UEFA Champions League – Matchday 5: Group E-H

The UEFA Champions League moved into the penultimate day of the group . Chelsea travelled to Turin to face the Italian champions Juventus and a victory would confirm the holder’s spot in the knockout stages while Valencia hosted the German giants Bayern Munich. Here are a quick review of the matches that took place on the November 20^th and 21^st.

Group E:
Nordsjælland     2 – 5       Shakhtar Donetsk
Juventus              3 – 0       Chelsea

Chelsea face the ignominy of becoming the first defending champions ever to bow out in the group stages after a shock 3-0 defeat to the Italian champions Juventus in Turin. After starting the day level on points with Shahktar and a point ahead of Juve, Chelsea now must beat Nordsjælland and hope that Shahktar do them a favour by beating the Bianconeri. The Ukranian team are anyways confirmed of a place in the last 16 due to a better head to head record against Chelsea.

Group F:
Valencia               1 – 1       Bayern Munich
BATE Borisov      0 – 2       Lille

Bayern and Valencia started the day on 9 points, three more than BATE. Lille’s win over BATE meant that Valencia were assured of their place in the knockouts, although Bayern needed one more point to confirm their place. It looked like they were in for a long day as Valencia took the lead, Thomas Muller’s equalizer confirmed that both teams remained in the competition while BATE had to contend with an Europa League place.

Group G:
Spartak Moskva                               0 – 3       Barcelona
Benfica                                 2 – 1       Celtic

Barcelona bounced back after their defeat to Celtic with a 3-0 thrashing of Spartak Moskva, with Lionel Messi joining Cristiano Ronaldo on top of the scoring charts with a double strike. Celtic needed a draw to confirm their place in the knockouts but a defeat at Lisbon meant that Benfica moved into second place in the group on basis of a better head to head record. Celtic, however will be hoping to qualify on Matchday 6 considering that Benfica visit the Nou Camp while they host the already eliminated Spartak Moskva.

Group H:
CFR Cluj                                3 – 1       Braga
Galatasaray       1 – 0       Manchester United

Manchester United had already claimed top place in Group H with four victories out of four and it was just that their perfect record went for a toss as they slumped to a 1-0 defeat in Istanbul. A Rui Pedro hat-trick put CFR level on 7 points with Galatasaray, but they trail the Turkish side on the basis of head to head difference.

Tags: Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Football, Juventus, Manchester United, UEFA Champions League, Valencia