Galatasaray Fall to Chelsea in Champions League

 3-1agg. 

Turkish club Galatasaray travelled to London for the second leg of their Champions League fixture with Chelsea.  The first meeting ended in a 1-1 draw with Chelsea having an away goal advantage.  Former Chelsea striker Drogba was again in the line-up for Galatasaray and again the Ivorian failed to score against his old club.

Samuel Eto'o started as striker for Chelsea with Hazard, Oscar, and Willian in support.  Together the Chelsea offense was far more effective than Galatasaray's and had their defense struggling to keep up.

Chelsea scored twice in the first-half, one coming at the start and one at the end.  First Eto'o was played in-on-goal with a through ball from Oscar to open up a shooting lane.  The shot took a deflection off defender Chedjou on it's way towards goal and keeper Muslera got a hand to it.  However he could not turn the shot away from goal and Chelsea took the lead(4').

Then in closing moments of the first-half Gary Cahill scored on a set-piece.  Frank Lampard delivered a corner-kick into the box and Terry won the header in the air.  His header was on target and Muslera blocked the initial shot, but the rebound was left in front of goal and Cahill easily turned the loose ball into the net (42').

The second-half did not improve for the visitors despite the substitutions made by manager Roberto Mancini.  In fact, Galatasaray did not manage to get a single shot on target over the course of the match making it rather impossible to get back into contention.

Chelsea is now the only English club to advance into the quarter-finals with Manchester City and Arsenal already falling out of the tournament.  Manchester United also has a chance to stay alive with their second-leg match with Olympiakos coming tomorrow at Old Trafford.

Chelsea Tie Galatasaray In Champions League

 1-1 

Playing today in Istanbul, Chelsea faced Galatasaray in a Champions League match.  In this first-leg meeting, former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba was featured in the Galatasaray offense, though his old club did well to keep him quiet throughout the match.  Fernando Torres got the start at striker for Chelsea and was more effective than his counterpart.

Chelsea took an early lead when leftback Azpilicueta was allowed to run all the way into the opposite box.  Galatasaray keeper Muslera came off his line to stop Azpilicueta, but the leftback played the ball square to Torres before he could reach him.  With the keeper way out of position, Torres scored easily on an empty net (9').

Galatasaray manager Roberto Mancini, formerly with Manchester City, decided the 4-4-2 was not working and made a change after only half an hour.  Izek Hajrovic was replaced by Yekta Kurtulus and Drogba was left as the lone striker.  The change was an improvement and Galatasaray stopped Chelsea from scoring any other goals.

In the second-half Galatasaray even managed to level the score on a set-piece.  Centerback Aurelien Chedjou came forward for a corner-kick delivered by Wesley Sneijder.  Chedjou was left unmarked on the play and scored an easy volley right in front of goal to equalize (64').

The match ended in a draw with Chelsea having a slight advantage going forward.  The away goal currently puts Chelsea ahead with the second leg yet to be played.  Galatasaray have to score in the replay in London if they want to have any chance to advance in Champions League.  Rather surprisingly Chelsea are the only club of the four English clubs in the Champions League to score in the first leg of their fixture.  Arsenal, Manchester City, and Manchester United are all behind by two goals in their Champions League match-ups.

Manchester City Eliminate Chelsea From FA Cup

 2-0 

The current top four clubs in the Premier League were paired off for the fifth round of the FA Cup with Manchester City hosting Chelsea today and Arsenal hosting Liverpool tomorrow.  Chelsea hold the top spot with Manchester City three points behind in third.  Today at the Etihad though Manchester City were far and away the superior team.

Manchester City had all the offense in the first-half and took the lead when starting forward Stevan Jovetić scored.  Edin Dzeko played the final ball that put Jovetić in-on-goal and the striker finished with a shot that just caught the inside of the post before finding the net (16').

After half-time Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho removed the ineffective Eto'o for Mohamed Salah.  Striker Torres also came in later looking to get something going offensively.  However neither were able to fuel the attack, and it was Manchester City's first substitute that made the biggest impact in the second-half.  Samir Nasri came on after an hour of play and scored a second goal for the home side.  A give-and-go with David Silva set him up for an easy finish from close range for the final goal of the match (67').

