England's four UEFA Champions League contenders scored 15 goals between them as they warmed up for Matchday 3 with morale-boosting victories but their Saturday performances were eclipsed the next day by a spectacular result for FC Internazionale Milano.
Inter cruise
Chelsea FC increased their goal difference lead in the Premier League by winning 5-0 at Middlesbrough FC while Liverpool FC remain level on points after two late goals gave them a 3-2 victory against Wigan Athletic FC in the latest of series of timely comebacks this season. Wayne Rooney scored twice in Manchester United FC's 4-0 win against West Bromwich Albion FC while Arsenal FC overturned a half-time deficit to beat Everton FC 3-1. But Inter stole the Sunday headlines with four unanswered goals at AS Roma, one of five UEFA Champions League contenders to taste defeat this weekend, including Club Atlético de Madrid, beaten 2-1 by city rivals Real Madrid CF.
| Group A | Middlesbrough FC 0-5 Chelsea FC
(Kalou 14 53, Belletti 51, Lampard 63, Malouda 67)
Luiz Felipe Scolari: "We were good today – we played as a group, as a team. Everyone played very well and tried to do their best and that's the result. I lost five or six players that have played all the games so far but the other players played very well and we showed people today that we have 23, 24 players in which we need to believe. We have some players with experience and fantastic spirit – they want to play every game and they show that to the other players. We have a long way to go to win the title but we've been working very hard in pre-season with these players and they all know what we want." | FC Girondins de Bordeaux 2-1 Toulouse FC
(Gourcuff 29, Bellion 40; Capoue 90)
Laurent Blanc: "It was good for 70 or 75 minutes then we made life difficult but I did not expect all our problems to be eradicated in one game. We also had some tired players. We're happy with a deserved win but I'd have preferred to have won 2-0. Yoann Gourcuff was good, as were the others. Let him carry on this way. But all the players did their job – we're improving." | AS Roma 0-4 FC Internazionale Milano
(Ibrahimović 5 46, Stanković 54, Obinna 56)
Luciano Spalletti: "Our mistakes were decisive, but I think the result does not reflect how the game really was. We made a couple of mistakes and paid for them but the 4-0 is too heavy. It's not easy to play under pressure as we are in our current situation in the league. Everything becomes easier when you are having a streak of good results. I'm very satisfied with the return of Totti, he had a good game and he is very important for us."
| CFR 1907 Cluj 1-0 FC Dinamo 1948 Bucureşti
(Koné 39)
Maurizio Trombetta: "It's true we won the match, but we deserved to win by much more, even if I am satisfied with the result. Dinamo did not play badly today, we simply played better than them. This victory is very important. There are only six points between us and Dinamo now. We believed in our chances to retain the title when we were nine points behind, so we will fight to keep our hopes alive." |
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| Group B | PAOK FC 0-0 Panathinaikos FC
Henk ten Cate: "We wasted several opportunities to kill off the match. In general terms, our performance was good but luck was not on our side. We were aware that PAOK are very dangerous on their home ground and we also knew that the atmosphere would be tense. But given the way the match developed, Panathinaikos deserved to win." | AS Roma 0-4 FC Internazionale Milano
(Ibrahimović 5 46, Stanković 54, Obinna 56)
José Mourinho: "We played extremely well tonight. I'm happy with the result but mostly with the performance of the team. We did everything well, we are on the right path. I decided to play Obinna because he trained well while most of the other players were on international duty." | Werder Bremen 3-3 BV Borussia Dortmund
(Baumann 67, Pizarro 88 90; Frei 59 pen, Hummels 72, Zidan 90)
Thomas Schaaf: "We should have come out of the match with victory, but we didn't defend well enough before they equalised. We need more focus and concentration in the coming weeks. We were careless in some situations." | Anorthosis Famagusta FC 0-0 AEP Paphos FC
Temuri Ketsbaia: "We got what we deserved out of the game. Even if we had scored the penalty in the final seconds of the game, the result would have been unfair. We didn't play to our full potential and it showed on the pitch. Maybe it was because we had some players missing because they were on international duty and weren't ready or maybe some of the players were thinking of Wednesday's big game. But at the end of the day these are all just excuses." |
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| Group C | FC Bulle 1-4 FC Basel 1893
(Barnabo 27; Chassot og 14, Rubio 16, Streller 57, Gjasula 90)
| FC Shakhtar Donetsk 4-2 FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih
(Brandão 16, 71, Srna 48, Gladkiy 69; Maksymov 11, Kostyshyn 84)
