FC Rubin Kazan will approach their UEFA Champions League encounter with FC Dynamo Kyiv on Matchday 5 in the highest of spirits after retaining the Premier-Liga title on a weekend when several other clubs faced traditional rivals.
Title celebrations
A goalless draw with FC Zenit St. Petersburg coupled with defeat for their nearest challengers, FC Spartak Moskva, ensured Kurban Berdyev's side could begin their celebrations with one match still to play. Their opponents on Tuesday, Dynamo, defeated arch-rivals FC Shakhtar Donetsk 3-0, while in France Olympique de Marseille edged past Paris Saint-Germain FC in Le Classique. Elsewhere, Beşiktaş JK put three past Istanbul neighbours Fenerbahçe SK and Swiss Super League strugglers FC Zürich experienced further misery in domestic cup action, losing 4-2 to FC Basel 1893.
| Group A | Juventus 1-0 Udinese Calcio
(Grosso 51)
Ciro Ferrara: "We won a difficult game; these are three precious points for us. Udinese filled the pitch well, especially in the first half, but the most important thing tonight was to get the right result. I'm really satisfied about the return of [Alessandro] Del Piero and [Mohamed] Sissoko. We are not thinking about [Serie A leaders] Inter now as our next match is against Bordeaux." | FC Girondins de Bordeaux 0-1 Valenciennes FC
(Samassa 7)
Laurent Blanc: "All teams come to the Chaban-Delmas to keep it tight. Valenciennes scored first and defended very well after that. We needed more luck tonight." | Maccabi Haifa FC 4-1 Maccabi Ahi Nazareth FC
(Katan 3pen, Dvalishvili 18, Arbeitman 38, Kayal 51; Kiyal 84)
Elisha Levi: "We are heading to Munich with the disappointment of knowing that we have yet to score or collect a point despite playing well [in the competition]. We've been unlucky so far but we will look Bayern in the eye and try our hardest." | FC Bayern München 1-1Bayer 04 Leverkusen
(Gómez 8; Kiessling 14)
Louis van Gaal: "Three points would have been very important because we wanted to reduce the gap at the top. We played without confidence and produced a lot of bad passes in the first half. After the break, we were able to exert more pressure and could have scored, but I have been saying these same words for many weeks now." |
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| Group B | VfL Wolfsburg 2-3 1. FC Nürnberg
(Dejagah 59, Grafite 79pen; Bunjaku 56 64, Kluge 90+3)
Armin Veh: "It's very annoying that we allowed them so many chances and conceded a goal on the counterattack in the dying seconds. We should have been satisfied with one point. In no way is a mistake like the one before they made it 3-2 acceptable. We made too many mistakes in midfield and, furthermore, our defence did not play as a unit." | FC Spartak Moskva2-3 PFC CSKA Moskva
(Alex 7pen, Welliton 64; Dzagoev 45, Necid 49 88)
Leonid Slutski: "Today's match was a real fillip for the Russian league both in terms of drama and quality. We deserved to win such an important game. The early goal we conceded sparked us and forced us to move faster. We had to perform at our maximum after only seven minutes." | Beşiktaş JK 3-0 Fenerbahçe SK
(Fink 55, Bobô 57, İnceman 83)
Mustafa Denizli: "This win is not just a derby victory against Fenerbahçe. We gained a lot in terms of confidence. We also proved that we are one of the contenders in the title race. Today my players played perfectly." | Manchester United FC 3-0Everton
(Fletcher 35, Carrick 67, Valencia 76)
Sir Alex Ferguson: "We have to look at all the games as must-win now. We need to get on a run and be somewhere near the top of the league by New Year's Day. Then, in the second half of the season, we can have a real go and give ourselves a chance. Darren Fletcher is an improving player, each year we have seen his performance level go up and up and it is still doing so. But I have to admit I did not expect that goal. It was really well-taken." |
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| Group C | FC Basel 18934-2 FC Zürich (Swiss Cup last 16)
(Stocker 17, Frei 54 58, Streller 76; Djurić 32, Alphonse 90+2)
Bernard Challandes: "We lacked experience and were not clinical enough. By that I mean players like the injured [Johan] Vonlanthen, [Eric] Hassli and [Yassine] Chikhaoui are sorely missed. But we can't change that and have to live with it." | Real Madrid CF 1-0 Real Racing Club Santander
(Higuaín 22)