Obviously with today's win Manchester City eliminate Chelsea from the FA Cup and move on the quarterfinals.  The next match for Manchester City is another tournament game in the Champions League.  F.C. Barcelona come to the Etihad Stadium for the first of two meeting between the clubs.  Chelsea are also still alive in the Champions League and travel to Turkey for a match with Galatasaray.

Ronaldo Nets Champions League Hat-Trick

1-6

The first round of group-play in the Champions League began today with Turkish league champions Galatasaray hosting Spanish giant Real Madrid.  The big news for Madrid this offseason was the major transfer of Gareth Bale from Tottenham as well as the resigning of Christiano Ronaldo.  Bale was not in the starting line-up, but Los Blancos were perfectly capable of handling Galatasaray without him.

Galatasaray started the match with all the momentum, playing in front of their home fans.  Didier Drogba, Wesley Sneijder, and Felipe Melo all looked threatening to the Madrid defense.  To further put off Madrid, keeper Casillas had a collision with teammate Ramos and came out injured before fifteen minutes had been played.

Madrid held strong though and started to take over the match.  A long ball by Di Maria from midfield to the box set up Isco for Madrid's first goal.  Isco did well to trap the long pass before finishing the shot off the post (33').  Galatasaray kept the ball out of the net for the rest of the first-half, but lost their crucial striker Drogba who injured his shoulder moments before half-time and could not continue.

Galatasaray started the second-half in a reasonable position to rally back, but Madrid had other thoughts.  Ronaldo and Benzema combined for five goals in the second-half to put the home team well out of contention.  First Benzema capitalized on a free run at goal after two Galatasaray players collided giving him an easy one-on-one with the keeper (54').

Ronaldo then scored two goals, both coming after Madrid were able to create all kinds of confusion in the Galatasaray penalty area (63', 66').  Benzema got his second when Ronaldo picked him out with a cross for an easy tap in finish (81').

Galatasaray got a small consolation goal by substitute Bulut when Amrabat played a perfect ball into the box for him, but there was not nearly time enough left to matter (84').  Ronaldo scored the final goal in stoppage-time to complete his hat-trick.  With the defense exhausted, Ronaldo easy shredded defender Chedjou before blasting his shot past the keeper (90 +1').

Real Madrid face F.C. Copenhagen then Juventus next month as the other members of Group D.  The two tied 1-1 today in their first match-up leaving Madrid alone at the top of the group.

Real Madrid Get Past Galatasaray

 3-5

Real Madrid came into the match with a comfortable three goal lead and playing in Istanbul did not seem to affect their confidence early in the match.  A quick strike put them ahead, and put Galatasaray further in the hole.

Özil played Khedira into space near the end-line who then fired a cross in front of goal.  Ronaldo was playing right along the back line and was first to meet the cross, turning it into the net (8').

Madrid did not really have any issues in the first-half except an injury to right-back Michael Essien.  He had hamstring problems and came out for Arbeloa after half-an-hour.  The second-half was quite different, however, as Galatasaray managed to break through the Madrid defense.

First Sneijder played a ball into the box for the right-back Eboué making a trailing run.  Eboué hit the shot first-time to beat keeper Diego Lopez at the near-post (57').  Shortly after Sneijder missed a great chance to score, but was given another chance soon after.  Substitute Sabri Sarioglu played a through-ball to put Sneijder in-on-goal.  His first touch beat fullback Varane with a nut-meg to give hime a clear shot on goal that he did not miss (70').  

Then Galatasaray really put the pressure on Madrid when Drogba showed that he still has it with an inspired goal.  The cross was played just behind him at the near-post, but Drogba was able to turn on the ball and give it a heel-flick to beat Diego Lopez for the third time in fifteen minutes (72').  If Madrid had not scored the early goal the score would be tied, but they did and Ronaldo had one more in him during stoppage-time.  Benzema picked out Ronaldo with a pass inside the box that he drilled first-time to end any hopes for Galatasaray (90 +2').