Group Stage: Match Day 2

By: Dan | October 1st, 2009

There was a little bit of everything on match day 2 in the group stage: redemption, surprises, and some consolidation of power already.

In the first batch of games, Red Bull Salzburg scored another surprise victory. Unlike their late smash and grab against Lazio, the caffeinated advertisements enjoyed a comfortable 2-0 victory against Villarreal, who continue a terrible start to their season. For their part, Lazio took out their frustration over the first day result by beating Levski Sofia 4-0. Now that Villarreal and Lazio are due to face off on the next match day, the Austrians have a chance to take control of the group, which if you don’t profit from Red Bull, is just terrible.

Club Brugge rescued a point against Toulouse in stoppage time. The Belgians vastly improved on their performance against Shakhtar two weeks ago. Last seasons UEFA Cup champions dominated Partizan Belgrade just as they did Club Brugge; Shaktar won 4-1. If Brugge or Partizan have the slightest hope of getting out of this group, they’ll probably want all six points available when they play each other.

Steaua Bucharest still haven’t scored a goal in their group; their match with Twente ended goalless. Fenerbahce rebounded from their defeat to Twente with a 1-0 over Sheriff.

Memo to GolTV: the number of Argentines playing probably isn’t the best criteria for choosing a game to televise. Benfica and their La Liga castoffs were wasteful with the chances they had against AEK Athens, who won 1-0. In the group’s other game, Everton survived a bit of a scare against BATE, eventually winning 2-1.

In the remaining early games, Werder Bremen, PSV, and Copenhagen beat Athletic Bilbao, Cluj, and Sparta Prague, respectively, and Austria Vienna drew with CD Nacional.

In the second, US televised game, Valencia beat Genoa in a rather entertaining affair. Despite Genoa benefiting from a clear offside goal and a penalty, Valencia were impressive enough to win 3-2. In addition to the usual fine performances from David Villa and David Silva, Ever Benega was excellent for Valencia as well. Elsewhere in the group, Lille put in an impressive performance of their own; they hammered Slavia Prauge 5-1.

Hertha Berlin lost again. Sadly this counts as an improvement, as they only lost 1-0. Fortunately for the Berliners, Ventsplis and Heerenveen drew 0-0, which means the second spot behind Sporting, who are clearly the strongest team in the group, remains wide open.

Anderlecht’s late equalizer against Ajax kept them on top of their group, while Dinamo Zagreb moved into the second spot after dispatching Timisoara 3-0.

Roma rebounded from their abject performance against Basel with a 2-0 win over CSKA Sofia. Basel could not keep their positive momentum going, as they suffered a lackluster, 1-0 defeat at Fulham, who currently top the group.

The great Celtic revenge match against Rapid Vienna turned out to be a 1-1 letdown, though the look on some faces after Rapid went ahead almost immediately must have been good for a cheap laugh or two. Hamburg’s 4-2 victory against Hapoel Tel Aviv means that Celtic, for now, sit on the bottom of this group.

Finally, things remain pretty tight in Group F. Galatasaray were held to a 1-1 draw by Sturm Graz, and Panathinaikos downed Dinamo Bucharest. These results leave Galatasaray, Panathinaikos and Dinamo separated by a point, and Sturm at the bottom, but not completely hopeless yet.

Group A
Anderlecht 1 – Ajax Amsterdam 1
Timisosara 0 – Dinamo Zagreb 3

Group B
Valencia 3 – Genoa 2
Slavia Prague 1 – Lille OSC 5

Group C
Celtic 1 – Rapid Vienna 1
Hamburg SV 4 – Hapoel Tel Aviv 2

Group D
Sporting CP 1 - Hertha Berlin 0
FK Ventsplis 0 – Heerenveen 0

Group E
Fulham 1 – FC Basel 0
AS Roma 2 – CSKA Sofia 0

Group F
Galatasaray 1 – Sturm Graz 1
Dinamo Bucharest 0 – Panathinaikos 1

Group G
Red Bull Salzburg 2 – Villarreal 0
Levski Sofia 0 – SS Lazio 4

Group H
FC Twente 0 – Steaua Bucharest 0
Sheriff 0 – Fenerbahce 1

Group I
AEK Athens 1 – Benfica 0
BATE 1 – Everton 2

Group J
Shakhtar Donetsk 4 – Partizan Belgrade 1
Toulouse 2 – Club Brugge 2

Group K
PSV Eindhoven 1 – CFR Cluj 0
FC Copenhagen 1 – Sparta Prague 0

Group L
Werder Bremen 3 – Athletic Bilbao 1
Austria Vienna 1 – CD Nacional 1