Mircea Lucescu: "The most important thing for us was to get three points. Until the last ten minutes we produced some fast and dynamic football, and constructed lots of good attacking movements. We are a bit disappointed to concede two goals from corners. We've worked hard on our mistakes in such situations but are we still making them." | Athletic Club Bilbao 0-1 FC Barcelona
(Eto'o 63)
Josep Guardiola: "If we'd lost, people would, have said we were dependent on Xavi and Messi, but this wasn't the case. My players demonstrated that we are a unit and don't rely on any one player." | UD Leiria 0-1 Sporting Clube de Portugal
(Liedson 31)
Paolo Bento: "We played well, and achieved our main objective, although we made things harder for ourselves by not taking our chances. I think we could have killed off the match earlier if we'd been more efficient. We looked strong defensively as we didn't give Leiria any opportunities to score. Now we have time to prepare for the match in Donetsk, and we'll try to help the players rest, despite the long trip to Ukraine." |
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| Group D | NAC Breda 2-1 PSV Eindhoven
(Simons 13 og, Amoah 87; Afellay 90)
Huub Stevens: "In our club song there is the line, 'We've got to fight'. I don't know if our players know the club song, but I did not see any fighting spirit. When you go behind in Breda, it's tough. We showed fighting spirit in the second half, but didn't make the right decisions." | Club Atlético de Madrid 1-2 Real Madrid CF
(Simão 90; Van Nistelrooy 1, Higuaín pen 90)
Javier Aguirre: "It's cruel to let in a goal in the first minute and another in added time. It was a lively game and without doubt we played better in the second half than we did in the first. Little by little we started to dominate and we celebrated Simão's goal because we deserved it; yet in football nothing can surprise us. Two weeks ago we conceded a goal in the third minute, and in this match after less than a minute. It's not normal or logical, but it happens. Obviously it is worrying when we put ourselves in positions like these. We pay for it and it's expensive." | Valenciennes FC 1-3 Olympique de Marseille
(Pujol 81; Koné 13, Ben Arfa 73, Kabore 90)
Erik Gerets: "After the first goal, we should have scored the second earlier. We struggled in the midfield leaving their No6 playing freely and we lost many balls in this part of the field. It was better in the second half but we scored with a half-chance. However, we deserved to win because we only allowed one chance in addition to their strike that hit the crossbar." | Liverpool FC 3-2 Wigan Athletic FC
(Kuyt 37 85, Riera 80; Zaki 29 45)
Rafael Benítez: "If you analyse the whole game Wigan played well, although when we were the better side we conceded the second goal. In the second half we were attacking and attacking, and it was only a matter of time. We have some experience of playing like this and not scoring so it was good that we managed to win today." |
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| Group E | Manchester United FC 4-0 West Bromwich Albion FC
(Rooney 56, Ronaldo 69, Berbatov 71, Nani 90)
Sir Alex Ferguson: "The players kept fantastic rhythm and tempo to the match – I think it's the best we've played this season. Today there was great spirit in the team, they all worked hard for each other and defended very well, so they're good signs. Patience is vital; the important thing was to keep the rhythm and tempo to our play and they did that. We did very well today. Rooney is 23 and you expect players to improve; as they get older they get more timing in their game as they get the experience. Players like that will improve this club all the time." | RCD Espanyol 0-0 Villarreal CF
Manuel Pellegrini: "The draw was unjust as Espanyol made no effort to attack. We had a lot of chances and with a little luck we could have taken the victory. I'm surprised Espanyol played so defensively, but I liked the way my team tried to better them. The second half was livelier and luckily Diego López made a great save [from the penalty]. I tried all my attackers to see if they were able to get round a rock hard home defence – but no." | Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC 1-2 Celtic FC
(Wood 69; Brown 48, Loovens 65)
Gordon Strachan: "It was a poor game. The first half wasn't very good. The second half improved to average. But when did you see a real good Celtic-Inverness game here? I've not seen one yet. I've seen exciting finishes, strange goals, silly tackles, sendings off, near sendings off. I've seen everything but good football." | Aalborg BK 1-2 FC Nordsjælland
(Due 85; Pedersen 38 44)
Martin Pedersen, AaB defender: "I do not really know what is wrong at the moment. We play well in training but it seems as if we suffer from a lack of energy in matches. Our game is not coming together at the moment." |
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| Group F | FC Otelul Galati 2-0 FC Steaua Bucuresti
(Pena 23, Tanasa 83)
