Real Madrid snatched a draw at home against Borussia

Champions League

The first participants in the Champions League play-offs have been determined. In addition to Malaga, which secured its exit from the group in which Zenit plays, Porto also received a ticket to the 1/8 finals, having achieved a completely satisfying goalless draw away from Dynamo Kyiv. Real Madrid, thirsting for revenge for the defeat in the last round, was forced to save itself and force a draw in the home match with Borussia Dortmund.

In Group D, the company chosen is so complex that even Real Madrid does not feel comfortable in it. Jose Mourinho's team confirmed this in the last round, losing away to Borussia Dortmund. The German team's return visit to Madrid was obviously seen as a chance for satisfaction. But nothing like that happened. Borussia seems to have fallen into the role of causing trouble for Real Madrid. In any case, nothing resembling jitters was observed in the actions of the German football players. From the first minutes they began to create dangerous moments near Iker Casillas' goal. Marcel Schmelzer, Robert Lewandowski and Kevin Grosskreutz had dangerous shots on goal. But they all lacked precision. But Marco Reus, at the end of half an hour of play, had enough accuracy and power to spare: after a discount from Lewandowski, he let the ball hit the lawn, after which he hammered it into the goal.

True, the answer came quite quickly: just six minutes later, Real Madrid succeeded in their attack, which was completed by Pepe with a powerful header under the crossbar. But Real still went into the break playing catch-up. At the end of the half, Borussia succeeded in a counterattack, which ended with a precise shot on target by Alvaro Arbeloa, who, in the heat of the fight with Mario Götze, scored an own goal.

“Two mistakes in the first half created all our problems. When, in a confrontation with a team like Borussia, you make ridiculous mistakes, they simply kill you!” Jose Mourinho lamented after the match. “It’s gratifying that we played the second half much better than the first ".

“Real” really looked more interesting in the second half of the match, and towards the end of the match they even pinned the opponent to the goal. However, this would have helped if not for the assistance of one German football player. The point is that in the 89th minute, Mesut Ozil, a player of the German national team, who, fortunately for Mourinho, plays for his team, equalized the score with a free kick.

The draw in Madrid allowed Borussia to maintain its lead in the group with a minimal gap over Real Madrid. And this situation - taking into account the fact that in the other match of the group, Manchester City and Ajax played a draw (2:2), and the Manchesters were forced to win back a two-goal deficit - suits both the Germans and the Spaniards quite well. To book their places in the play-offs, Borussia and Real Madrid will only need to not lose in the fifth round.

But in Group A, one playoff participant has already decided. It was “Porto”, which played a draw away with “Dynamo” Kyiv. The Portuguese could well have won against Dynamo, which was not in the best condition - at least they created enough chances. But since they couldn’t score, Porto preferred to concentrate on solving the tournament problem. It was not difficult, considering that Dynamo threatened the visiting goal quite infrequently. As a result, Porto advanced to the play-offs with ten points. The second ticket, apparently, will go to PSG, which defeated Dinamo Zagreb 4:0, and, it seems, lost its chances for third place, which would give a ticket to the Europa League.

Group C also has its own play-off participant - Champions League debutant Malaga. But there will be a serious struggle for the second ticket (see material on this page).

A very difficult situation is also developing in Group B. Only one thing is clear here: Montpellier, which suffered a third defeat in four matches (this time from Olympiacos), will obviously say goodbye to the European Cup. But three other teams - in addition to Olympiacos, there are also Arsenal and Schalke - retain approximately equal chances of leaving the group. Although the same Arsenal could have received the status of favorites if they had not managed to miss the victory in the confrontation with Schalke.

For Arsene Wenger's team, the trip to Gelsenkirchen was very successful for the time being. Arsenal took the lead in the 18th minute after Roman Neustaedter unwittingly extended Per Mertesacker's pass to Olivier Giroud. The German defenders caught up with the latter and stopped him, but the ball went to Theo Walcott, who opened the scoring. In the 26th minute, Giroud made his mark, perfectly executing a header after a pass from Lukas Podolski.

After such a start, Arsenal only had to avoid making serious mistakes and simply play for the result. But it didn’t work out. At the very end of the first half, Santi Cazorla slipped completely inopportunely, which resulted in a rapid attack by Schalke, completed by a shot from Claes Jan Huntelaar. And in the 67th minute, the home team equalized the score: after a shot from an acute angle by Jefferson Farfan, the ball, catching Arsenal captain Thomas Vermaelen, dived into the net.

Alexander Petrov

Group stage. Fourth round

Group A. "Dynamo" (Ukraine, Kiev) - "Porto" (Portugal) 0:0. PSG (France)--Dynamo (Croatia, Zagreb) 4:0 (Alex, 16; Matuidi, 61; Menez, 65; Hoaro, 80).

Team position

VNPMO

1. Porto	3	1	0	6:2	10
2. PSG	3	0	1	10:2	9
3. Dynamo (C)	1	1	2	5:7	4
4. Dynamo (D)	0	0	4	0:10	0

“Porto” guaranteed itself access to the playoffs. November 21: Porto - Dynamo (G), Dynamo (C) - PSG.

Group B. Schalke (Germany) - Arsenal (England) 2:2 (Huntelaar, 45+2; Farfan, 67 - Walcott, 18; Giroud, 26). "Olympiacos" (Greece) - "Montpellier" (France) 3:1 (Paulo Machado, 4; Greco, 80; Mitroglou, 82 - Belanda, 66 (pen.)).

VNPMO

1. Schalke	2	2	0	8:5	8
2. Arsenal	2	1	1	7:6	7
3. Olympiacos	2	0	2	7:7	6
4. Montpellier	0	1	3	5:9	1

November 21: Schalke - Olympiacos, Arsenal - Montpellier.

Group C. Anderlecht (Belgium) - Zenit (Russia) 1:0 (Mbokani 17). "Milan" (Italy) - "Malaga" (Spain) 1:1 (Pato, 73 - Eliseu, 40).

VNPMO

1. Malaga	3	1	0	8:1	10
2. Milan	1	2	1	4:4	5
3. Anderlecht	1	1	2	1:4	4
4. Zenit	1	0	3	3:7	3

Malaga guaranteed itself access to the play-offs. November 21: Anderlecht - Milan, Zenit - Malaga.

Group D. Manchester City (England) - Ajax (Holland) 2:2 (Yaya Toure, 22; Aguero, 74 - De Jong, 10, 17). “Real” (Spain) – “Borussia” (Germany, Dortmund) 2:2 (Pepe, 34; Ozil, 89 - Reus, 28; Arbeloa, 45 (own goal)).

VNPMO

1. Borussia	2	2	0	6:4	8
2. Real	2	1	1	10:7	7
3. Ajax	1	1	2	6:8	4
4. Manchester City	0	2	2	6:9	2

November 21: Manchester City - Real Madrid, Ajax - Borussia.

Mesut Ozil's shot was his own