Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Champions League round-up

Inter Milan boss Jose Mourinho saw his team move into top spot in group F
Inter Milan boss Jose Mourinho saw his team move into top spot in group F

Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan lead the way in Champions League group F after a late fightback to win 2-1 at Dynamo Kiev on Wednesday.

BBC Sport rounds up all the action from across Europe in the fourth round of group games.

GROUP F

Italian champions Inter Milan scored twice in the final four minutes to seal a thrilling comeback victory to win 2-1 at Dynamo Kiev.

Inter's second-half pressure was finally rewarded when Argentine striker Diego Milito scuffed in an 86th minute equaliser from a pass by Wesley Sneijder, who then poked in the winner three minutes later.

It had earlier seemed as though Andriy Shevchenko could come back to haunt his former Chelsea boss Mourinho after his deflected first-half strike gave Kiev the lead.

Mourinho's Serie A table-toppers were bottom of the group until their late fightback, but they now go to the Nou Camp to face Barcelona in just under three weeks with a one-point advantage at the top of group F.

The Champions League's most closely-contested group looks set to go right down to the wire as two points separate the group's four teams after Wednesday's fourth round of matches.

Rubin Kazan had earlier frustrated defending champions Barcelona by holding them to a 0-0 draw in freezing conditions in Russia.

Barcelona dominated most of the possession, but they lacked composure in front of goal with the Russian champions always looking dangerous on the counter-attack.

GROUP E

Fiorentina kept up the pressure on Group E pacesetters Lyon with a convincing 5-2 win over Hungarian outfit Debrecen at their Artemio Franchi stadium.

It was the second time the two teams had shared seven goals in a game, following La Viola's 4-3 win in Hungary two weeks ago.

It was 1-1 at half time in Florence after Debrecen's Gergely Rudolf cancelled out Adrian Mutu's opener, but a second-half flurry from the home side saw them take a comfortable lead.

Dario Dainelli, Riccardo Montolivo and Marco Marchionni all scored in 10 second-half minutes, before Adamo Coulibaly pulled one back for the visitors.

Alberto Gilardino made sure there were five different Fiorentina names on the scoresheet in the closing stages to move the Italian side on to nine points.

Liverpool's chances of progressing took a big hit after they were denied a priceless victory in Lyon thanks to Lisandro Lopez's late leveller.

Lyon secured their place in the last 16 courtesy of that 1-1 draw with Liverpool

GROUP H

Standard Liege claimed their first win in Group H with a 2-0 victory over Olympiakos in Belgium.

Goals in either half from Dieudonne Mbokani and Milan Jovanovic were enough to secure three points.

The win moves Liege off the foot of the table and puts them two points behind Olympiakos in the race for qualification for the last 16.

Arsenal lead the group and the Gunners are all but assured of a place in the last 16 after a convincing 4-1 win over AZ Alkmaar.

The Gunners romped to a comfortable victory thanks to two goals from Cesc Fabregas and strikes from Samir Nasri and Abou Diaby at the Emirates.

Jeremain Lens grabbed a late consolation for the Dutch side but Arsenal rolled out comfortable winners.

GROUP G

Sevilla sealed their place in the knockout stages with a hard-fought 1-1 draw at home to Stuttgart.

Jesus Navas put Sevilla ahead in the 14th minute but Stuttgart staged a second-half fightback and claimed a deserved point thanks to Zdravko Kuzmanovic's late deflected 25-yard strike.

Rangers hopes of progressing were dealt a massive blow after a late equaliser from Unirea Urziceni meant they were held to a 1-1 draw in Romania.

Lee McCulloch gave Rangers the lead with 11 minutes to go with a superb long-range strike which was fumbled by Unirea goalkeeper Giedrius Arlauskis.

But Marius Onofras broke Rangers' hearts with an 88th-minute leveller.

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