It was a thrilling match day in the Champions League last Tuesday. There were a total of eight games, and a total of 20 goals were scored between them, an average of two and a half goals per game.
With an early start time — 9:00 a.m. here on the West Coast — Bayern Munich defeated CSKA Moscow one-nil. Thomas Muller scored the only goal of the game off of a penalty kick drawn by Mario Gotze, who was taken down from behind in the box after trying to dribble around a couple of defenders. Bayern dominated in possession, holding onto the ball for 73 per cent of the match. They are now in control of group E, with two wins in two matches so far in Europe.
The big match of the day was Paris St Germain (PSG) vs. Barcelona, the Group F matchup. The Parisians got the first goal, a left-footed shot by David Luiz from about 10 yards out. Barcelona responded just two minutes later with a beautiful goal, finished off by a strong left-footed strike from Lionel Messi, his 68th Champions League goal.
Marco Veratti gave PSG a 2-1 lead in the 26th minute — a header off a corner. Blaise Matuidi scored in the second half to put PSG up by two, but once again, Barcelona responded two minutes later with an excellent first time finish by Neymar, to cut the lead down to one. That’s as close as Barcelona would come, however, and the final score was 3-2 for PSG. This result leaves the group wide open, as both PSG, Barcelona, and to a lesser extent, Ajax, all now have a chance to take the top spot.
In another group E match, Manchester City took on Roma. The first goal of the game went to Man City as Sergio Aguero was pulled down in the box in the fourth minute, and calmly buried the ensuing penalty kick.
In the 23rd minute, Francesco Totti scored a wonderful chip shot to tie the game. With that goal, he became the oldest goalscorer in Champions League history, breaking the previous record set by Ryan Giggs. The game eventually ended in a 1-1 draw. Man City have made things hard on themselves with this draw — with only one point from their first two games, they’re going to need some wins in the near future if they want to progress.
Chelsea took on Sporting Lisbon in a group G clash. The only goal of the match was scored by Nemanja Matic, a header off of a free kick in the 34th minute. It was quite the even match, as both teams had 15 attempts on goal and the possession was almost split down the middle. Now with four points, Chelsea looks to be in control of the group.
In the other matches, Shaktar drew with Porto 2-2, Schalke 04 drew with Maribor 1-1, BATE beat Athletic Bilbao 2-1, and Ajax drew with Apoel Nicosia 1-1.
