BY SBI SOCCER
It took a golazo from the opposing team, but Barcelona nonetheless was forced to start the defense of its UEFA Champions League crown with a draw.
Barcelona opened its Champions League campaign on Wednesday by playing to a 1-1 draw on the road with AS Roma. Luis Suarez opened the scoring for the Spanish giants in the 21st minute, but his close-range header was negated by a wonder strike from Alessandro Florenzi from near midfield that is being talked about as a Goal of the Year candidate.
Roma suffered a blow early in the second half when it had to replace starting goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, but backup Morgan De Sanctis helped keep Suarez, Leo Messi, and Neymar in check to secure a result for the Italian club.
In some of Wednesday’s other action:
10-MAN ARSENAL DEFEATED BY DINAMO ZAGREB
An own goal, a sending off, and a defeat. It was just an overall bad day at the office for Arsenal.
Arsenal suffered a 2-1 road loss to Dinamo Zagreb, and it was the ejection of Olivier Giroud that was one of the game’s biggest talking points. Giroud was given his marching orders five minutes before halftime with a second yellow card for a high challenge on Ivo Pinto, leaving Arsenal to have to overcome a one-goal deficit down a man.
Dinamo Zagreb had taken the lead in the 24th minute through an own goal from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who had a saved shot bounce off of him and into the net The Croatian club capitalized on its man advantage, however, by making it 2-0 with a Junior Fernandes finish before the hour-mark.
Theo Walcott pulled one back in the 79th minute to give Arsenal some hope, but the English outfit never found an equalizer.
Here are the results of Wednesday’s other matches:
Bayer Leverkusen 4-1 FC Bate
Chelsea 4-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv
Dynamo Kiev 2-2 FC Porto
KAA Gent 1-1 Lyon
Olympiakos 0-3 Bayern Munich
Valencia 2-3 Zenit St. Petersburg
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What do you think about Barcelona settling for a draw with Roma? Surprised by Arsenal’s rough dat the office? Which other results/games from Wednesday were you most intrigued by?
Share your thoughts below.
Wow, there are many Mexicans playing in top Europe teams, Chicharito at Leverkusen, four Mexicans in FC Porto and three play regularly, two in PSV and they also play Champions League. Wow again, if USMNT beats Mexico at the CONCACAF Cup, it will be really be a heroic miracle. Our players instead are relegated to playing MLS and second division teams in Europe. Wow, we have moved forwards by leaps and bounds with Klinsi at the helm.
Bradley should still be starting for Roma. Times got hard and he abandoned the opportunity to play for the 2nd best team in Italy and in the CL