Group A: Real Sociedad (Spain) 0, Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) 1
Real Sociedad complete a disappointing return to Champions League with their fifth loss in six games, with the lack of urgency on a 49th minute corner allowing Ömer Toprak to score the game’s only goal, sending them to a 1-0 loss. The victory vaulted Bayer Leverkusen into second place, Sami Hyypia’s team overcoming their 5-0 loss to Manchester United to make the final 16.
Group B: Copenhagen (Denmark ) 0, Real Madrid (Spain) 2
Cristiano Ronaldo’s return from a thigh injury saw the Ballon d’Or finalist score his ninth goal of group stage, a new competition record. In an otherwise meaningless game for the visitors, Real Madrid improved to 16 points in six games and go undefeated into the competition’s knockout round.
[MORE: Cristiano Ronaldo sets record for most UEFA Champions League group stage goals]
Group B: Galatasaray (Turkey) 0, Juventus (Italy) 0 — Abandoned
Thirty-one minutes, no goals, but a hail storm that redefined our perceptions of Istanbul. The game will pick up in the 32nd minute on Wednesday.
From our post:
Thirty minutes into today’s UEFA Champions League match in Istanbul, players were back in their locker rooms, stars like Didier Drogba, Carlos Tévez, and Wesley Sneijder forced to take a back seat to battalion of anonymous, shovel-laden soldiers. What started as a normal game between two teams contesting a knockout round spot soon put all the weather talk around Saturday’s MLS Cup to shame. Roughly 15 minutes before halftime, a hail storm that created a sheet of ice at the Turk Telecom Arena had rekindled memories of the United States’s snow game versus Costa Rica, only this time the game was stopped.
[MORE: Update: Storm in Istanbul sees Galatasaray-Juventus abandoned in UEFA Champions League]
Group C: Benfica (Portugal) 2, Paris Saint-Germain (France) 1
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva even weren’t in Laurent Blanc’s 18 for PSG’s meaningless match in Lisbon, a status that will make the team’s first loss of the tournament easy to bear. Although the French champions still struck first through Edinson Cavani, they were back on even footing after Lima equalized from the spot just before halftime. In the 58th minute, Nicolas Gaitán scored from five yards out, giving Benfica the lead they’d hold through full time. For the Eagles, it was a must-win game, one that kept pressure on Olympiacos to win in Piraeus to stay second in Group C.
Group C: Olympiacos (Greece) 3, Anderlecht (Belgium) 1
Javier Saviola and Sacha Kljestan swapped goals within six first half minutes of each other, the 1-1 scoreline giving Benfica hope the group’s cellar dwellers could take points in Greece. When Saviola missed an early second half penalty kick, those hopes gained momentum, but the former Benfica forward’s second and a late penalty conversion from fellow Argentine Alejandro Domínguez gave Olympiacos a comfortable win, Anderlecht finishing the match with nine men after two late red cards.
Group D: Bayern Munich (Germany) 2, Manchester City (England) 3
Looking to extend their record Champions League winning streak to 11, Bayern Munich got early goals from Thomas Müller and Mario Götze, building a two-goal lead after 12 minutes. A David Silva score pulled one back for the Citizens before halftime, with Aleksandar Kolarov and James Milner giving Manchester City a record-snapping victory at the Allianz.
From our recap:
Though the 3-2 defeat at the Allianz Arena won’t coast Bayern Group D — FCB’s two-goal win in Manchester giving them the tiebreaker over the Citizens — it was Bayern’s first home loss under Pep Guardiola, the club was without a defeat at home since March’s 2-0 Champions League loss to Arsenal. In all competition, Bayern were unbeaten since their German Super Cup loss to Borussia Dortmund (July 27), today’s loss ending a 27-match undefeated run.
For the Citizens, a team that had already confirmed their knockout round spot, the win does nothing for their position in the competition, but with a short history of pronounced disappointment in this tournament, the result marks City’s biggest win in Champions League. And for a man whose Real Madrid team fell short of glory in Spain at the boots of Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona, Manuel Pellegrini is sure to savor a victory that quells any notion the Chilean can’t beat his former La Liga adversary.
Group D: Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic) 2, CSKA Moscow (Russia) 1
Viktoria’s first points of the competition were enough to push them into Europa League, with Daniel Kolar and Tomas Wágner’s goals after Alan Dzagoev’s dismissal moving the 1-0-5 team into a tie for third. But thanks to their two goals in Russia, Viktoria are through at CSKA’s expense, Leonid Slutsky’s side finishing the match with nine after Pontus Wernbloom’s extra time dismissal. For Pavel Vrba, the future Czech national team coach, the victory sends him out on a high note, the congratulatory celebrations on the Viktoria sideline rejoicing in their coach’s farewell success.
