Champions League (16/12/2008 11:47)

It's been a while since I wrote my last blog on the Champions League. Even a longer time ago, I did this regularly, so everybody could enjoy some results, stats and facts. I can't promise I will keep on doing this again, but for now, I'd like to write a new update on this season's Champions League. So, here it goes:

All group matches have been played and in my opinion there haven't been many surprises. Or it has to be Panathinaikos' groupwinning in Group B, in front of Inter Milan.

Group Stage:

Group A:                                                                                                                                 Played     Win           Draw       Loss        Points              Goals For                   Goals Against

1	AS Roma	6	4	0	2	12	12	-	6
2	Chelsea	6	3	2	1	11	9	-	5
3	Girondins Bordeaux	6	2	1	3	7	5	-	11
4	CFR Cluj	6	1	1	4	4	5	-	9

Group B:

1	Panathinaikos	6	3	1	2	10	8	-	7
2	Internationale	6	2	2	2	8	8	-	7
3	Werder Bremen	6	1	4	1	7	7	-	9
4	Anorthosis Famagusta	6	1	3	2	6	8	-	8

Group C:

1	Barcelona	6	4	1	1	13	18	-	8
2	Sporting Lissabon	6	4	0	2	12	8	-	8
3	Shakhtar Donetsk	6	3	0	3	9	11	-	7
4	FC Basel	6	0	1	5	1	2	-	16

Group D:

1	Liverpool	6	4	2	0	14	11	-	5
2	Atlético Madrid	6	3	3	0	12	9	-	4
3	Olympique Marseille	6	1	1	4	4	5	-	7
4	PSV	6	1	0	5	3	5	-	14

Needless to say Dutch (and in particular PSV-) fans are really dissappointed in the team's performance this year. After some reasonably succesful seasons, this year they're not going to play in either Champions Leage or UEFA Cup.

Group E:

1	Manchester United	6	2	4	0	10	9	-	3
2	Villarreal	6	2	3	1	9	9	-	7
3	Aalborg BK	6	1	3	2	6	9	-	14
4	Celtic	6	1	2	3	5	4	-	7

This fills me with joy :) Go United!

Group F:

1	Bayern München	6	4	2	0	14	12	-	4
2	Olympique Lyon	6	3	2	1	11	14	-	10
3	Fiorentina	6	1	3	2	6	5	-	8
4	Steaua Boekarest	6	0	1	5	1	3	-	12

Group G:

1	FC Porto	6	4	0	2	12	9	-	8
2	Arsenal	6	3	2	1	11	11	-	5
3	Dinamo Kiev	6	2	2	2	8	4	-	4
4	Fenerbahçe	6	0	2	4	2	4	-	11

Group H:

1	Juventus	6	3	3	0	12	7	-	3
2	Real Madrid	6	4	0	2	12	9	-	5
3	Zenit Sint-Petersburg	6	1	2	3	5	4	-	7
4	Bate Borisov	6	0	3	3	3	3	-	8

Unfortunately, I can't tell much about matches, as I haven't seen many of them really. Basically, I only saw Athletico Madrid - PSV, in a completely empty stadium, with a stupid widescreen shwoing celebrating fans when Athletico scored... Really weird...

The draws for the next rounds, which will be Knock-Out rounds from now on, will follow soon.

Some stats to conclude this blog with:

- In this campaign 4 players scored 5 goals so far: Benzema from Ol. Lyon, Gerrard from Liverpool, Klose from Bayern München and Messi from Barça.
- Overall topscorers are: Raúl (64), Ruud van Nistelrooy (56) and Shevchenko (47)
- Players with most matches are: Raúl (121), Roberto Carlos (120) and Maldini (109)
- Finally, a table with the best performing teams in Champions League so far:

Club:	Played	Won	Draw	Loss	Goals For
Manchester United	146	76	39	31	267
Real Madrid	141	77	29	35	260
Barcelona	127	71	31	25	244
AC Milan	123	62	34	27	220
Bayern München	124	58	38	28	212
Juventus	112	55	29	28	194
Arsenal	105	47	31	27	172
FC Porto	114	46	29	39	167
Chelsea	77	38	23	16	137
Olympique Lyon	76	38	18	20	132
Liverpool	72	35	22	15	127
Inter****onale	72	34	20	18	122
Valencia	70	32	21	17	117
Ajax	72	31	20	21	113
PSV	90	30	18	42	108

I just finished the list till the first Dutch teams ;) Lazy me :P
And as something went wrong, and I do not know what, I don't have the Goals Against. Sorry...

That's it for now!