Manuel Pellegrini: "We didn't play well and we didn't play badly but we have to improve our football. Having said that, at the Bernabéu this season we've won by wider margins than this playing worse than we did today. I don't think that the difference between Racing and ourselves tonight was just one goal; they didn't reach our end once." | Olympique de Marseille 1-0 Paris Saint-Germain FC
(Heinze 25)
Didier Deschamps: "We did the basics well. We defended better [than during the 5-5 draw with Olympique Lyonnais], though we did not put the game beyond doubt. We had the opportunities to do so, however. It's good to be back on track." | AC Milan 4-3 Cagliari Calcio
(Seedorf 5, Borriello 39, Pato 40, Ronaldinho 62pen; Matri 9, Lazzari 30, Nenê 69)
Leonardo: "Before the match I couldn't imagine a game with so many goals, but I'm sure it was an entertaining one. We play attacking football and we can catch Inter at the top if we keep playing this way. Now we have to think about our future game by game. It's difficult at the moment to imagine how far we can go, but Milan must always have big targets." |
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| Group D | Chelsea FC 4-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers FC
(Malouda 5, Essien 12 22, Joe Cole 56)
Carlo Ancelotti: "[Michael] Essien is one of the most important midfield players in the world. He can play everywhere in midfield with the same result. He has shown a lot of consistency this season and maintained a good physical condition. He is very strong but he also has a lot of quality. This match showed we are in very good condition because we had a lot of injuries before this game." | | UD Oliveirense P-P FC Porto (due to waterlogged pitch) | RC Deportivo La Coruña 2-1 Club Atlético de Madrid
(Colotto 21, Guardado 90+6pen; Agüero 3)
Quique Sánchez Flores: "We really weren't expecting that ending to the game but these things happen in football. There are signs of recovery within the team but you can also see a lack of confidence there; we don't feel strong. We didn't do things well after we scored the first goal but in the second half we dominated and we deserved more." | APOEL FC 2-0Anorthosis Famagusta FC
(Mirosavljević 71, Alexandrou 87)
Ivan Jovanović: "In the first half we had the possession but Anorthosis were the more dangerous side and could have punished us with two good opportunities. In the second half, we piled on the pressure in midfield and it stifled them. I said before the game that the match would be decided by [minor] details and when they had a player sent off, we put even more pressure on them and scored twice." |
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| Group E | Liverpool FC 2-2 Manchester City FC
(Škrtel 50, Benayoun 77; Adebayor 69, Ireland 76)
Rafael Benítez: "It was a bad start: we had one problem after another. We had to move some players and we knew some others were not fully fit because they had not been training for a long time. It was difficult from the beginning, but when we scored the first goal I thought maybe we could do it, but City were dangerous from counterattacks." | Budapest Honvéd FC 1-2 Debreceni VSC
(Abraham 68; Leandro 77, Rudolf 90+1)
András Herczeg: "It's surprising, but we could only build up our attacks after Budapest Honvéd took the lead. They were well organised, but after we went behind we started to play in our style and were able to turn the match." | Grenoble Foot 381-1 Olympique Lyonnais
(Ljuboja 73; Delgado 66)
Claude Puel: "We were lucky to break the deadlock and our performance wasn't good enough. We lost two points we just had to pick up. Grenoble deserved their point. They pressed well to level while having ten men, but there were too many mistakes in our game. It's disappointing." | ACF Fiorentina 2-3 Parma FC
(Gilardino 25 62; Amoruso 30, Bojinov 52, Lanzafame 67)
Cesare Prandelli: "We faced a Parma side in very good form. They forced us to make naive mistakes: for example, they scored their third goal when it was not right for us to try the offside trap and they punished us. However, I cannot say anything to my players because they gave everything until the end." |
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| Group F | Bologna FC1-3 FC Internazionale Milano
(Zalayeta 23; Milito 22, Balotelli 41, Cambiasso 72)
José Mourinho: "It was important to win after the home draw against Roma. We had control of the game and I liked the reaction after their goal. I was very calm today because we played with great confidence for the whole game. I started with Mario [Balotelli] up front because we have three strikers with great quality but [Samuel) Eto'o will start at Barcelona. I wanted to give him some rest today." | Athletic Club Bilbao 1-1 FC Barcelona
