Champions League Tuesday

By Dennis Neri
for SoccerMyLife.com

Published: September 13, 2010

Roma 2 Real Madrid 1

This was a very entertaining match that could have gone either way but in the end, Roam just managed to nick it.

Real Madrid went ahead when Arjen Robben found space down the left, crossed the ball to Guti, whose speculative shot was poked in by ace champions league marksman Raul to score his 60th champions league goal.

Raul should have made it 2-0 just minutes later when Robben again found room this time on the right hand side and his cross found Raul unmarked in the box but he put his header wide.

Roma equalized against the run of play when David Pizzaro took a shot that hit Fernando Gago in the 25th minute.

It was nip and tuck with both sides going for a win but Roma took the lead in the 2nd half when Gabriel Heinze made a rash decision to nick the ball in front of Francesco Totti but he mistimed his tackle and Totti played in a beautiful pass for Amantino Mancini, who in turn went round goalkeeper Iker Casillas and found the net from a relatively tight angle to score what turned out to be the winner in the 58th minute.

Ruud Van Nistlerooy hit the post later on but Roma held to take a slender lead to Madrid.

Ratings

Roma

Doni 5

He had a very poor match as he dropped so many balls and his kick outs almost always went out for a throw-in. He was extremely lucky that none of his errors were punished.

Panucci 5.5

He was given a torrid time by Arjen Robben but he did make some good tackles and went forward to some effect. He was eventually replaced by Max Tonetto in the 2nd half.

Cassetti 5.5

He was also given a horrid time by Robben and was lucky not to have been shown more than just 1 yellow card as he was very cynical with his stopping Robben on more than 1 occasion

Mexes 6

He was not very good but he was not bad either as he made some good tackles but found the movements of Raul and Ruud Van Nistlerooy too hot to handle at times

Juan 6.5

He was Roma’s best defender and they were fortunate that his timely return from injury aided their cause as all around him were being done for pace and movement.

De Rossi 7

He was possibly Roma’s best player overall with timely interventions and throwing his body in front of prospective shots from Real. His passing was its usual precision. He played possibly the pass of the night when he found Totti from 50 yards out.

Pizarro 5

Apart from his goal he was terrible as he kept losing possession and giving the ball away very cheaply.

Perrotta 6

He was his usual industrious self with a lot of selfless running off the ball and he supported Totti as best he could as well as helping out in the midfield.

Mancini 6.5

He took his goal very well and was by far Roma’s biggest threat throughout.

Totti 5

He was pretty much anonymous and was never in the game to influence it.

Guily 5.5

He did some good things but he could not really use his pace to good effect enough to influence the game.

Real Madrid

Casillas 5.5

He did not really have much to do and made only 1 save of note when he did well to save a shot by Cassetti in the 1st half.

Ramos 6

He never stopped running both forwards and backwards but was not as effective as he can be.

Torres 6

He played well enough as he kept Guily relatively quiet.

Cannavaro 6

He did not have that much to do but what he had to do he did it well.

Heinze 5

His error caused the winner and he looked shaky most of the time with some his tackles ill-timed.

Diarra 5.5

He did his job efficiently but he could not influence the game from an attacking point of view.

Gago 5.5

He was also quietly effective but like Diarra, he just cannot pass the ball properly

Guti 6

He played well enough in the 1st half but like always he tires easily and disappears from the game.

Raul 6.5

His constant motion and excellent play caused Roma a lot of problems.

Van Nistlerooy 6

He played well enough and was unlucky to hit the post and he also had a goal correctly chucked off for offside after Doni had dropped a speculative shot.

Robben 7.5

He was the best player on the field but was not as influential in the 2nd half as he was in the 1st as he caused Christian Panucci a lot of grief.

Liverpool 2 Inter 0

2 late goals by Dirk Kuyt and Steven Gerrard helped Liverpool to a good victory over the Italian champions but Inter Milan as usual had a player sent off as Marco Materazzi was harshly sent off in the 1st half.

Olympiacos 0 Chelsea 0

This was a scoreless bore with very little to talk about.

Schalke 1 Porto 0

An early 4th minute goal by Kevin Kuranyi was enough to settle this entertaining game.

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Author: Dennis Neri
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