Second night of match day six of the UEFA Champions League group stage – all the goals and qualifiers from groups E-H
Group E
Liverpool – Fiorentina : 1 – 2
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Even in a garbage time game, Liverpool couldn’t buy a win against a decent rival. Yossi Benayoun put the Reds in front, but Jorgensen (63) and Gilardino (injury time) helped Fiorentina keep their first place in the group and leave Liverpool without a win over a decent rival in Europe this season and off to their Europa League adventures.
Lyon – Debrecen : 4 – 0
Debrecen finished their Champions League campaign without any points, like M.Haifa of Israel, but with goals. Not in this one though, as Lyon thrashed the Hungarians with goals from Gomis, Bastos, Pjanic and Cissokho, as they move on to the next stage from the second place.
Group F
Dynamo Kiev – Barcelona : 1 – 2
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In the tightest (surprisingly) group before tonight, the two favorites, despite having their troubles along the way, made it to the next round. Barcelona bounced back from an early Milevskyi goal (not staying with Kiev for long) with goals from Xavi and a beautiful Messi free kick, as the reigning European champions qualified from the top spot.
Inter – Rubin Kazan : 2 – 0
Inter got their spot in the next round with an impressive display against the Russian champions, but they also got goals from two players who have really been off lately – Eto’o who scored the first and Balotelli who fired in a fantastic free kick goal. Mourinho, after a fiery press conference yesterday, has won a few more days of silence while Kazan, despite the loss, continue to the Europa League through their third place finish.
Group G
Sevilla – Rangers : 1 – 0
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Rangers finished a poor European campaign (only 2 points) with another loss and no goals, as an early Kanoute penalty was enough for Sevilla to secure a first place finish in this very easy (apparently) group.
Stuttgart – Unirea : 3-1
Three goals in the first eleven minutes (Marica, Trasch, Pogrebnyak) were enough for the Germans to forget about their Bundesliga woes and clinch the second qualifying spot for the next round while the sympathetic Romanians settle for a Europa League spot for the rest of their 2009-2010 continental campaign.
Group H
Olympiakos – Arsenal : 1 – 0
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The gunners, with their first place already clinched, came to Greece with a very young and mostly inexperienced side. The Greek champions needed a point to secure a spot in the next stage but got three, as Leonardo scored the only goal, handing Arsenal their first loss this season in the Champions League.
Standard Liege – AZ Alkmaar : 1 – 1
The most dramatic game in a mostly dull Champions League evening, Sinan Bolat, Standard’s goalkeeper, scored the equalizer in injury time, giving Liege the Europa League spot and leaving the Dutch champions (probably exiting champions from the looks of things in the Netherlands) dead last in the group, with no wins in the group stage.