By DAN KARELL
For the second day in a row, there were goals a plenty in UEFA Champions League action.
Likely eager to not be shown up by Real Madrid rival Christiano Ronaldo’s hat-trick against Galatasaray on Tuesday, Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick of his own for Barcelona as they routed Ajax, 4-0, at the Camp Nou on Wednesday evening.
The Argentine star scored his first on a classic free kick from 25 yards out, curling it in off the far post in the 21st minute. Messi’s second came in the 55th minute, collecting a pass from teammate Sergio Busquets, evading an Ajax defender, and finishing with aplomb. Barcelona scored a third off the head of Gerard Pique, and then in the 75th minute, Messi completed his hat-trick with a precise finish from the top of the box.
Jose Mourinho’s Champions League return to Stamford Bridge in Chelsea blue didn’t go as expected. Chelsea suffered their second defeat in as many matches, falling at home to FC Basel, 2-1, despite leading at halftime.
One of the revelations from last season, Oscar, found the back of the net with a perfectly placed strike, turning and shooting as soon as he was fed the ball from Frank Lampard. But the second half turned sour for the home side, as Mohamed Salah sent a great left-footed shot past Peter Cech, and ten minutes later, Marco Streller did what he does best, flick a header that just snuck inside the near post to give the Swiss club the lead.
Former Chelsea manager Rafa Benitez had a perfect start to his Napoli Champions League campaign. His revamped Napoli side won their first UCL match over last year’s finalists Borussia Dortmund, 2-1, at the Stadio San Paolo. Borussia finished the match down to ten men and down a coach as well, as manager Jurgen Klopp was ejected for arguing a decision.
Summer signing Gonzalo Higuain announced his presence in the 29th minute with a flicked header to give Napoli the lead. Just before the half, Borussia goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller was shown a straight red card for handling outside of the box, forcing the German club to bring on backup Mitchell Langerak.
Italy U-21 star Lorenzo Insigne made his Champions League debut in style, sending in a brilliant long-range free kick in the rain to put the Italian club up 2-0, setting off wild celebrations from the team and fans. Borussia Dortmund drew one back in the 87th minute when Camilo Zuñiga back-heeled a cross off his own post and just across the line.
Here’s a full rundown of Wednesday’s results:
Group E
Chelsea 1-2 FC Basel
FC Schalke 3-0 Steaua Bucharest
Group F
Napoli 2-1 Borussia Dortmund
Marseille 1-2 Arsenal
Group G
Atletico Madrid 3-1 Zenit St. Petersburg
Austria Wien 0-1 FC Porto
Group H
Barcelona 4-0 Ajax
AC Milan 2-0 Celtic FC
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What do you think of these results? Impressed with Messi’s goals? How high is Napoli’s ceiling? Surprised with Chelsea’s defeat?
Share your thoughts below.
So glad that we all got to see that highly competitive Ajax-Barca game on FS1, such frustrating programming choice. I would rather have seen either of the group F matches easily
Have a little perspective.
Scheduling is viewership oriented. Barcelona with Neymar and Messi beats anything and everything else that happened. A lot of people watch just for him.
Not to mention Lionel Messi set the all time record for most hat tricks in the Champions League.
I am aware of viewership but I honestly think that the people watching in the middle of the day in America would like to see the best game, not a beat down.
The Gunners win on the road and Chelsea loses…..at home……to a Swiss team. All is right with the world. 🙂
It sure is
Well said.
What I think is funny is that last year Chelsea beat the same team in the Europa League, then The Great One takes over and they lose to the same players, at home no less. Then Mourinho turns around and says his players aren’t mature. What class.
I get people not liking Mourinho but his record is second to none and I’m pretty sure Chelsea will finish above Arsenal this season. And I am in no way a Chelsea supporter.
I see Arsenal contiues to be “a club in crisis”… If they can stop giving up PKs, no one would score on them.
Is that storyline starting to anger you as well? They look to be one of the best teams in the world and all I hear is hate, hate, doubt.
Meanwhile Chelsea is off to the worst start in Ambramovich’s ownership era and lost at home and the punditry was still talking about how they’ll be fine.
Sometimes I feel that results simply don’t matter if they don’t fit the narrative.
I dont get people who continually pick against Arsenal, shouldn’t they be given the benefit of the doubt until they fail?
You mean like they’ve more or less failed every season since 2006 or so? I don’t understand why Wenger keeps getting the benefit of the doubt. How long does that continue for?
I’m too busy smiling to get mad. Like the people who all asked when Wenger is going to spend money, AFTER he spend $50 last year. Anyway, somoene on the Guardian posted this in the comments section:
WWWWWDWDWWWLWWWWWW
Arsenal’s last 18 games! Now, we do need some reinforcements in Janaury, but the “crisis” talk has been absurd.
Many arsenal fans have been here before. I think the collective is thinking “don’t change ANYTHING, we’re on a roll”. Guess the includes press coverage?
Whether politics or sports, it’s called ideology, which means you have certain belief that is unaffected by facts. Personally, I like to base my opinions on facts and often feel lonely doing so.
Penalty, what penalty….