Thursday, November 27, 2014

Arsenal, Atletico advance; Reds held

Arsenal beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0 on Wednesday to advance into the Champions League knock-out stages and complete a sweep of Premier League wins over Bundesliga opponents over two days.
Surprise starter Yaya Sanogo opened the scoring in the second minute and Alexis Sanchez made it 2-0 in the 57th for the Gunners.
Arsenal joined already qualified Dortmund in the last 16 from Group D on a night which also saw last season's runners-up Atletico Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen clinch their berths in the knock-out rounds.
Liverpool, meanwhile, face another do-or-die match against Basle in the last round after drawing 2-2 at Bulgaria's Ludogorets. Basle lost 1-0 to Real Madrid, who were already through and the only team with a maximum 15 points, after Dortmund and Bayern Munich dropped first points.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored for Real to draw level on 71 Champions League goals with former Real and Schalke legend Raul Gonzalez, still in pursuit of Barcelona's Lionel Messi who raised the record to 74 goals with a hat-trick Tuesday.
Barca, Bayern, Paris St Germain, Chelsea, Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk are the teams qualified from groups E-H ahead of the last matchday December 9 and 10, leaving five spots still up for grabs.
The day after Manchester City's 3-2 over Bayern and Chelsea's 5-0 demolition, Arsenal were also on top against Dortmund in a meeting of domestic league underachievers.
Sanogo justified Arsene Wenger's faith when he slotted the early opening goal after a one-two with Santi Carzola.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain smashed against the crossbar shortly after the restart before Sanchez curled home a fantastic second from the left edge of the area into the far right corner of Roman Weidenfeller's goal.
"We didn't give them too much. We were solid at the back. We have had a few disappointing results recently. That was a mental test and we are strong enough. We can continue now," Arsenal's German defender Per Mertesacker told Sky.
Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp told Sky: "Arsenal were the better team and did deserve the win. It must now be our aim to win the group by beating Anderlecht."
The win lifted Arsenal to 10 points behind Dortmund (12), and they can still win the group if they beat Galatasaray in Turkey and Dortmund lose.
The Belgians clinched third place and a Europa League berth by beating ousted Galatarsaray 2-0 from Chancel Mbemba's brace to end a run of six straight home defeats in the event. The eliminated visitors had Selcuk Inan sent off late.
Ronaldo tapped home off Karim Benzema's run on the left to give Real victory in Basle, where Gareth Bale was denied a second by the bar in the 71st.
Basle remained on six points, while Liverpool have four after a late header from Georgi Terzev salvaged a 2-2 draw for fighting Ludogorets. Rickie Lambert's eighth-minute header and Jordan Henderson's tap in the 37th had earlier reversed the hosts' lead from Dani Abalo.
Liverpool must win at Anfield on December 9 while a draw would see Basle knock them out - just as in 2002 when they played 3-3 in Switzerland.
"We spoke before the game that this needs to be the night to change our season and for that we needed to show the character in our team," Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers told Sky.
"We are disappointed with the goal we conceded in the end but is irrelevant, we need to beat Basle in the final game."
Croatia forward Mario Mandzukic scored a hat-trick after Raul Garcia's opener as Atletico thrashed Olympiakos 4-0 to go through from group A with 10 points.
Former winners Juventus have nine thanks to a 2-0 in Malmo from Fernando Llorente and Carlos Tevez in the second half. Malmo had Erik Johansson dismissed in the dying seconds.
But the Italians are not safe because Olympiakos are just three behind and have won the head-to-head against Juve. The Serie champions play Atletico and Olympiakos host ousted Malmo in the last round.
In Group C, Portuguese winger Danny was on target with 11 minutes left, set up nicely by Brazil forward Hulk, as Zenit St Petersburg beat Benfica Lisbon 1-0 to keep alive their chances.
That result also saw Leverkusen through, but they then crashed 1-0 against Monaco from Lucas Ocampos 72nd-minute effort to complete German mid-week misery with four defeats.
Leverkusen have nine points while Monaco (eight) and Zenit (seven) face off for second place. Benfica have four and are ousted from the elite event a third straight time.

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