhtar scored twice at Stamford Bridge whereas Chelsea managed only one in Donetsk.

Everyone knew the ramifications of that Juventus goal, with the Italians also qualifying from Group E, and that made it a strange second-half, with plenty of enjoyable football mixing with a sense of wider failure. Chelsea seemed capable of scoring every time they broke forward but the celebrations became more subdued with each goal and the backdrop was another reminder for Benítez about his unpopularity in these parts.

The Spaniard was booed as soon as he walked out of the tunnel before kick-off. Within four minutes the crowd were singing in support of Roberto Di Matteo. Banners were thrust to the skies proclaiming their backing for the sacked Italian. A José Mourinho fan with a spare bedsheet and tin of blue paint had created the message "Bring back the Special One", flapping in the wind from the Shed End.

Yet Nordsjaelland were obliging opponents for a manager looking for his first win. The team currently nine points adrift from the top of Denmark's Superliga arrived with the worst defensive record in the competition and no win in Europe since beating Queen of the South in a qualifying round of the 2008 Uefa Cup. Chelsea had thumped them 4-0 in October. Nordsjaelland were, in short, about as easy as it gets at this level. "Just to put it in perspective," their manager, Kasper Hjulmand, said afterwards, "we were formed 10 years ago and we have spent £1m on this squad."

Torres certainly relished the kind of space that better opponents would not afford him. "We helped to get him back on track," as Hjulmand put it. At one point Torres was emboldened enough to try to cross the ball with a kick from behind his standing leg. The old Torres might have taken Nordsjaelland to the cleaners but, at the risk of ushering in another false dawn, these goals might still have therapeutic effects.

The first was setup by Victor Moses, driving forward on the right and then spotting Torres's run inside the defender. The striker's first effort came back off the goalkeeper, Jesper Hansen, but the ricochet was kind and his follow-up attempt exhibited none of the awkwardness that has made it feel recently as though he were playing in a straightjacket. Torres took his chance with something bordering on coolness and, after that, played with much greater penetration and effect. His second, created by Eden Hazard's fine run and cross, was a splendid piece of six-yard area poaching.

By the end Chelsea had accumulated 32 efforts at goal, including 18 on target. Cahill scored with a header from Juan Mata's free-kick and the Spaniard also set up Oscar to stroke in the sixth as well as scoring the one that came before it, following up his own rebound after Hansen's initial save.

Benítez, full of praise for his team, could also reflect on Hazard's miss during that freakish spell when the Dutch referee, Bas Nijhuis, awarded three penalties for handballs by, in order, Cahill, Mikkel Beckmann and Patrick Mtiliga. Of those, only Beckmann's seemed legitimate. Cahill had been outside the area and Mtiliga was simply in the way of Mata's shot. Petr Cech, diving to his right, saved the first of them, denying Nicolai Stokholm and sparing Benítez the possibility of another mutinous reaction. Hazard's was struck with a strange lack of confidence, not seen in his general play.

Chelsea did wobble, briefly, at the start of the second-half when Kasper Lorentzen's pass behind the home defence was weighted beautifully and Joshua John had the pace to elude Branislav Ivanovic and prod the ball past Cech. The decisive blow, however, arrived in Donetsk and Chelsea are the first team to win the competition then go out at the first stage the following year. The delirium in Munich on 19 May feels a long time ago.
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Old 06-12-2012, 07:13 AM   #218
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Kris Commons penalty propels Celtic past Spartak Moscow into last 16




Celtic 2
Hooper 21, Commons (pen) 82
Spartak Moscow 1
Ari 39
Ewan Murray at Celtic Park
The Guardian




Celtic's progress has now been endorsed by material reward. On a freezing, nervous night in Glasgow, during which the football was rarely pretty, Neil Lennon earned the finest triumph of his managerial career to date. It was entirely in keeping with Lennon's character that his players battled as if their lives depended on victory.

Celtic were unfancied at the start of Group G but this win catapulted them into the Champions League's knockout stage. Few could quibble over them deserving that place, with Lennon's success all the more notable given the clubs who have already sampled elimination.

Kris Commons was the Celtic hero, with a penalty which saw off Spartak Moscow. That Spartak were probably worthy of a draw and enjoyed more possession than their hosts for long spells are irrelevant points in the grand scheme. Celtic's qualification is worthy of immense credit.

