Champions League Marseille and Rangers upset favourites

Ozren Podnar

USA | Japan

The first two rounds of the Champions' League saw two spectacular upsets featuring the two French Olympiques in opposite roles. In Group A Olympique Marseille, in terrible form in the national championship, scored a sensational win over Liverpool at Anfield with a goal from Valbuena in the 77th minute. On the other hand, in Group E Olympique Lyonnaise was stunned by Rangers 3-0, their second "straight sets" loss in as many Champions' League games this season. Not many people had predicted Marseille and Rangers on top of their groups with a 100% record, but there they are after the first 180 minutes.

After slipping up at home to Rosenborg in their first Group B match, Chelsea significantly improved their chances of progress with a win at Valencia's Mestalla, a déja vu of their previous confrontation on the same turf. The Blues won by the same score six months before and even the sequence of goals was the same, with the visitors coming from behind. This time the heroes were Joe Cole and Didier Drogba, cooperating over both goals. The second a phenomenal move in which Cole sent a magic through ball to the Ivorian could have been the play of the day.

In the Group C, Werder held superbly in Madrid and lost narrowly to Real by 1-2, but then wasted most of their chances by losing to Olympiacos at home in the Weserstadium. The Greeks now look very strong in the group thanks to their first away win in 32 appearances in the Champions League.

Dida's shameful playacting

The Ukrainian coal magnate Rinat Ahmetov, owner of Shahtar Donetsk, has compiled a great side after several years worth of experimenting. The Miners lead Group D with maximum points, while Milan and Celtic are poised to compete for second place ahead of a failing Benfica.

Celtic performed a minor miracle in the second round by beating Milan 2-1 with a goal by McDonald. Dida, to blame for the goal, also disgraced himself in the eyes of the fans by simulating an injury after a local fan ran onto the pitch to celebrate the win for the Scots. The Brazilian keeper collapsed pretending to have been struck, but the Italian press slammed him for the unfair attempt to obtain an undeserved advantage to Milan through an appeal process. Aware of the circumstances, Milan immediately stated they would not appeal over the incident which cost the fan a lifelong ban from all Celtic games.

Manchester United in Group F scored two of their six 1-0 wins this season. This is how they defeated Sporting in Lisbon thanks to a goal from the former Lions' man, Cristiano Ronaldo, before overcoming Roma thanks to Wayne Rooney. The Romans improved greatly over their previous dismal performance at Old Trafford and in fact deserved a point.

Similarly to Milan, their city rivals Inter started in a mediocre fashion, with a win and a loss. Zlatan Ibrahimovic preserved Inter's chances with two goals against PSV Eindhoven with whom the Italians are currently tied on points, while Fenerbahce emerged on top thanks to a win over Inter and a draw at CSKA in Moscow.

In the Group H, Arsenal have continued their magnificent run that now includes nine wins in a row in all competitions. Not even the two-time UEFA Cup winners Sevilla were a match for the Gunners in their opening game, while a patient performance at Bucharest gave Arsenal another three points thanks to a goal from Adebayor.

Group A

1. day
Marseille vs. Besiktas 2-0
Porto vs. Liverpool 1-1
2. day
Besiktas vs. Porto 0-1
Liverpool vs. Marseille 0-1

3. day
Marseille vs. Porto
Besiktas vs. Liverpool
4. day
Porto vs. Marseille
Liverpool vs. Besiktas
5. day
Liverpool vs. Porto
Besiktas vs. Marseille
6. day
Porto vs. Besiktas
Marseille vs. Liverpool

1. Marseille 2 2 0 0 3-0 6
2. Porto 2 1 1 0 2-1 4
3. Liverpool 2 0 1 1 1-2 1
4. Besiktas 2 0 0 2 0-3 0

Group B

1. day
Chelsea vs. Rosenborg 1-1
Schalke vs. Valencia 0-1
2. day
Rosenborg vs. Schalke 0-2
Valencia vs. Chelsea 1-2
3. day
Chelsea vs. Schalke
Rosenborg vs. Valencia
4. day
Schalke vs. Chelsea
Valencia vs. Rosenborg
5. day
Valencia vs. Schalke
Rosenborg vs. Chelsea
6. day
Schalke vs. Rosenborg
Chelsea vs. Valencia
1. Chelsea 2 1 1 0 3-2 4
2. Schalke 2 1 0 1 2-1 3
3. Valencia 2 1 0 1 2-2 3
4. Rosenborg 2 0 1 1 1-3 1

Group C

1. day
Olympiakos vs. Lazio 1-1
Real vs. Werder 2-1
2. day
Werder vs. Olympiakos 1-3
Lazio vs. Real 2-2
3. day
Real vs. Olympiakos
Werder vs. Lazio
4. day
Olympiakos vs. Real
Lazio vs. Werder
5. day
Lazio vs. Olympiakos
Werder vs. Real
6. day
Olympiakos vs. Werder
Real vs. Lazio

