CL Matchday 5, pt 2

November 29th, 2007 | By: Jan | 5 Comments »

It’s always fun to check how the Dutchies did in the CL. Well…they did ok, but nothing to rave about…

Liverpool had a tough time securing their second win in a row over FC Porto as required to survive the group stages. The Reds started fiery, with Ryan Babel on the right flank. Torres scored an early 1-0 but Porto is a smart quality side, equalizing from one of their feared counter-attacks. From that moment on, Liverpool lost it. Some players hesitated, lost confidence and the team unit failed to play like a…well…unit. Deep in the second half, with phenomenon Crouch in their midst and spurred on by another sub, Ozzie Harry Kewell, Liverpool got on top. Torres scored his second, Gerrard got to take a spot-kick after a hand ball and Peter Crouch headed one home as well… 4-1, with a couple of minutes for Dirk Kuyt who relieved a threatening Babel.

Real Madrid got a surprise against Werder in Bremen. The Merenguez have an awful record against German teams and it was former Ajax striker Rosenberg who scored a lucky early in the game. Robinho equalized but Werder came back in the first half to 2-1. In the second half, Werder even reached a 3-1, for Real Madrid finally to wake up. The Spanish champs - without Sneijder and Drenthe but with Robben on the bench - played lacklustre at best. Raul was invisible, Guti was definitely not in charge of midfield and the back four looked horrible. Even Van Nistelrooy wasn’t himself, missing a huge chance alone in front of the goalie. He did make good, after a Guti pass, chipping the ball over the German goalie, 3-2. Robben came on for Robinho but that didn’t change anything. Final score: 3-2.

Chelsea didn’t have any trouble qualifying against Rosenborg. In Norway, Chelsea won 0-4. Drogba scored twice in 20 minutes. ex PSV tower Alex scored from a soaring free kick and Joe Cole completed the four. Henk ten Cate will move to the next round.

AC Milan drew against Benfica. The one point was enough to qualify. Superstar Kaka announced after the match that he wants to become a priest when his career is over.

Tags: Group C

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Comments

By goose | November 29th, 2007 at 3:57 pm

Babel played awful

Posted from Netherlands

By Caleb | November 30th, 2007 at 8:14 am

Yeah, van Nistelrooij wasn’t his normal best either. Jan’s right in his analysis, it wasn’t a good game for real.

Just a note Jan - I don’t think “soaring” is the right adjective for Alex’s free kick, since it was a low shot on the ground - maybe powerful, blazing, lightning.. words like that? Soaring implies something flying through the air.

Posted from Japan

By Jan | November 30th, 2007 at 11:55 am

Thanks for that :-). You learn every day….

Posted from Australia

By Finnster01 | November 30th, 2007 at 1:23 pm

Alex’s free kick was crap, and the goalkeeper should have saved it.

How come there are no Norwegian goalkeepers worth 2-cents/Euro/Yen anymore? Not that we ever had a Scmeichel, Shilton, Clemence, Zoff, Maier, Yashin, Van der Saar etc. , but at least they would not embarrass us.

Our goalies cost us the EC08, and now they are losing it in the CL too. Sad, but true

Posted from United States

By dirk v.d berg | November 30th, 2007 at 5:47 pm

As for Alex’s freekick, I think that it took a deflection, because the keeper, whose canadian, was well in position to save it originally. One of the players thought he could clear it while it was travelling that fast.

Posted from Canada