The Malaysian Insider :: Sports
The Malaysian Insider :: Sports |
| Real Madrid helps send Ajax out Posted: 07 Dec 2011 03:00 PM PST  Real' Gonzalo Higuain celebrates a goal against Ajax during their Champions League match at the Amsterdam Arena stadium December 7, 2011. — Reuters pic Ajax ended the night level on eight points with Olympique Lyon, 7-1 winners at Dinamo Zagreb, but were overtaken by the French side on goal difference. Real opened the scoring after 14 minutes when a pass from Kaka beat the Amsterdam offside trap and put Jose Callejon in a scoring position. Ajax, who needed only a draw and started with a seven goal advantage over Lyon, were unlucky when first half goals by Nicolas Lodeiro and Vurnon Anita were ruled offside. Four minutes before the interval Real's Karim Benzema set up Gonzalo Higuain to double the lead and in the second half only Sulejmani came close to bringing his side back in the match when his curved shot hit the bar. Callejon made it 3-0 for Real in stoppage time. "We were so close and if you go out like this it tastes bitter," Ajax coach Frank de Boer told NOS-TV. "I noticed some tension in my team in the opening phase but after the opening goal we did well and scored two good goals which were wrongly disallowed. "It should have been 2-2 at halftime as we were not worse than Real who didn't really play with everything they've got." — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Manchester misery as Basel, Napoli advance Posted: 07 Dec 2011 02:55 PM PST  Manchester City's Vincent Kompany reacts during their Champions League match against Bayern in Manchester, December 7, 2011. — Reuters pic Needing victory over last year's runners-up in their jam-packed St Jakob-Park stadium, Basel battled to a 2-1 win to jump ahead of United into second place in Group C and send the English champions into the Europa League. City, running riot at the top of the Premier League, beat already-qualified Bayern Munich 2-0 in their final Group A match but it proved in vain for the competition's newcomers as Napoli won 2-0 at Villarreal to grab second place. Like French rivals Marseille the previous night, Lyon produced the most stunning turnaround as they thrashed Dynamo Zagreb 7-1 away to snatch second place in Group D from Ajax who lost 3-0 at home to Real Madrid. Lyon, for whom Batefimbi Gomis scored four times, and Ajax finished on eight points and level on head to head after two 0-0 draws between the sides, but the French side's onslaught in Croatia meant they squeezed through on a better goal difference. Russian's CSKA began the evening bottom of Group B but their 2-1 victory at already-qualified Inter Milan meant they rose to second after Lille and Trabzonspor played out a 0-0 draw in northern France when victory for either team would have put them into the first knockout round. Basel enjoyed one of the greatest nights in their history as United failed to reach the knockout stage for only the third time in 17 attempts. Marco Streller struck in the ninth minute to put the hosts ahead and Alexander Frei scored late in the second half before United pulled one back through Phil Jones to set up a nerve-jangling finale to a gripping clash. Benfica secured top spot in the group with a 1-0 victory over Romanians Otelul Galati. Second-half goals by Gokhan Inler and Marek Hamsik were enough to secure Napoli's passage at the expense of Manchester City, the Italians finishing on 11 points to the 10 of City who will join United in the Europa League. Chelsea, Olympique Marseille and Zenit St Petersburg booked their last-16 berths on Tuesday to join Bayern Munich, Inter, Benfica, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen, APOEL Nicosia and AC Milan in next week's draw. — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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