Champions League Group Stage: Gerrard Nets Two

Marseille 1-2 Liverpool
Unfortunately, I was unable to watch this one because I was under the impression that the match was Wednesday, thank you man announcing the Liverpool-Man U match. Anyway, upon finding out that it was a two goal away win, I was happy. When I realized that Gerrard had scored both goals, I was even more excited. When I saw his first goal, wow.

After going down one goal in the first half, Fernando Torres intercepted the ball at midfield and ran down on the Marseille defense, and dished off to Dirk Kuyt. Kuyt then softly slide the ball into the path of Stevie G and, oh just watch the highlights.......



Unbelievable. Gerrard is one of the few players on Earth who can score that type of goal. His penalty tally means another roaring start to his Champions League campaign, where he will once again be amongst the goal scoring leaders.

PSV 0-3 Atletico Madrid
Atletico got out quick with a 9th minute goal, from striker Kun Aguero, and never looked back. El Kun added another, and Maniche tallied in the second half to send the Dutch champs to a surprising 3 goal loss at home. Madrid are going to be press Liverpool for the top of this group.

Chelsea 4-0 Bordeaux
Chelsea dominated Bordeaux at Stamford Bridge, giving Scolari his first Champions League win with the London club. Frank Lampard had a goal and a sweet backheel pass on a Flourent Malouda goal, but he also corked an open shot, wide left, which brought a smile to my face. My anti-Lampard sentiments will be expressed in long form soon enough.

Roma 1-2 CFR Cluj
CFR Cluj not only shocked Europe with a win against Roma, they did it from a goal down and away from home, at the Stadio Olimpico. Roma struggles early on in Serie A extended into the Champions League on Tuesday, as they fell to the inspired Romanian club.

Panathinaikos 0-2 Inter Milan
Jose Mourinho's squad gained a hard fought win over their Greek competition, winning 2-0 on the road. The match was closer than the final score, as Panathinaikos pressed Inter hard after the first goal, getting the majority of the chances.

Werder Bremen 0-0 Anorthosis Famagusta
I did not watch this game, I did not watch the highlights, I did not read the match report, I only bothered my self to read the score. So my analysis is going to assume that the game went like this; Werder Bremen had tons of chances, Pizarro, Almeida, Rosenberg, and whoever else played up front squandered opportunities against a Famagusta defense which built a fort around it's goal. I'm going to go check the report and if I'm close, I'll assume that can work off assumption for games like this one from now on. Agreed? Good.

FC Basel 1-2 Shakhtar Donetsk
I'm pretty sure I picked Shakhtar to finish second in this group. Doesn't really matter though, all three teams will be cat toys for Barcelona. How does Barca get a group like this? Shakhtar does look like a good team though, and could pull off an upset after the group stage.

Barcelona 3-1 Sporting Lisbon
Barca took care of the Portuguese at the Nou Camp, with a 3-1 victory. Xavi's late goal ended the tension after Sporting had pulled to within 2-1. Barcelona will want to get their easy draw over with early and rack up wins, in order to rest players in the final couple of matches.