"The players have performed a miracle," said Lennon. "Nobody gave us a prayer in this group but we have qualified and deservedly so. This means the world to me."

The win for Celtic ensured 10 points from a Champions League group for the first time in their history. It also, crucially, bettered Benfica's scoreless draw in Barcelona.

Before kick-off, Celtic's anxiety could more reasonably have stemmed from Catalonia than Glasgow. Barcelona's team was noticeably understrength. Lionel Messi started among Tito Vilanova's substitutes but Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernández, Cesc Fábregas, Javier Mascherano and Jordi Alba were absent altogether.

Lennon had to do without the influential Victor Wanyama, who was suspended, but was otherwise untroubled by issues of selection.

Of more concern to Celtic's manager would have been the edgy start by his team, which was in tune with the stadium atmosphere. Spartak, who had nothing other than professional pride to play for amid a fruitless group campaign, used that spell to display the kind of fluency which contradicted the theory they are a club in turmoil. Still, it took 16 minutes for a goal threat of any kind. It arrived from the Russians, as Kim Kallstrom played a fine one-two with Artem Dzyuba before curling a 20-yard effort narrowly wide.

Spartak's blunder in affording Celtic the opening goal was therefore a surprise. Georgios Samaras played merely a hopeful ball forward, which Juan Insaurralde should easily have cut out. Instead, the Argentine woefully miscued his clearance straight to the feet of Gary Hooper and the striker lashed a low shot beyond Sergei Pesyakov.

Such clinical finishing has been an admirable trait during Celtic's European run. Heading into this game, they had a higher percentage of Champions League goals from shots on target than both Real Madrid and Barcelona. Hooper simply endorsed that statistic.

Spartak's response was admirable given their circumstances. The impressive Emmanuel Emenike shrugged off the attentions of Beram Kayal before playing in Ari, who offered a deft chip over the onrushing Fraser Forster. Kelvin Wilson's despairing goalline header could only help the ball into the net.

Celtic's start to the second half was brighter than it had been in the first. Their captain, Scott Brown, miscued a decent opportunity from inside the Spartak penalty area before Samaras struck the outside of a post with a close-range volley.

That effort was immediately followed by a first, inaccurate ripple of news throughout Celtic Park suggesting Barcelona had taken the lead. The danger attached to that was that the Celtic players could take heed of misinformation and temper their now brisk play.

Spartak sought to regain some impetus by introducing Aiden McGeady, a player once of this manor. The midfielder, a purchase from Celtic two years ago, would surely have started but for a knee problem. McGeady's guile was also the very commodity Celtic were in desperate need of with half an hour to play.

Charlie Mulgrew came within an acrobatic Pesyakov save of sending Celtic back in front. Commons had been the creator with a corner. A set-piece looked like Celtic's best hope of a winner. And so it proved. Samaras tumbled under a challenge from Marek Suchy, in winning what was a soft penalty.

Celtic had no reason to care about that, with Commons displaying wonderful nerve to blast home the spot-kick, with some assistance from the crossbar. "I turned my back on it, I couldn't watch," said Lennon afterwards.

Kallstrom displayed Spartak frustration with a crazy challenge on Commons, which resulted in a second yellow card for the Swedish midfielder. Commons departed the field on a stretcher but he returned to join his team-mates in epic celebration. How Celtic had earned it.
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Old 06-12-2012, 07:19 AM   #219
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Default Re: UEFA Champions League - News and Rumors

juara bertahan tersingkir ....
banyak yg mengejutkan di UCL musim ini, Cluj walau menang dari United juga harus tersingkir, karena kalah selisih goal away dari Galatasaray

United sebagai juara group punya kesempatan besar ketemu Milan / Madrid di 16 besar nih
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Old 18-12-2012, 12:08 PM   #220
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Default Re: UEFA Champions League - News and Rumors

Manchester United: 6 Potential Champions League Draws

While Manchester United are silencing the critics in the Premier League, very few consider them serious contenders for the this season's Champions League.

The Spanish duo of Barcelona and Real Madrid are the two favourites, with impressive German sides Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund both rated above United by most bookmakers.

Meanwhile, Manchester United are considered the best of the rest. With an unstable defence and a less-than-commanding midfield a fourth European Cup title seems unlikely.

But if the history of football has taught us anything, then it is never to rule out Sir Alex Ferguson. With Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney in a rich vein of form, they've the firepower to outscore anyone.

On Thursday, United will find out who their Last 16 opponents will be.

