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Champions League round-up

Lorna Danion rounds up the rest of the Champions League action yesterday involving clubs with Portuguese players.

GROUP E

Celtic 1-1 Manchester United
Cristiano Ronaldo played a crucial role in Manchester United’s late equaliser as the holders stretched their unbeaten record in the competition to 16 matches with a draw at Celtic Park.

Ronaldo’s ferocious long-range shot was too hot for Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc to handle, and Ryan Giggs headed home the rebound with six minutes remaining, cancelling out Scott McDonald’s 13th-minute opener to give United a much-deserved share of the spoils in Glasgow.

Fellow Portuguese Nani joined Ronaldo in the United starting line-up, on an evening which saw the English champions dominate possession and dictate much of the match. Having gone in at the break a goal down, Nani was replaced at half time by Dimitar Berbatov, who could well have won it for United with almost the last kick of the game, but the Bulgarian screwed his finish wide when well placed inside the area.

GROUP F

Lyon 2-0 Steaua Bucharest
Portuguese duo Tiago Gomes and Antonio Semedo were left disappointed, as their Steaua Bucharest side became one of the first clubs to be eliminated from the Champions League after defeat in France.

The Romanian side selected Tiago in midfield at the Stade Gerland, while Semedo was issued a place on the bench and came on at half time. By that stage, his team were already a goal down to Juninho’s free-kick, and Anthony Reveillere made the points safe for Lyon in the final minute of normal time.

Sitting bottom of the group with just one point from four matches, Steaua must now hope to beat Fiorentina to third place and a Uefa Cup spot, trailing the Italians as they do by two points.

GROUP H

BATE Borisov 0-2 Zenit St Petersburg
Portuguese midfielder Danny scored a superb individual goal as Zenit St Petersburg won in Belarus to put themselves back in with a chance of qualification for the knockout phase.

The visitors took the lead on 34 minutes through top goalscorer Pavel Pogrebnyak’s smart control and finish, but the Russians had to wait until the fourth minute of stoppage time at the end of the match for Danny to seal it with a mazy run from the left which saw him beat three men before firing past Sergei Veremko with his left foot.

The win was Zenit’s first in the competition, and means they are two points behind Real Madrid in second place, while holding a two-point advantage over BATE should they need to fall back on a Uefa Cup place.


Real Madrid 0-2 Juventus
Juventus became the first team to qualify with a win at the Bernabeu, securing their fifth successive victory in all competitions.

Tiago started and played the full ninety minutes for Juve, who won thanks to a brace from veteran forward Alessandro Del Piero. The Italian international opened his account on 17 minutes with a classy run and shot from the edge of the area, and he made it two midway through the second half with a free-kick.

Real Madrid were without Portuguese defender Pepe, who was injured in the weekend draw at Almeria. The result means Los Merengues hold a two-point lead over third place Zenit St Petersburg, whom they host on the final match day after their trip to BATE Borisov in two weeks.