From darkness to light
Shakhtar 1-0 Roma. Having professionally gone down to the mine of the group D standings, the wards of Mircea Lucescu for the fifth match realized that it was time to start the climb. Shakhtar took the statistical path of Arsenal, converting 24 shots on goal with just one goal. But the swing of the ponytail of Marika, who scored a head, turned out to be equal to three points. The home victory over Roma turned out to be a scattering of chances for the champion of Ukraine: now the Pitmen can not only continue the fight in the UEFA Cup, but also reach the playoffs. Keeping, however, the ability to fly past all European cups. In Athens it will not be easy for Shakhtar, however, like Rome, in Rome.
Will misfortune help?
Liverpool - PSV - 2-0. The formal match for first place in Group C confirmed Liverpool’s ambitions in the League and unexpectedly adjusted the future of the Merseysides in the English Championship. Rafael Benitez lost due to injuries to three midfielders at once: Xabi Alonso, Mark Gonzalez and Germain Pennant. The first two - after 36 minutes. Which didn’t stop Stephen Gerrard from becoming the on-duty hero of the match: the captain of Liverpool played perfectly in the position of the central hav and scored a goal. The resulting lack of players in midfield is likely to hamper Benitez’s habit of constantly rotating the starting lineup. Which may well fix the affairs of Liverpool, so far demonstrating the best performance in the home championship.
In Turkey, they still remember Zidane
“Bordeaux” - “Galatasaray” - 3: 1. The battle for the delegation to the UEFA Cup on its field was won by Bordeaux, which shipped the Istanbul team three goals in less than an hour. The champion of Turkey answered the French with French weapons - the midfielder of the guests Arda Turan played “Zidane”, hitting his head in the chest of Frank Jurietti. And he immediately received a red card for this. At the 73rd minute, Unichi Inamoto corrected for his two mistakes, which stimulated the first and third goal of the hosts. However, the epithet “comforting”, anyway, described his blow much better than “beautiful”.
One step from the record
“Levski” - “Barcelona” - 0: 2. Last year's League triumphs easily defeated the team of Stanimir Stoilov, reducing to an indistinguishable minimum the chances of the Sophians to catch at least a point in six matches. There is, frankly, no hope that Levski will do this in two weeks at a meeting at the Stamford Bridge that is meaningless for Chelsea. The only consolation for the Bulgarian champion is that the anti-record of Moscow Spartak (0 points and 1-18) has not yet been beaten. Before the last match, “Levski” has a handicap of 3 goals not yet conceded.