UEFA Champions League - Gameweek # 3 - Tuesday - Review

An exciting night in the UEFA Champions League for the British teams on Tuesday saw fortunes swing dramatically as the hopeless became hopefuls (Celtic) and sure shots became doubts (Arsenal). Here is a review of last night’s action

ARSENAL 1—- 2 BORUSSIA DORTMUND

Arsenal were left with a job to do after last night in a group in which they were initially very comfortable with. Now they must get a win either at Naples or in Dortmund to be assured of qualification. In many ways, yesterday brought back memories of "same old (new) Arsenal" as Wenger’s men lacked the steel in midfield and looked bereft of leaders. Arsenal were surprised by Borussia’s high pressing game in the early minutes which saw them repeatedly lose possession to the visitors. Eventually the pressure paid off for Dortmund as Henrikh Mkhitaryan opened the scoring leaving the Emirates stadium stunned. But Arsenal soon found their feet and Bacaray Sagna’s cross was flapped at by Weidenfeller and Giroud ensured that the ‘keeper regretted his mistake

And this is where we stood in the period of play after half time..when Arsenal were dominating. The last few weeks have made their fans believe that they can convert these 1-1 draws to 2-1 victories. (I believed so too as that was the result I had predicted). However the old Arsenal-ness was revisited and Robert Lewandowski struck a counter punch. For all of Arsenal’s second half superiority, Dortmund left with three points (sounds familiar?)

Man Of The Match - Robert Lewandowski. It is still not clear why the Polish striker is so desperate to leave Dortmund and sign up for Bayern Munchen. This team is set up perfectly for Lewandowski to score such crucial goals. The grass on the other side isn’t always greener, Robert.

CELTIC 2—- 1 AFC AJAX

As I predicted in my Preview blog, Ajax were trying to play expansive football without the players with the required skill. And hence they played into the hands of the Scottish Champions. Celtic are a team who set up to defend in Europe but when the initiative is handed to them , they struggle. And hence, Ajax’s threat was enough for Celtic to set up defensively but not enough to penetrate the Celtic defence.

Was Ajax’s defence good enough to keep the Celtic counter attacks and set pieces at bay? The answer was no as Ajax’s clumsy defending lead to a penalty (from James Forrester) and a deflected goal (from Beram Kayal)which saw Celtic through despite the late consolation for Ajax. Now Celtic will dare to dream in the Champions League as they are just two points behind the qualifying places. A victory in Amstredam might see them rise above Milan (who are likely to lose at Barcelona)

Man Of The Match - Fraser Forester. With the two goal scorers, it is easy to forget the big goalkeeper who rescued his side with brilliant saves at crucial junctures, once when the score was 0-0 and once when Celtic were defending a 1-0 lead. Forester for England!

FC SCHALKE 0—- 3 CHELSEA

It proved to be an absolute damp squib at Gelsenkirchen as Chelsea turned up in Jose Mourinho Mk I mode. They came, didn’t look to play attacking football or press. Schalke were absolutely awful . And so Chelsea got an early lead through Fernando Torres (and no, he is not "back" before you say it!) as early as the fifth minute. Signs were ominous for Schalke as Chelsea constricted space. Even Julian Draxler (who has been amazing so far this season) couldn’t create much for Schalke.

The second half was instantly better but Torres and Chelsea scored again to end the contest. Then it was pass-pass-pass for Chelsea as uninspired Schalke chased the game around and Mourinho brought on Mikel and Ramires..you get the picture. However the group is as tight as ever with all three (Chelsea, Basel and Schalke) tied with six points each

Man Of The Match - Fernando Torres. It might have been boring but it was absolutely clinical from Mourinho’s side. Fernando Torres scored two sharp goals .