Champions League. Results of the group tournament. Groups D and C

A round before the end of the group stage, Barcelona, Valencia and Manchester United have booked their places in the playoffs. But for the second place in Group D, Rubin and Copenhagen competed with each other.

Barcelona Inchas were waiting for a victory over such an uncomfortable opponent for their club.  But the starting line-up of the Catalans alerted with the abundance of young players, who have not yet made it into the first team. Will they be able to overcome the Russian "catenaccio"? Perhaps this question worried the fans not only of these teams, but also of other people interested in football.






In the first half, against the background of the Barcelona youth, the Russian team looked more holistic and confident.









But Kazan had only one chance, when the ball, after Ansaldi's attempt to cross into the penalty area, unexpectedly cut off and flew into the goal. However, the goalkeeper managed to shift and got the ball on the goal line. And at the beginning of the second half, the Catalans opened the scoring in the match. Alcantara, in a fight with the defender, entered the penalty area from the right, tried to cross along the goal - the defenders blocked the cross. The ball ricocheted back to Alcantara. He immediately gently rolled back a little to Fontas. Fontas shot with the first touch. The ball after the shot hit the hand of Kaleshin, from which it ricocheted into the far corner of the goal.







Well, at the end of the game, Vazquez doubled the advantage of the Catalans in the score. After intercepting the ball and a quick attack in the center, Vazquez received the ball thirty meters from the goal and from the line of the semicircle of the penalty area shot low into the left, from Ryzhikov, corner of the goal.









Barcelona – Rubin 2:0


Show / Hide textGoals: Fontas, 51, Vazquez, 83
Barcelona: Pinto – Piqué, Busquets, Fontas – Dos Santos (Messi, 63), Mascherano, Thiago, Maxwell – Jeffren (Vazquez, 13), Adriano, Krkic (Bartra, 35)
Rubin: Ryzhikov – Kuzmin, Navas, Bocchetti, Ansaldi – Ryazantsev (Kasaev, 62), Noboa, Muravski, Kaleshin – Karadeniz (Bystrov, 75), Martins (Medvedev, 66)
Yellow card: Ryzhikov

Panathinaikos, which had lost all motivation, capitulated in Denmark.

In the 25th minute, Vingaard received a pass from the right flank in front of the penalty area. When receiving, the ball bounced off the ground, but Martin did not get confused, and charged the ball at the time. The shot turned out to be unpleasant for the goalkeeper, with a rebound from the turf and the Adidas sphere fluttered in the net.



Vingaard's work in the second half was continued by Grønkjaer - Jesper converted a penalty.





And in the 73rd minute, the Danes delivered a corner from the left to the near corner of the goalkeeper's area, and the "Greek" Cisse skillfully cut the ball into the far corner of his goal.





However, the Hellenes still scored a prestige goal. In added time, Kante scored. After a free kick, Kante headed the ball into the goal, and it ricocheted off the onrushing players into the net.



Copenhagen – Panathinaikos 3:1


Show / Hide textGoals: Vingaard, 25, Gronkjaer, 50, (pen), Cisse, 73 (own goal) - Kante, 90+2
Copenhagen: Wieland, Pospeh, Jørgensen, Antonsson (Ottesen, 77), Wendt, Bolaños, Kvist, Claudemir, Vingaard, Gronkjaer (Zohore, 86), Ndoye (Santin, 80)
Panathinaikos: Tsorvas, Vintra, Boumsong, Kante, Spyropoulos, J. Silva (Ninis, 46), Simau, Marinos, L. Garcia (Petropoulos, 75), Christodoulopoulos (Leto, 46), Cisse
Booked: Gronkjaer – Leto, Luis Garcia, Marinos, Simão

Manchester United and Valencia in the duel at Old Trafford found out who the winner of Group C was. Carrick missed the ball in the middle of the field and the nimble Dominguez left most of the opposing team behind. A cross to the right flank and Pablo Hernandez opened the scoring in the match in the 32nd minute.









Unlike the defense, the attack of the "Mancunians" interacted perfectly. And if not for the straightforwardness of Berbatov, the hosts would have won back in the first half.







But it was Anderson who scored, who was by far one of the best in the match. After Park Ji-Sung's mid-range shot, the goalkeeper parried the ball away in front of him. And the reactive Anderson was the first to get on the ball and equalize.







Then the teams played double-edged, but no one managed to score.









Manchester United entered the playoffs from the first place, and Valencia from the second.

Manchester United 1-1 Valencia


Show / Hide textGoals: Anderson, 62 - Pablo, 32
Man Utd: Amos, Rafael, Ferdinand (Smalling, 50), Vidic, Fabio, Nani (Giggs, 81), Carrick, Anderson (Fletcher, 90), Park, Berbatov, Rooney
Valencia: Guaita, Miguel, Ricardo Costa, Dealbert, Mathieu, Pablo (Feghouly, 84), Banega, Albelda, Jordi Alba (Mata, 68), Dominguez (Isco, 54), Aduritz
Booked: Anderson – Albelda, Miguel

In the second match of this group, Bursaspor and Glasgow Rangers played. The score in the match turned out to be similar. A 1-1 draw. Moreover, as in the previous match, the guests opened the scoring. The goal was scored by Kenny Miller, who calmly ran into an offside position and beat the goalkeeper.





Then the initiative passed to the hosts, who did not want to leave the Champions League without a single point. And in the 79th minute, Sercan Yildirim gave the club and the fans such joy.





The hosts continued to go forward, but the score remained a draw.





Photo: AP, Getty Images, Reuters

Bursaspor — Rangers 1:1


Show / Hide textGoals: Yildirim, 79 - Miller, 20
Bursaspor: Özkan, Stepanov, Aziz (Erdogan, 47), Vederson, Mustafa, Çimshir (Batalha, 48), Ipek, Has, Insua, Yildirim, Nunez (Bahadir, 63)
Rangers: McGregor, Weir, Whittaker, Hatton, Cole (McMillan, 82), McCulloch, Davis, Bouguerra, Miller (Beatty, 64), Foster, Naismith (Weiss, 72)
Booked: Has, Ipek – Beatty

According to the results of the group stage, Barcelona and Copenhagen, as well as Manchester United and Valencia, qualified for the Champions League playoffs. Rubin Kazan and Scottish Rangers are also waiting for the European Cup spring, but already in the Europa League. Well, Panathinaikos and Bursaspor have to concentrate on the national championships.