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Thursday, November 4, 2010

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ROUND UP

Eduardo scored against his old club again as Shakhtar Donetsk fought back from a goal down to beat Arsenal 2-1 in their Champions League Group H clash at Donbass Arena.
Theo Walcott slotted in a fine breakaway goal to open the scoring for Arsenal, who were without captain Cesc Fabregas, after ten minutes. However, Shakhtar - thrashed 5-1 at the Emirates Stadium a fortnight ago - continued to press and were eventually rewarded when 19-year-old Craig Eastmond, making his European debut, diverted Dmytro Chygrynskiy's header into his own net.
Eduardo then slotted home from close range on the stroke of half-time to force his old club to wait for qualification to the knockout stages.
Chelsea qualified for the last 16 after a second-half demolition of Spartak Moscow at Stamford Bridge resulted in a 4-1 victory. After a lacklustre opening half, Chelsea made it four straight wins in Group F.
Nicolas Anelka gave Chelsea the lead in the 49th minute, before Didier Drogba marked his return from suspension by converting a penalty he won 13 minutes later.
Defender Branislav Ivanovic headed a third in the 66th minute and concluded the scoring with a neat turn and shot in injury-time. Nikita Bazhenov's 86th-minute goal was little consolation for Spartak.
Substitute Pedro Leon struck an injury-time equaliser against AC Milan to send Real Madrid through to the next round with a 2-2 draw and preserve the Spanish club's unbeaten record under coach Jose Mourinho.
Milan substitute Filippo Inzaghi looked to have consigned Madrid to defeat after netting twice in the second half to help the Italian outfit overturn a 1-0 deficit, after Gonzalo Higuain had scored on the stroke of half-time.
However, with Mourinho set to suffer a losing return to San Siro where he enjoyed so much success with previous club Inter Milan, Leon popped up in the fourth minute of additional time to drill in the equaliser.
Auxerre defeated Ajax 2-1 to keep alive their hopes of an extended run in the competition - and dent the Dutch side's hopes of progressing. Frederic Sammaritano scored the night's fastest goal in the ninth minute and although Toby Alderweireld levelled 10 minutes from time, Steven Langil got the French side's winner four minutes later.
Marseille produced the performance of the night to boost their hopes of qualification with the biggest ever away victory in the Champions League. Didier Deschamps' side produced a stunning 7-0 win against MSK Zilina, with Andre Pierre Gignac's hat-trick the highlight.
Gignac scored twice inside the first 21 minutes and further efforts from Gabriel Heinze (24) and Loic Remy (36) made it 4-0 at half-time. Lucho Gonzalez got a fifth six minutes after the restart, Gignac wrapped up his treble with a 54th-minute header, before Lucho completed the scoring in the 63rd minute.
Bayern Munich made it four wins from four Champions League games with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Cluj that booked their place in the next round. Already motoring towards the knockout stages, Louis van Gaal's side continue to cast aside their domestic worries and were rarely stretched by a timid Romanian outfit in tonight's Group E clash.
Master poacher Mario Gomez struck in the 12th and 24th minutes to hand the Bavarians a healthy lead and completed his hat-trick in the second half before Thomas Muller rounded things off in the last minute.
Roma are best placed to join the German side in the last 16 after prevailing 3-2 in an entertaining game with Basle.
Jeremy Menez (16), Francesco Totti (26, penalty) and substitute Leandro Greco (70) netted for the victors, with Alexander Frei (69) and Xherdan Shaqiri (83) replying for the Swiss hosts, who had Valentin Stocker dismissed in injury-time when he picked up a second yellow card.
Braga kept alive their hopes of reaching the knockout stages with their first ever Champions League away win - a 1-0 triumph at Partizan Belgrade. Brazilian defender Moises scored the only goal of the game with a header after 35 minutes to complete a double over their Group H rivals, who they beat 2-0 a fortnight ago.

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