Too bad the final result was a draw....
Yes...no matter what the final result was tonight at the bridge I am still dedicating this blog entry to Oscar. Chelsea's Brazilian savior! It was his first start for Chelsea, first goal for Chelsea (and then second) and first Champions League appearance. His goals were the only 2 of the game and our 1 point is owed to that kid (I don't care that he's only a year younger than me...he looks like he's 12). Now I was clearly watching the Chelsea match...I would have given anything to be at Stamford Bridge tonight, so I'll start there.
The start of the Champions League season always seems to be a bittersweet one for Chelsea fans, though this time there was a different feeling. We are defending our title. Now I'm used to not seeing Drogba in the first few games, in the past years he was always serving some sort of suspension from the previous season at the beginning of the group stages. However, this time, Drogba would never be coming back, and instead, a kid who looked like this game was a bit past his bedtime was wearing the number 11 for Chelsea. Now, Oscar had subbed in a few times so far this season, and I thought he was pretty good, but a CL start against defending Italian champions Juventus? Interesting choice RDM. Well, even though we only managed a draw, Oscar impressed me, and I applaud RDM for taking the chance. Juve was going to be a tough game anyway. Italians are known for having the best defense in the world, and some of the problems that Chelsea ran into were due to that. Giorgio Chiellini alone is one of the best defenders in the world, it was going to be difficult either way, this is the Champions League its not meant to be easy. Chelsea had a good first half, Ramires, Oscar, and Hazard had some amazing crosses into the box, but it was hard for Torres to convert them into goals. He has struggled since coming to Chelsea and a wall of huge Italian defenders wasn't helping that situation. Neither side played badly per se. There were mistakes made by both sides. The midfield was a bit sloppy all together. Balls were given away countless times by both sides. Also, there were a lot of missed opportunities by both sides. A free kick by Andrea Pirlo in the 41st went wide, from an angle he's known to score from. Also, in the 21st Claudio Marchisio had an incredible opportunity on side while the Chelsea defense thought he was off, that shot was blocked by Cech. Chelsea had chances to up the score as well, Lampard hit an amazing free kick from 22 yards out in the 51st which was blocked by Buffon. RDM chose to liven things up in the midfield by replacing Ramires for Ryan Bertrand in the 59th and Oscar in the 73rd for Juan Mata. Mata is known to be creative in the midfield and was involved several times in the few minutes that he played. After two unbelievable goals by Oscar, two minutes apart, in the 31st and 33rd a limping Arturo Vidal scored one for Juve in the 38th, and sub Fabio Quagliarella scored the equalizer in the 80th. Each team took home one point, and though Chelsea won every single home game in the CL last season, this was still a good result. Juve was always going to be a tough game, I said it as soon as I saw the draw. A point against the second best team in the group is still good, Chelsea can't dwell on it, its time to move on. Elsewhere in group E, Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk beat Danish champions Nordsjalland, earning them the top spot in the group.
After a shaky start, Barcelona beat Spartak Moscow 3-2. Pique went off injured in the 12th minute, followed by a goal for Barca from Tello. Only to be equalized in the 29th by Dani Alves scoring an own goal. Romulo scored in the 59th for Moscow giving them the lead, for a little at least. The always incredible Messi scored in the 72nd and 80th securing the win for Barca. Also in group G, Celtic and Benfica each earned a point with a 0-0 draw.
In group F, Bayern Munich beat Valencia with a goal in the 38th from Schweinsteiger and one in the 76th from Toni Kroos. Valencia did manage to get one right at the end from Nelson Valdez in the 91st. There was a bit of drama at the end of this one as well, with Adil Rami getting a second yellow in the 3rd minute of stoppage time earning him a red and an exclusion from their next match against Lillie. Unfortunately, Mario Mandzukic missed the penalty, but Bayern didn't need it with the final result ending with a 2-1 win for the Germans. The other match in the group ended with a 3-1 win for BATE Borisov against French side Lille
Manchester United also started their Champions League campaign with a win over Galatasaray from a Michael Carrick goal in the 7th minute. Also in group H, CFR Cluj-Napoca beat Braga 2-0 earning themselves 3 points as well.
Heres a look at the tables now...
Group E
Shakhtar Donetsk 3pts
Juventus 1pt
Chelsea 1pt
Nordsjaelland 0pts
Group F
BATE 3pts
Bayern Munich 3pts
Valencia 0pts
Lillie 0pts
Group G
Barcelona 3pts
Benfica 1pt
Celtic 1pt
Spartak Moscow 0pts
Group H
CFR Cluj 3pts
Manchester United 3pts
Galatasaray 0pts
Braga 0pts
Even though my Chelsea got a draw, today was still an exciting day! Its just the beginning of the group stages and we still have a lot more Champions League soccer to go! Tomorrow is the start of the Europa League season. Liverpool will be playing Young Boys and my favorite Italian side, Napoli will be beginning their campaign against AIK. Also, Tottenham will be playing Lazio which should be a good game. The Europa league is full of great teams, like Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Newcastle, Udinese, Lyon, and countless others. Too bad they all have to play on the same day! Oh well, that just guarantees tomorrow will be just as exciting as today! Ciao!!!
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