Marius Lăcătuş: "It seems that we are not getting much luck. We could have scored at least one goal from the chances we created, but we ended up conceding two goals because of individual mistakes and because of a lack of concentration. Still, we are just four points off the lead and if we can produce some good results, we hope to win the title." | Karlsruher SC 0-1 FC Bayern München
(Klose 87)
Jürgen Klinsmann: "It was a very important win which helps us move up the league table. From the 65th minute onwards, I had a feeling that we would score the winner, though you can only hope from the touchline that someone will push the ball over the line. In the last two, three matches, we have not performed well in the Bundesliga and now we have a European match in midweek. It was important to start this week with an away win." | Olympique Lyonnais 2-2 LOSC Lille Métropole
(Chedjou Fongang 24 og, Grosso 75 ; Rami 14, Michel Bastos 62)
Claude Puel: "We'll have to be content with the draw, which was a fair result. It's good that we managed to equalise twice, but it's a pity our poor marking allowed them to score the first goal. We dug deep to get ourselves back into it. Recovery will be key now, because we put a lot of energy into this match." | ACF Fiorentina 3-0 Reggina Calcio
(Pazzini pen 40, Gilardino 75 81)
Cesare Prandelli: "It's never easy to play well after the break for international games but our spirit was very good tonight and it made the difference. I was happy to rotate my players, especially in attack. Now we have a difficult game in the Champions League but I hope to see the same spirit as tonight." |
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| Group G | Sertanense FC 0-4 FC Porto
(Sektioui 45, Farías 59 74, Campo og 77)
Jesualdo Ferreira: "My team did not get to grips with the game during the first half and I had to change some things early which is not good. In the second half, the second goal made things easier. It was a satisfactory win in a very difficult stadium." | Kocaelispor 2-3 Fenerbahçe SK
(Gulleri 22, Jestrovic 78; Güiza 64, Uğur 67, Semih 90)
Luis Aragonés: "We did not play well in the first half, but we increased the tempo in the second half and achieved victory. This means we played better in the second half. Semih is a quick player and he can come from deep to join attacks. As we know, he is very fast when moving behind opposition defences, and we exploited that ability." | FC Dynamo Kyiv 5-0 FC Zorya Luhansk
(Bangoura 4 15, Aliyev 6, Ghioane 11, Zozulya 79)
Yuri Semin: "I am happy with both the result and our display. We played with three strikers from the start because we wanted to give [fit again] Milevskiy some playing time. We played well and enjoyed ourselves. Porto have vast international experience. They also can boast a great scouting network because for almost every key player that leaves, there is always a decent replacement. They are a very strong, ambitious and young team." | Arsenal FC 3-1 Everton FC
(Nasri 48, Van Persie 70, Walcott 90; Osman 9)
Arsène Wenger: "It was a very good match. Everton started strongly, we were shocked to go 1-0 down but we showed personality and great desire to fight back and get the win. We played some outstanding football today and I'm very proud of this great victory. We started a bit tentatively and Everton were very strong in the first half but we were in control for the last 20 minutes of that and once we equalised it was all Arsenal." |
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| Group H | SSC Napoli 2-1 Juventus
(Hamšík 65, Lavezzi 80; Amauri 61)
Claudio Ranieri: "We made a bad mistake allowing Napoli to equalise; we are in a period in which everything is going against us. We just need to keep working. We were a bit naïve but we played a good game in my opinion. I decided to replace Del Piero in the second half because I wanted him to rest ahead of the game against Real Madrid on Tuesday and because I wanted to cover the flanks. It's not an easy period for us but we cannot say we are in crisis. We lack consistency." | FC Spartak Nalchik 2-2 FC Zenit St. Petersburg
(Sumeiko 18, Mazhukov 87; Dominguez 72, Arshavin 82)
Dick Advocaat: "The game was tough. The early goal for the home side was a shot across the bows for us. After conceding the goal, our players realised they had to become more active. We had enough opportunities to reply before the break, but the second half was much better." | Club Atlético de Madrid 1-2 Real Madrid CF
(Simão 90; Van Nistelrooy 1, Higuaín pen 90)
Bernd Schuster: "We dominated the game. Scoring a goal so quickly was important. It demoralised the home supporters and a team needs their fans to get behind them. We knew we were going to have problems if we gave Atlético hope. The result is fair although we should have scored the second goal earlier as we had chances to do so before Atlético equalised. When the score was 1-0 it left our opponents alive so we had to go for the second." | FC MTZ-RIPO 0-0 FC BATE Borisov
Viktor Goncharenko: "That was a combative performance. It was hard to predict our players' form after their return from international duty. I think we made another half-step towards the title with this result." |
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