Round 1 of UEFA Champions League Review

During the UEFA Champions League I will reviewing all the weeks action week by week. I will do a group by group analysis of the tournament, as Europe's best battle it out in the the continents premier club cup competion. All sides competing for the most covented crown in club football throughout the world. And Away We Go. Sorry for the 'Dark Knight' reference :}





Group A: The German Giants Bayren Munich traveled to Isreal to take on the Israli champions Maccabi Haifa. The underdog host help of Bayern for the first half, playing to a scoreless first half. Then the floodgates opened. Daniel van Buyton struck in the 64th, and Thomas Muller tallied in the 85th and 88th to give Bayern a 3-0 away win. Not a good start for the Isralies. In the more intiging match Bordeaux pulled out a 1-1 draw in Italy against Juventus. Vincenzo Iaquinto struke first for Juventus in the 63rd. Still, the Frech side stole a point on the road with Jaroslav Plasil's equalizer in the 75th.


Group B: Bundesliga Champions Wolfsburg got of to good start in the group stage. Grafite scored in the 36th, 41st, and 87th minutes to record a hat trick for the German side. CSKA Moscow did get a consolation goal from Alan Dzagoev in the 77th minute to pull the visitors closer at 2-1. But Wolfsburg and Grafite proved to be too strong. Manchester United traveled to Turkey for their match against Besiktas. The Red Devils struggled to find the scoresheet, posting 16 shots overall, but only 5 on target. It took till the 77th minute when Paul Scholes put Sir Alex Ferguson's club up 1-0. Manchester held on to collect the 3 points, and tie Wolfsburg with 3pts. a piece.


Group C: Filippo Inzaghi pulled through for AC Milan in the club's trip to Marsille. Inzaghi put the Rossenari up 1-0 in the 27th. Gabriel Heinze put things on even turms for the host. However, Inzaghi was not done just yet, as he secured 3 points for his club with a 74th minute strike, as AC Milan won on the road 2-1. It was a high scoring affair in Switzerland, but the star-power of Real Madrid proved to be too much for FC Zurich. Cristiano Ronaldo started the frezy with a 27th minute goal. Raul and Gonzalo Higuain added before the break. Xavier Margairaz's penelty in the 63rd, and Silvan Aegerter struck 2 minutes later for Zurich to make it 3-2. Ronaldo and Guti stuck late to put it out of reach as Madrid won 5-2. With the results the twho high-profile clubs are tied with 3 points a piece.


Group D: In the group that looked as if there would not be any drama, with the top 2 clubs running away towards advacement-it looked liked anything but that. Apoel Nicosia recorded the first points for any Cyprus club in modern UCL history with a scoreless draw. What was even more impressive was that they achieved the feat on the road at Atletico Madrid. The result makes me question the Spanish club's merit. In the other match the Cinderalla of last year's tournament FC Porto ALMOST proved to be spoiler agian. The Portugesse Champions went into the locker rooms 0-0 at Stamford Bridge. Then Nicolas Anelka's put the Blues up 1-0 in the 48th. The match was a shoting gallary as Chelsea outshot Porto 20-19, but Porto but more on target with a 7-6 advantage. Chelsea lead a group that looked at first like a no brainer to pick, but some Day 1 scares have me taking a second look.


Group E: It was not as easy as the Liverpool would have liked it, but Manager Benitez said the result was the important thing. After all they ask not how, but how many. Still it was a tense moment for the Reds as Dirk Kuyt's tally before the half is what separated the host from Hungarian Champions Debreceni. Liverpool controlled the game, but could not find the back of the next. Still, Liverpool should still be happy with the opening round 3 points. Fiorentina looked like they could get a point at Lyon, then a red card in the 45th sunk the hopes of the Italian side. Miralem Pjanic finally broke though for Lyon against the 10-man team for Fiorentina. The group is still wide open following a pair of 1-0 results.


Group F: Russian Champions Rubin Kazan looked sharp on the road against Dynamo Kiev, with Domingez's 25th minute goal. Then the second half happended. Then the Ukrainan super-powers came roaring back late in the match. Atanda Yussef put the game on equal terms in the 71st. Then Gerson Magrao put the host ahead in the 79th. Oleg Gusev iced the match with an insurance goal in the 85th. As the host grabbed 3 points against there fellow Eastern European side. In a match that featured two sides with unlimited budgets to attrack high scoring players, the match ended a 0-0 draw. Inter Milan played to a scoreless draw against Barcelona in Milan. Barca outshot Inter 15-9, but both sides but 3 shots on target. With the results Dynamo Kiev is a surprise on top of the group: They play Barcelona at Camp Nou next.


Group G: Sevilla got off to a flying start against Romanian side Unirea Urziceni. Luis Fabiano struck before the half. Then Renato secured the victory with a 70th minute strike. Sevilla controlled the game as the Blue Lions of Romania never put a shot on frame. A late game strike by Madjid Bougherra saved a point for Rangers as they visited Stuttgart. Pavel Pogrebnyak put the South German team up 1-0 in the 18th minute. The two battled in an evenly fough match. Then Renato 70th minute equalizer guarenteed the Scottish Champions a point on the road. Sevilla holds the early lead, while Stuttgart and Rangers will battle it out over the next 5 rounds.


Group H: It would of been disaster for the Greek champs if they could not collect 3 points at their opener at home. But it took untill the 79th minute for Olympiakos secured the 1-0 over AZ Alkmaar. Vassilis Torosidis put the host ahead of the Dutch Champions in the 79th. Then Olympiakos held on to win in a match they were outshot, and lost the possesion battle. In the other match Belgian Champions Standard Liege almost had a dream start to their Champion's Leuge campain. Eliaquim Mangala and Milan Jovanovic put the host up in the first 5 minutes of the match. Then the mighty Arselnal fought back. Nicklas Bendtner struck before the half to make it 2-1 at the half. The Gunners kept the pressure up in the second 45, Thomas Vermaelen equalized in the 78th, and Eduardo scored 3 minutes later to give Arsenal a 3-2 win. Arsenal is still my pick to win the group, but the second place fight is sure to be a good one.

This was only the first round of the six grueling group matches each team needs to navigate if they wish to become's Europes best. More action is sure to come in the long road to Madrid, where one team will become the Kings of Europe.