Let's examine their six potential opponents.

AC Milan
AC Milan in the Champions League sounds like a formidable task, but this Milan squad is a sorry imitation of the Rossoneri sides of the past.

United crashed out at this round in 2005, going down 2-0 on aggregate to the eventual finalists. In 2007 a superb 3-2 win at Old Trafford was quickly over turned by a Kaka-inspired Milan at the San Siro, as the Italians strolled to a 3-0 win on their way to lifting the trophy.

United successfully avenged those two defeats in 2010 with an impressive 7-2 aggregate win over Milan in the Last 16.

The Milan class of 2013 is far from vintage. They currently rest in the sixth place in Serie A, 14 points behind league leaders Juventus. Massimiliano Allegri has come to rely on 20-year-old forward Stephen El Shaarawy since the departure of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Antonio Cassano.

While the San Siro is always a daunting prospect, United would fancy their chances over two legs

Celtic
Celtic's run to the Last 16 has taken almost everybody by surprise and their victory over Barcelona was arguably the biggest story of the Champions League Group Stage.

While on paper United should have little difficulty with the SPL champions, Celtic's passionate home support and powerful will to win under manager Neil Lennon would make this a difficult tie.

Although United have defeated Celtic twice at Old Trafford in the Champions League, once in 2006 and then again in 2008, they have never won a Celtic Park, famously losing 1-0 to a Shunsuke Nakamura free-kick six seasons ago.

Former Northern Ireland international Neil Lennon captained Celtic that night, and he may be the man to inspire them to victory, now as manager. With Victor Wanyama on the field they'll certainly match the Red Devils for desire, but United should have enough quality to win this Battle of Britain.

Porto
Manchester United against Porto in the Champions League conjures up two images.

David May wheeling away after opening the scoring in United's 4-0 win over the Portuguese champions in the 1997 Quarterfinals. Then, seven seasons later, a young Jose Mourinho running along the Old Trafford touch-line, celebrating Costinha's last-minute goal that knocked United out of the Champions League.

The current Porto generation is laden with South American talent, including the likes of James Rodriguez and Jackson Martinez. The Portuguese champions are a potential banana skin for United, and one they might like to avoid.

Real Madrid
The return of Cristiano Ronaldo is a mouthwatering prospect, but one both Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho would rather avoid.

This clash of the titans would be a guaranteed epic, but with one of the competition's favourites guaranteed to crash out, it's something both sides would like to avoid, particularly United.

Real Madrid have knocked United out of the European Cup on three occasions, and each one has been a pivotal game in United's history. In 1957 the Busby Babes were denied a European Cup final by the great Madrid side that eventually won five European Cups in a row.

Then in 2000 a Redondo-inspired Madrid won 3-2 at Old Trafford, in a match that signaled the end of Ferguson's tactical innocence in Europe. Three years later Madrid returned to Old Trafford and lost 4-3, but Brazilian Ronaldo's hat-trick was enough to secure a 6-5 aggregate win.

The chances of another classic are high, but Ferguson won't be fooled by Real Madrid's underwhelming league form. They're still the second-best side left in the competition and would start as favourites should the two be paired together on Thursday.

Shakhtar Donetsk
In the Champions League era, it is rare to draw a club you've never faced before, but that is exactly the prospect United face if they pull Shakhtar Donetsk.

The wealthy Ukrainian side have been an impressive dark-horse in this season's competition and with bundles of pace, this would be a tricky tie for United. The nucleus of Shakhtar's attack have been playing together for years, so they're a well-drilled yet exciting force.

With a lengthy journey to eastern Europe on the cards and the prospect of facing Willian and Fernandinho, United might want to avoid this one.

Valencia
With Valencia struggling in the middle of La Liga, this might be exactly the tie Sir Alex Ferguson is looking for.

Despite Valencia's vast Champions League experience, Manchester United have never lost to them in the competition, drawing four times and winning on two occasions. The most recent of those victories came in Spain back in 2010, when United won 1-0 in the Group Stage tie, thanks to a late goal from Javier Hernandez.

Despite qualifying for the second stage in emphatic fashion, Valencia would be big outsiders if they were paired with United in the Last 16.

Valencia's main man this season has been Roberto Soldado, who has scored 13 goals and earned himself a call-up to the all conquering Spanish international side.

Code:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1447711-manchester-united-six-potential-champions-league-draws
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