Poor night for British sides
It has turned out to be a largely disappointing night for the three British sides taking part in the first round of group matches in the Champions League. Both Chelsea and Liverpool drew 1-1 against Rosenbourg and Porto respectively and Celtic were defeated 2-0 at the hands of Ukranian side Shakhtar Donetsk. Celtic started terribly by conceding a goal after just five minutes when Evaeyerson Brandao scores a fine goal from the edge of the area. The start got worse for Strachan's men when Shakhtar doubled their lead when Italian striker Cristiano Lucarelli headed home from Razvan's cross. Celtic never really got into the game after that and lost 2-0.
Liverpool travelled to Porto on the back of a disappointing result at Pompey at the weekend, hoping to get off to a flyer in the competition in which they finished runner's up last year. They found themselves one goal down after Lucho Gonzalez converted from the spot after Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina brought down Tarik Sektioui. Liverpool equalised soon after when Dirk Kuyt headed home Finnan's free-kick and that is how the game finished, with Jermaine Pennant being sent off for the Reds.
If you listened to any pundit you would of though Chelsea would of been on top of Group B after this game against Rosenborg but that has not turned out to be the case. Rosenborg took a surprise lead after twenty minutes when Mikka Koppinen headed past Chelsea keeper Petr Cech. But Chelsea managed to score an equaliser after the break when out of form, Andriy Shevcheko finishes off Florent Malouda's cross and Chelsea attacked for the rest of the game but to no avail.
I was really surprised by the Chelsea result and I'm sure Mr. Abramovich won't be too happy about that. They attacked and they attacked but unfortunately they couldn't break the resolute Rosenbourg defence. Liverpool's result wasn't too much of a surprise but the manner in which the game was played was poor. It was a dull lifeless game and I don't think either side deserved to win. It was a poor start from Celtic and they were never, realistically ever going to be able to come back from that.