GROUP A

Chelsea maintained their unbeaten start to see themselves three points clear at the top of Group A. John Terry’s seventy-eighth minute winner enough to see off AS Roma who will nervously be eyeing the result in Romania as their qualification is starting to look a little precarious. Bordeaux did them a favour by beating CFR Cluj-Napoca by a solitary Cadu own goal. Matters got worse for the Romanians with Trica being sent off in the last minute. Chelsea top the group with seven points, Cluj second with four. Roma have three and will be looking for at least a point in a fortnight’s time when Chelsea visit the Eternal City.

GROUP B

The big two met in Milan where Internazionale laboured to see off the challenge of Anorthosis Famagusta. Adriano scored the only goal of the game a minute before the interval. Panathinaikos teetered with elimination as they fell behind to a Mertesacker goal for Werder Bremen. Greek eyes were smiling as Mantzios scored twice either side of half-time but the Germans are nothing if not durable opponents and equalised through Hugo Almeida with seven minutes remaining. Inter are top with seven points, Famagusta second with four, Werder have three.

GROUP C

Barcelona can confirm their qualification from the Group phase with a win over Basle in the Camp Nou in a fortnight’s time. Every indication that will be the outcome after they crushed the Swiss side 5 - 0 in Basle with goals from Messi on four, Busquets on the quarter hour and Bojan seven minutes later put them in command. Bojan and Xavi scored twice in the first three minutes of the second half to complete the rout. They look likely to be joined by Sporting Lisbon for whom Liedson scored the only goal in their win at Shaktar Donetsk. Barcelona have nine points, Sporting six, Shaktar three.

GROUP D

In the Vicente Calderon a match took place, UEFA finally seeing sense after their farcical decision to ban Atletico Madrid for two home matches, a week before the first of those kicked off. Liverpool took the lead through Robbie Keane who is fast becoming the stereotypical tourist; a layabout at home but scoring in Europe. Despite good opportunities, it took the hosts eighty-three minutes before they equalised through Simao Sabrosa. Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven ended their barren spell with a 2 - 0 victory over Marseilles. A Koevermans double effectively eliminating the French champions from this years competition, although a three goal victory in matchday four will put them in pole position for the UEFA Cup spot. Liverpool are top with seven, ahead of Atletico on head-to-head results. PSV occupy third with three points.

GROUP E

In the Battle of Britain, Manchester United swept past Celtic, their 3 - 0 victory putting them at the top of Group E. Goals from Rooney and a Berbatov brace souring Gordon Strachan’s return to Old Trafford. Villarreal made hard work of AaB Aalborg to join United in second place. Saganowski gave the Danes the lead before Rossi and Cadevila put the Spaniards ahead ten minutes before the interval. When the break came, the match was all square as Enevoldsen equalised. It proved the cue for The Yellow Submarine to go on a goal blitz as Llorente scored twice in three minutes before Johansson made matters a little nervy for the hosts. Pires and Llorente’s hat-trick completed a 6 - 3 win. United and Villarreal both have seven points with Celtic and Aalborg one apiece.

GROUP F

Bayern Munich returned to winning ways, comfortably easing past Fiorentina with a 3 - 0 victory. Klose and Schweinsteiger scored in the first half before Ze Roberto finished matters off in the last minute. It was a goalfest in Bucharest as Lyon put five past Steaua who managed a paltry three in reply. Arthuro and Goian put Steaua into a two-goal lead before Keita and Benzema levelled matters. Petre then restored the Romanians advantage but that just served to make the French side mad. Fred got a brace and Benzema another in the second half blitz to leave Bayern top with seven points, Lyon in second with five, Fiore have two.

GROUP G

Fenerbahce welcomed Arsenal to Hell but the Londoners were on the side of the angels as they ran out 5 - 2 winners in Istanbul. Adebayor and Walcott scored twice in a minute before Silvestre put through his own net. Diaby then hit back for Arsenal to take a 3 - 1 lead with a quarter of the match played. Alex Song added a fourth with four minutes of the second half played. Dani Guiza tightened Arsenal sphincters a little with eleven minutes to go but Welsh international, Aaron Ramsey, scored a superb strike in injury time for an emphatic win. With Dynamo Kyiv winning 1 - 0 thanks to Aliev’s goal on twenty-seven minutes at Porto, Arsenal can qualify with a victory in the return provided Porto do not win in Kyiv. The Gunners have seven points, Kyiv five, Porto two.

GROUP G

Two of this competition’s illustrious rivals met in Turin where Juventus scraped past Real Madrid 2 - 1. It was a close run thing as Del Piero broke the deadlock with a thunderous strike and Amauri doubled the lead shortly after half-time. Real threw everything including the kitchen sink at Alex Manninger but he kept all of it bar a Ruud van Nistelrooy effort midway through the second half. In Russia, Zenit St Petersburg fell behind to BATE Borisov when Nekhaychik strcuk seven minutes in the second half. Tekke levelled matters with ten minutes to go. Juve top the group with seven, Real have six and BATE two.

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