Hamburg (DPA) French club Olympique Lyon were on fire as they won their away Group E match in the Champions League match against Hungarian side Debrecen 4-0 on a night when just one of three British sides in action managed to win.
Liverpool also lost their away Group E match 2-0 to Italian side Fiorentina, while
Glasgow Rangers lost 4-1 at home against Sevilla in Group G.
Arsenal, meanwhile, needed late goals by Robin van Persie and
Andrey Arshavin to beat Greek club Olympiakos 2-0 in Group H.
The other game in the group saw surprise Dutch champions AZ
Alkmaar draw 1-1 at home with Standard Liege. Mounir El Hamdaoui’s
strike gave the home side the lead three minutes after the restart,
but Moussa Traore found an injury time equaliser.
Arsenal’s victory sees the side from London top the group with six
points, from Olympiakos, who have three. Liege and Alkmaar are on one
point each.
In Florence Liverpool failed to score for the first time in a
Champions League match since late 2007, ending a 22-game streak.
Nineteen-year-old Montenegrin striker Stevan Jovetic scored twice in the
first half to give Fiorentina a deserved victory and move above
Liverpool on goal difference to second place with three points.
Liverpool coach Rafa Benitez was disappointed with the result. “In
the first half everything was wrong with our side, we were watching
the game. We gave the ball away and did not win challenges.
“The difference in football is if you take your chances. They did
and we did not.
“We were very disappointed at half time. You cannot play at this
level like this, the other sides are good too.”
Lyon are comfortable leaders in the group with six points after
completely outplaying Debrecen Tuesday. The visitors were up three goals
midway through the first half after Kim Kallstrom, Miralem Pjanic and
Sidney Govou found the net early on.
Bafetimbi Gomis scored his side’s fourth five minutes after the
restart.
In Glasgow, Rangers looked the stronger side in the first half,
but fell behind in the 50th minute when Abdoulay Konko scored for
Sevilla. Adriano doubled the score in the 64th minute, before Luis Fabiano
added a third in the 72nd minute. Just two minutes later Frederic
Kanoute made it four.
Nacho Novo found a consolation goal two minutes from the end.
The other game in the group saw Unirea Urziceni come from behind
to draw 1-1 with visiting VfB Stuttgart, for whom Serdar Tasci scored
the opener in the fifth minute. Serban Varga equalised in the second
half.
Sevilla have a four point lead at the top of the group with six
points, from Stuttgart who have two. Rangers and Debrecen are both on
one point.
Lionel Messi gave Barcelona the lead at home against Dynamo Kiev
in their Group F game and substitute Pedro made the final score 2-0
in the 76th minute.
Earlier Tuesday, a ten-man Inter Milan came away with a 1-1 draw
from Russian club Rubin Kazan in the other Group F match.
Inter, who had Mario Balotelli sent off on the hour after a
unnecessarily harsh foul on Ecuadorian midfielder Cristian Noboa,
went behind after just 11 minutes through a spectacular goal by
Alejandro Dominquez.
The Argentine striker picked up the ball just inside the Inter
half and then went around several defenders before unleashing a
powerful shot that gave goalkeeper Julio Cesar no chance.
The home side then controlled proceedings in the next 20 minutes,
but failed to add to their score.
Instead, it was Dejan Stankovic header leveled
matters in the 27th minute.
The sides then traded chances, but once Balotelli had been sent
off for a second bookable offence, Rubin again seized the initiative
and came close to finding a winner.
They came agonisingly close with just nine minutes to play when
captain Sergey Semak hit the post from close range, only to see his
ball bounce back into play.
Barcelona head the group on four points, while Dynamo Kiev have
three. Inter Milan are on two, with Kazan on one from Tuesday’s draw.
rounak