Joys of Midweek Football 2 - Champions League (& some lower league English football)

More midweek club football this morning - this time the Champions League returned for Matchday 4 with some key clashes.

Sadly though for Arsenal and Chelsea fans, they didn't quite get the results they were after.

Arsenal appeared to suffer from the hangover of their thrilling victory on the weekend at Stamford Bridge only drawing 0-0 with Marseille at home - Marseille actually dominated the game and van Persie only came off the bench. It means Marseille and Bundesliga champions, Borussia Dortmund are right back in the hunt for a top 16 spot and Arsenal v Borussia Dortmund in a few weeks time will be key now.

Chelsea also got stumbled to a 1-1 draw in Belgium against Genk. However, they owe Valencia a big thank you as they stopped the Germans Bayer Leverkusen from taking top spot in the group. Chelsea v Valencia in a few weeks time will be key now.

In other fixtures, Barcelona thrashed Viktoria Plzen 4-0 to move up to top spot in their group ahead of Milan who could only draw 1-1 an hour before the Barca game in Belarus. APOEL Nicosia pulled off the result of the night with a 2-1 win over occassional European giants, Porto to lead the group ahead of Russian champions, Zenit St Petersburg.

I remember watching APOEL play Kobenhavn a few seasons ago in a Champions League qualifying game. They've got some wild fans including this very hot blonde girl in the crowd whom they showed a shot of in stoppage time. Anyway, great to see the Cypriots doing quite well with more fancied sides and now it looks like they have a glorious chance of continuing their European odyssey into the new year.

Back in England, Middlesbrough, Nottingham Forest and Leicester got their seasons back on track with wins. Middlesbrough beat Doncaster Rovers at the Keepmoat Stadium (glorious name isn't it) 3-1; Donnie's 1 goal came from lead scorer, Billy Sharp who showed tremendous courage to come back to the side just days after the tragic loss of his 2 day old daughter. 


Thoughts and prayers with the Sharps during this difficult time.

The Saints from the South Coast continued to march on while the Hammers could only muster a draw against lowly Bristol City. Some long-term concerns with Kiwi defender, Winston Reid limping off with a shoulder injury - shame for him as he had been establishing himself in the starting lineup after a disastrous debut season last year.

More Champions League football tomorrow including a tasty encounter in Spain between English league leaders, Man City and Villarreal.







Anyway here are some highlights from this morning's games: