Champions League update! 10/18/11.

Well, CSKA Moskva were quite successful in their Group B match against Trabzonspor thanks to 2 goals from Seydou Doumbia on either side of Aleksandrs Cauna's 76th minute strike. Meanwhile, in France Lille were just barely edged by Inter Milan who were saved by Giampaolo Pazzini's 21st minute strike. The French side tested their Italian visitors thoroughly, putting up more attempts and winning more corners by far than their guests. Nonetheless, experience won out as Inter move to the top of Group B. Meanwhile, in a far rougher match between Oţelul Galaţi and Manchester United, Wayne Rooney's 2 penalties in the 64th and 92nd minutes were all that separated the two sides. They each finished a man down as United lost Nemanja Vidic in the 66th while Milan Perendija received a 2nd yellow. There were a total of 5 other yellow cards shown with United taking just one of these. Benfica won by the same margin when they visited Basel to go to the top of Group C. Emerson's sending off in the 86th minute on Benfica's side gave Basel the opportunity to challenge for points, but Bruno Cesar's 20th minute goal and Oscar Cardozo's 75th were enough to undo the home side and put the Portuguese two points ahead of Manchester United in the table. Onwards now to Madrid where the Spanish giants Real dealt Lyon of France a hefty 4-0 defeat. Karim Benzema, Sami Khedira, and Sergio Ramos were the 3 Madrid players to score while Lyon's goalkeeper Hugo Lloris accidentally had the ball go into his own goal! With that result Real Madrid maintain their perfect record in the Group D standings. Ajax defeated their hosts Dinamo Zagreb by 2 unanswered goals as they have taken 2nd place in Group D by goal difference. Napoli v.s. Bayern was a very perplexing game on the other hand: Toni Kroos started things off very well for the visiting German side with a goal in the 2nd minute of play. Things began to fall apart though after Holger Badstuber put the ball into his own net in the 39th to the delight of the Naples crowd. Mario Gomez's missed penalty in the 49th was really the worst though, as he could have essentially won it all for the Bavarians but instead they are at 7 points in the Group A rankings. Still on top, but not as comfortably. Last but not least, Manchester City were able to edge Villarreal 2-1 to keep things close in Group A. True, Villarreal have yet to register a point, but City are now in 3rd place with 4 points while Napoli are 2nd with 5. The Spanish visitors actually looked very good throughout the game, scoring through Cani in just the 4th minute. However, Carlos Marchena's 43rd minute own goal gave City level terms just before the half. Admittedly, Gonzalo Rodriguez and Diego Lopez were the men who kept Villarreal in the game, but Sergio Aguero's 3rd minute of stoppage time goal in the 2nd half was simply lucky for the English side. Keep enjoying with more games tomorrow!