| Valencia lost the Champions League The last round of the Champions League turned out to be a success for many teams. But in some groups there was a serious struggle even for theoretical chances of reaching the playoffs.
The champion of England and one of the main favorites to win the Champions League, Arsenal only managed to secure exit from Group E in the last round. It seems that the task of beating Rosenborg at Highbury did not seem extremely difficult for the Gunners, but the Norwegian team has always been considered a tough nut to crack. But not on this day. By the middle of the first half, Arsenal had sorted out all their problems and calmly brought the match to a major victory. “I had three goals planned this week: beat Birmingham, qualify from the Champions League group, and beat Chelsea at the weekend. We solved two of them. The last one remains,” Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger shared his immediate plans. - The match with Rosenborg was not as easy for us as it might seem. With the score 3:1 there was even cause for concern, but everything ended well.”
In Group F in the last round there was a fight only for third place, and Shakhtar did not miss their chance. Barcelona didn't really want to go to the currently troubled Ukraine. However, UEFA did not take the Catalans’ objections seriously, and Barça still had to make a voyage to Donetsk. There Frank Rijkaard's team, devoid of any motivation, did not particularly resist. A number of the guests' main players did not take the field, and Shakhtar took the opportunity to beat the European giants, scoring two goals in the first half. “The first half today against Barcelona was simply exceptional,” Shakhtar’s Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu, who was invited to Donetsk solely to finally achieve some success in European competition, said proudly after the match. . - This game was different from those we have already played in the Champions League. And I'm happy with this victory because it's very difficult to beat Barcelona. The result could have been 4:0 if we had been more careful with our chances.”
In turn, Celtic failed to beat Milan, which also entered the field with a weakened squad. Having played a draw, the Scots lost their way to the UEFA Cup to Shakhtar.
The most intense fight for a place in the playoffs took place in Group G. The fate of second place was decided in a head-to-head match between contenders Valencia and Werder Bremen. For almost the entire match, the Bremen team fought off the attacks of the Bats. Sometimes with numbers, sometimes with skill, and once a barbell came to the aid of the guests. And at the very end of the game, Werder were rewarded. Substitute Nelson Valdez scored two goals that left Claudio Ranieri's team without the Champions League. “I'm very disappointed. But I can’t blame my players for anything. They gave everything they could, but, unfortunately, it was not enough to beat Werder Bremen, the Italian coach of the Bats could only remark. But the coach of the German team, Thomas Schaaf, did not hide his joy: “It was very difficult for us. But the most important thing is that we did not deviate for a minute from our game plan. For this we were rewarded with a pass to the playoffs.”
Match results. Group “H” PSG - CSKA - 1:3 (Pankrat 37 - Semak 28, 64, Semak 70), Porto - Chelsea - 2:1 (Diego 61, McCarthy 85
-- Duff 34). Group "E". " Panathinaikos" - "PSV" - 4:1 (Papadopoulos 30, Munch 45 with pen., 57, Synmertyan 81 - Beasley 37), "Arsenal" - "Rosenborg" - 5:1 (Reyes 4, Henry 24, Fabregas 29, Pires 41 pen, van Persie 84 -- Hovtun 38). Group "F". “Shakhtar” – “Barcelona” – 2:0 (Agakhova 14, 22), “Celtic” – “Milan” – 0:0. Group "G". Valencia - Werder Bremen - 0:2 (Valdez 83, Valdez 90), Inter - Anderlecht - 3:0 (Cruz 33, Martins 60, 63).
Group "E" I V N P M O | 1. Arsenal | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 11--6 | 10 | | 2. PSV | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6--7 | 10 | | 3. Panathinaikos | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 11--8 | 9 | | 4. Rosenborg | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6--13 | 2 |
Group "F" I V N P M O | 1. Milan | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10--3 | 13 | | 2. Barcelona | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9--6 | 10 | | 3. Shakhtar | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 5--9 | 6 | | 4. Celtic | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4--10 | 5 |
Group "G" I V N P M O | 1. Inter | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 14--3 | 14 | | 2. Werder Bremen | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12--6 | 13 | | 3. Valencia | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6--10 | 7 | | 4. Anderlecht | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4--17 | 0 |
Group "H" I V N P M O | 1. Chelsea | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10--3 | 13 | | 2. "Porto" | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4--6 | 8 | | 3. CSKA | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5--5 | 7 | | 4. PSG | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3--8 | 5 |
Andrey VDOVIN
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