Europe!

Unfortunately, the world of football moves on and so must we! Leaving the world of international football, I'd like to turn to the Champions League where we had quite the thrilling couple of days: on September 18th 2012 we saw Dinamo Zagreb lose to Porto 0-2, prolonging the Croatian champion's losing streak as Lucho Gonzalez and Steven Defour battled off the Croatian pressure to score in the dying minutes of the first and second half respectively. Paris St. Germain finally found their footing as they obliterated Dynamo Kyiv in France by a 4-1 scoreline! PSG got out of the gate early with Zlatan Ibrahimovic locking away a penalty kick in the 19th minute before Thiago Silva tacked on a second 10 minutes later. Alex's 32nd minute strike and Pastore's 1st minute of stoppage time strike in the second half were only interrupted by Miguel Veloso's 87th minute goal for the otherwise luckless visitors. Remaining in France, Montpellier were edged by Arsenal in their face-off despite getting off to an early lead through Younes Belhanda in the 9th minute from the penalty spot and having most of the 2nd half opportunities. However, Arsenal's quickfire double from Lukas Podolski and Gervinho in the 16th and 18th minutes were too much for the French side. Olympiacos were similarly edged by Schalke 1-2 although it could have been better for the Germans. Benedikt Howedes' 41st minute goal was canceled out by Djamel Abdoun's 58th minute strike. However, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar made an impact on the game with what would turn out to be a winner in the 59th minute. Sadly for the Dutchman, his penalty just moments later would not find its way to goal. Over in Spain, Malaga truly upset Zenit St. Petersburg with Isco striking in the 3rd and 76th minutes and Javier Saviola tallying one himself in the 13th to see off the Russians. The visitors really did look like fish out of water as their real opportunities were limited to the 1st half for the most part. As for AC Milan, they were held to a surprise 0-0 draw with Anderlecht at home in Italy despite the fact that the Italians had the lions share of the chances. Dortmund were more successful against Ajax as they went on to grab a goal in the 87th minute against the Dutch masters through the ever-talented Robert Leewandowski. Mats Hummels's penalty flub early-on in the 2nd half was forgotten as the German champions and their fans celebrated the vital three points. Last but certainly not least, Real Madrid were able to get the better of Manchester City in a high-scoring 3-2 extravaganza. with all of the goals coming in the 2nd half after a first half largely dominated by an ineffectual Madrid. Edin Dzeko eventually gave the struggling visitors the lead in the 68th minute though Madrid shortly equalized through Marcelo in the 76th. Aleksandar Kolarov made it 1-2 for the Manchester side before Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo slotted home in the 87th and 90th minutes respectively. Finally, yesterday, the 19th of September, we had Shakhtar Donetsk defeat Nordsjaelland 2-0 as Chelsea lost control of their match against Juventus to draw 2-2 in England. LOSC lost to BATE 1-3 in an enthralling fixture while Bayern edged Valencia 2-1; Barcelona one-upped Spartak Moskva 3-2, as Celtic and Benfica played out a goalless draw. Last but not least, Manchester United got one over Galatasaray - 1-0 was the final score - while Braga suffered a 0-2 defeat to CFR Cluj at home! Hope you enjoyed the games, don't forget the next legs or the Europa League action! Enjoy.