An incredible first 36 minutes for Guillermo Barros Schelotto and the Columbus Crew.  And for really the first time all season long, Real Salt Lake played on the road the exact same way they’ve played at home all season long.

Unfortunately Robert Warzycha is going to catch the brunt of the criticism for this loss because he didn’t play Schelotto in the first leg, but this Crew team had a 2-1 aggregate lead at home after 36 minutes.

And Andy Williams, despite everything… Bomma, you called it on your Facebook for the third time this season.

Villarreal kept their Europa League hopes alive with an incident-packed victory over Lazio in Group G. Robert Pires put the home side in front with less than two minutes gone and Lazio were reduced to 10 men moments later. Ruben Cani made it 2-0 and the game was effectively over when Pires scored his second from the penalty spot after 14 minutes.

Villarreal were also reduced to 10 men after 31 minutes when Gonzalo Rodriguez was dismissed, but Pasquale Foggia blasted the resulting penalty off the bar. (more…)

(more…)

Rangers’ Champions League hopes were left hanging in the balance when a late equaliser from Unirea Urziceni denied them a crucial first victory in the tournament this season. A 4-1 defeat to the Romanian champions at Ibrox a fortnight ago meant Rangers headed into tonight’s clash in Bucharest knowing defeat would spell the end of their hopes of progressing to the knockout stages.

Lee McCulloch thought he had secured the win with a superb strike with just 11 minutes to go but Unirea hit back to claim a point when substitute Marius Onofras grabbed a last-gasp leveller. (more…)

Sevilla joined the growing list of clubs to have booked their spot in the last 16 of the Champions League tonight after holding on for a draw against battling Stuttgart at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan stadium. Winger Jesus Navas, captaining the side in the absence of a number of senior players, put Sevilla ahead in the 14th minute but the visitors staged a second-half fightback and deservedly claimed a point thanks to Zdravko Kuzmanovic’s deflected 25-yard strike 12 minutes from time.

The result ends Sevilla’s 100% record in Group G but, thanks to the 1-1 draw in the match between Unirea Urziceni and Rangers, they are guaranteed a place in the knockout stages. (more…)

Two goals in the last five minutes spared Jose Mourinho’s blushes at Dynamo Kiev and reignited Inter Milan’s Champions League campaign. Andrey Shevchenko, a legend at Inter’s city rivals AC Milan, scored the only goal of the first half after 21 minutes and it looked like being enough for a shock win.

Inter piled on the pressure in the second period and it finally paid off as the in-form Diego Milito equalised in the 86th minute and Wesley Sneijder won it one minute from time. Even a draw would have kept the Italians bottom of Group F, but as it was they went top - a point ahead of Rubin Kazan and Barcelona.
(more…)

Liverpool’s hearts were broken by a cruel last-minute equaliser that has all but ended their Champions League dreams for a traumatic season. The much-maligned Ryan Babel had scored a wonderful goal with just seven minutes left and if Liverpool could have hung on to that lead they would still have had a realistic chance of reaching the last 16. But Liverpool’s season has been littered with shattering luck and bitter body blows, as well as beach-ball goals. (more…)

Rubin Kazan followed up their shock victory against Barcelona a fortnight ago with a defensive masterclass to leapfrog their Catalan opponents in Champions League Group F ahead of the evening game between Dynamo Kiev and Inter Milan. Barcelona were the victims of one of the biggest shocks in Champions League history when goals by Aleksandr Ryazantsev and Gokdeniz Karadeniz guided the Russians to a 2-1 victory at the Nou Camp a fortnight ago, also the first game they had won in the competition.

Although Barca dominated possession tonight they produced few clear-cut chances as the Russian champions produced a perfect defensive display and they could even have taken all three points had Alexander Bukharov taken his chances after being introduced as a substitute with a little under half an hour remaining. (more…)