(Toquero 63; Alves 54)
Josep Guardiola: "I think a draw is a fair result and I'd like to congratulate Athletic on the great game they played. We didn't do well in the areas we were supposed to be concentrating on. When Toquero came on for them they started firing high balls at us and we just forgot to play." | FC Dynamo Kyiv 3-0FC Shakhtar Donetsk
(Milevskiy 45 54, Yarmolenko 61)
Valeri Gazzaev: "Despite the result, the game between Ukraine's two best sides was extremely tough. It was full of tension, particularly in light of our home loss to FC Internazionale [Milano] and Ukraine's defeat by Greece in the FIFA World Cup play-offs. We had only two days to recover, especially psychologically. We were sharp on the counterattack and won a vital league match." | FC Rubin Kazan 0-0FC Zenit St. Petersburg (Rubin are champions)
Kurban Berdyev: "Our performance, especially after the break, did not satisfy me, but the main thing is we played for a result and got it. This season was harder than last year. We had to prove our success was no accident and that was our aim from the start. We wanted to confirm our reputation as the leaders of Russian football." |
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| Group G | VfB Stuttgart 1-1Hertha BSC Berlin
(Kuzmanović 82; Ramos 49)
Markus Babbel: "We started very well but weren't able to score. In the second half it was a different situation. After Hertha's goal we were stricken and lacked composure. We were lucky when Hertha missed a chance for a second goal. We are aware that we have to continue to work hard on our finishing." | Rangers FC 3-0Kilmarnock FC
(Boyd 7, Miller 24, Whittaker 35)
Walter Smith: "I was delighted with the win. It's always slightly awkward coming back after an international break to get everybody back together. In the first half we created quite a number of opportunities, didn't take them all, and in the second half I was a little bit disappointed that that creation seemed to dry up a bit." | CD Tenerife 1-2 Sevilla FC
(Nino 75; Perotti 32, Renato 48)
Manuel Jiménez: "When we were 2-0 up, we were playing really well, but against a solid team like Tenerife you can never be sure. They started chasing the game and they nearly caught us. Defensively we did a good job, especially against a side that never wanted to give up." | FC Internaţional Curtea de Argeş 1-2 FC Unirea Urziceni
(Voiculet 52; Bilasco 22, Onofras 40)
Dan Petrescu: "This victory is extremely important for us not only because of the points we won, but also because it gives us confidence for the match against Sevilla. In the first half we covered a lot of ground and could easily have scored three or four goals, but I have to admit that we could have conceded some as well." |
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| Group H | PAS Giannina FC 2-2 Olympiacos FC
(Tzanis 83, Bakayoko 90; Żewłakow 23, Mitroglou 80)
Zico: "I have experienced such situations in the past, with results changing in the last few minutes. After making it 2-0, we thought the match was over and we gave our rivals the opportunity to score twice and equalise. We should have controlled the tempo of the encounter but didn't." | Roda JC 2-4 AZ Alkmaar
(Kah 27, Yulu-Matondo 53; Lens 3 75, Elm 70, Jonathas 80)
Ronald Koeman: "We were the better team in the phases when we dared to play football. I am proud of my team because we came back into the match after we went 2-1 behind. We deserved to win because of our fighting spirit, the pressure we put on our opponents and the number of good goals we scored." | KAA Gent2-1 R. Standard de Liège
(Lepoint 42, Čustović 65pen; Cyriac 4)
László Bölöni: "It was a difficult match for us despite taking the lead early on. Gent were more eager and pushed us back with the help of their experience. After the score went to 2-1 we showed the right reaction, but Gent deserved the victory." | Sunderland AFC1-0 Arsenal FC
(Bent 71)
Arsène Wenger: "We lost a game and we can only fault ourselves because we didn't score. Some players were not at their best and we gave a goal away in the only situation where Sunderland could score one today, a set-piece, and that sums it up well. Rather than focusing on any individual, I believe it's more down to the fact that we made a big mistake on the corner, because the game was there for the taking in the last 20 minutes." |
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