1. Olympiakos 2 1 1 0 4-2 4
2. Real Madrid 2 1 1 0 4-3 4
3. Lazio 2 0 2 0 3-3 2
4. Werder 2 0 0 2 2-5 0

Group D

1. day
Milan vs. Benfica 2-1
Shahtar vs. Celtic 2-0
2. day
Benfica vs. Shahtar 0-1
Celtic vs. Milan 2-1
3. day
Milan vs. Shahtar
Benfica vs. Celtic
4. day
Shahtar vs. Milan
Celtic vs. Benfica
5. day
Benfica vs. Milan
Celtic vs. Shahtar
6. day
Shahtar vs. Benfica
Milan vs. Celtic

1. Shahtar 2 2 0 0 3-0 6
2. Milan 2 1 0 1 3-3 3
3. Celtic 2 1 0 1 2-3 3
4. Benfica 2 0 0 2 1-3 0

Group E

1. day
Rangers vs. Stuttgart 2-1
Barcelona vs. Lyon 3-0
2. day
Stuttgart vs. Barcelona 0-2
Lyon vs. Rangers 0-3
3. day
Rangers vs. Barcelona
Stuttgart vs. Lyon
4. day
Barcelona vs. Rangers
Lyon vs. Stuttgart
5. day
Lyon vs. Barcelona
Stuttgart vs. Rangers
6. day
Barcelona vs. Stuttgart
Rangers vs. Lyon

1. Barcelona 2 2 0 0 5-0 6
2. Rangers 2 2 0 0 5-1 6
3. Stuttgart 2 0 0 2 1-4 0
4. Lyon 2 0 0 2 0-6 0

Group F

1. day
Roma vs. Dinamo 2-0
Sporting vs. Manchester Utd 0-1
2. day
Dinamo vs. Sporting 1-2
Manchester Utd. vs. Roma 1-0
3. day
Roma vs. Sporting
Dinamo vs. Manchester Utd.
4. day
Sporting vs. Roma
Manchester Utd. vs. Dinamo
5. day
Manchester Utd. vs. Sporting
Dinamo vs. Roma
6. day
Sporting vs. Dinamo
Roma vs. Manchester Utd.

1. Manchester Utd. 2 2 0 0 2-0 6
2. Roma 2 1 0 1 2-1 3
3. Sporting Lisbon 2 1 0 1 2-2 3
4. Dinamo Kiev 2 0 0 2 1-4 0

Group G

1. day
PSV vs. CSKA 2-1
Fenerbahce vs. Inter 1-0
2. day
CSKA vs. Fenerbahce 2-2
Inter vs. PSV 2-0
3. day
PSV vs. Fenerbahce
CSKA vs. Inter
4. day
Fenerbahce vs. PSV
Inter vs. CSKA
5. day
Inter vs. Fenerbahce
CSKA vs. PSV
6. day
Fenerbahce vs. CSKA
PSV vs. Inter
1. Fenerbahce 2 1 1 0 3-2 4
2. Inter 2 1 0 1 2-1 3
3. PSV Eindhoven 2 1 0 1 2-3 3
4. CSKA Moscow 2 0 1 1 3-4 1

Group H

1. day
Arsenal vs. Sevilla 3-0
Slavia vs. Steaua 2-1
2. day
Steaua vs. Arsenal 0-1
Sevilla vs. Steaua 4-2
3. day
Arsenal vs. Slavia
Sevilla vs. Steaua
4. day
Slavia vs. Arsenal
Steaua vs. Sevilla
5. day
Steaua vs. Slavia
Sevilla vs. Arsenal
6. day
Slavia vs. Sevilla
Arsenal vs. Steaua
1. Arsenal 2 2 0 0 4-0 6
2. Sevilla 2 1 0 1 4-5 3
3. Slavia Prag 2 1 0 1 4-5 3
4. Steaua 2 0 0 2 1-3 0

Next matches are due to be played on October 23/24th and November 6/7th

3rd Preliminary Round

1st 2nd
Werder vs. Dinamo Zagreb 2-1, 3-2
Toulouse vs. Liverpool 0-1, 0-4
Lazio vs. Dinamo Bukurest 1-1, 3-1
Rangers vs. Crvena Zvezda 1-0, 0-0
Valencia vs. Elfsborg 3-0, 2-1
Benfica vs. FC Kobenhavn 2-1, 1-0
Tampere vs. Rosenborg 0-3, 0-2
Spartak Moskva vs. Celtic 1-1, 1-1, 3-4 (pen)
BATE Borisov vs. Steaua 2-2, 0-2
Sarajevo vs. Dinamo Kiev 0-1, 0-3
Fenerbahce vs. Anderlecht 1-0, 2-0
Ajax vs. Slavia Prag 0-1, 1-2
Zurich vs. Besikitas 1-1, 0-2
RB Salzburg vs. Shahtar 1-0, 1-3
Sparta Prag vs. Arsenal 0-2, 0-3
Sevilla vs. AEK Athens 2-0, 0-0

Ozren Podnar