Champions League: Inter beat Bayern in a thriller

By Shourin Roy on March 16, 2011 11:21 AM | Comments | TrackBacksShare|

Samuel Eto'o fires the first goal for Inter before two defensive lapses cost them the lead. Julio Cesar bobbles Arjen Robben's shot and Mario Gomez makes him pay by hooking the ball into an empty net. Minutes later, Dejan Stankovic deflects Robben's cross invitingly into the path of Thomas Mueller and the German flicking the ball over the spreadeagled Cesar.

Cesar makes up for it effecting a brilliant but risky save off Frank Ribery's shot after the Frenchman is sent free after Andrea Ranocchia bites on the ball. At the other end Thomas Kraft brings down Stankovic for what appeared to be a clear penalty and a sending off. But the goalkeeper survives as the referee does not entertain Inter's appeals.

Bayern come close as Gomez turns Ribery's floated cross across goal towards the far post. Both Ranocchia and Mueller scramble with the centre back sliding in fractionally before to turn the ball away before it rolls over the goal line. The ball deflects off the German's foot back to goal but fortuitously balloons off the upright and Cesar is able to collect.

Lucio gets into all sorts of trouble trying to finesse the ball away but succumbs to Mueller and Ribery's pressure and is in danger of conceding a goal but the Frenchman is called offside. Cesar then spectacularly saves Gomez's volley off yet another Ribery cross.

Inter's equalizer comes after the newly introduced Phillipe Coutinho sends a long diagonal ball to Eto'o. With the Bayern defense trying to reset - the striker lays the ball off for Wesley Sneijder whose acutely angled shot finds the gap between Kraft and the far post.

With Bayern fading Inter comes close as Cambiasso, Coutinho, and Sneijder dominate the ball. The breakthrough comes after Eto'o, whose play making skills close to goal is vastly underrated latches onto a long ball, shrugs off an Inter defender, and cuts in to lay off a pass off to the arriving Goran Pandev who cracks the ball over Kraft.

Eto'o scored the first goal and had a hand in the other two. He made all the difference. The club has also regained its footing under Leonardo. Since taking over on 24th December 2010, the club has won 11 of its 14 matches and gained 34 points to pull it to second place, 5 points behind Milan.

Categories: Champions League 2010-2011, English Premier League 2011, Gossip/Trash Talk, Soccer Business, Soccer Coaches & Coaching, Soccer Culture, Soccer Hall of Fame, Soccer History, Soccer Players, Soccer Skills, Soccer Teams - Club, Soccer Videos Tags: Bayern Munich, Champions League 2010-11, Internazionale, Samuel Eto'o No TrackBacks

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ABOUT SOCCERBLOG.com SoccerBlog.com is a fan-driven site founded by Christian and Shourin. Our goal is to cover the beautiful game and talk about some of the issues that may not be covered elsewhere. Since we aren't any good at playing, we decided to talk about soccer instead!

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Champions League: Chicharito guides Man Utd into QF was the previous entry in this blog.

Sir Alex: Of banns and bans is the next entry in this blog.

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Roar win A-League title in thriller

Brisbane Roar are the A-League champions after beating Central Coast Mariners in a penalty shootout in an extraordinary grand final on Sunday.

The match was goalless at full-time but in a dramatic half hour of extra time, both sides scored twice.

The Mariners went 2-0 up in the first 15 minutes of added time but Brisbane hit back to secure a 2-2 draw with the last play of the match.

However, it still took a penalty shoot-out, won 4-2 by the Roar, to separate the teams in a match that had it all, played in front of more than 50,000 fans, the fourth-largest crowd in A-League history, in the first grand final outside of Sydney or Melbourne.

The Mariners had the title all but clinched with six minutes left after Adam Kwasnik and Oliver Bozanic scored after the scores were deadlocked after 90 minutes of end-to-end entertainment.

It looked as if Brisbane’s amazing run of 27 games undefeated was over.

But as they showed a fortnight ago in the second leg of the major semi-final, the Brisbane Roar will never, ever say die as they snagged two goals in the last three minutes to take the title to penalties.

There, Brisbane goalkeeper Michael Theoklitos was the hero, saving spot kicks from Daniel McBreen and Pedj Bojic before Henrique scored the decisive penalty.

It was an incredible climax that looked beyond all realms of possibility in the 96th minute when Bojic sent in a corner kick, with Roar star Thomas Broich jumping to clear it.

The ball went back into the danger area and Kwasnik reacted the quickest to grab the breakthrough from close range.

Seven minutes later Kwasnik was at it again on the break, unleashed by game-changing youngster Bernie Ibini-Isei and though his shot was saved by Theoklitos, he passed to Bozanic, who looked to have confirmed Central Coast’s first championship.

But in the 117th minute Brazilian Henrique pegged one back for the Roar, set up by Jean Carlos Solorzano after a break down the left.

It seemed it was all too late but up rose Erik Paartalu, meeting a perfect corner from Broich to level the scores.

Sun 13 March, 2011

Roar win A-League title in thriller

Brisbane Roar are the A-League champions after beating Central Coast Mariners in a penalty shootout in an extraordinary grand final on Sunday.

The match was goalless at full-time but in a dramatic half hour of extra time, both sides scored twice.

The Mariners went 2-0 up in the first 15 minutes of added time but Brisbane hit back to secure a 2-2 draw with the last play of the match.

However, it still took a penalty shoot-out, won 4-2 by the Roar, to separate the teams in a match that had it all, played in front of more than 50,000 fans, the fourth-largest crowd in A-League history, in the first grand final outside of Sydney or Melbourne.

The Mariners had the title all but clinched with six minutes left after Adam Kwasnik and Oliver Bozanic scored after the scores were deadlocked after 90 minutes of end-to-end entertainment.

It looked as if Brisbane’s amazing run of 27 games undefeated was over.

But as they showed a fortnight ago in the second leg of the major semi-final, the Brisbane Roar will never, ever say die as they snagged two goals in the last three minutes to take the title to penalties.

There, Brisbane goalkeeper Michael Theoklitos was the hero, saving spot kicks from Daniel McBreen and Pedj Bojic before Henrique scored the decisive penalty.

It was an incredible climax that looked beyond all realms of possibility in the 96th minute when Bojic sent in a corner kick, with Roar star Thomas Broich jumping to clear it.

The ball went back into the danger area and Kwasnik reacted the quickest to grab the breakthrough from close range.

Seven minutes later Kwasnik was at it again on the break, unleashed by game-changing youngster Bernie Ibini-Isei and though his shot was saved by Theoklitos, he passed to Bozanic, who looked to have confirmed Central Coast’s first championship.

But in the 117th minute Brazilian Henrique pegged one back for the Roar, set up by Jean Carlos Solorzano after a break down the left.

It seemed it was all too late but up rose Erik Paartalu, meeting a perfect corner from Broich to level the scores.

Sun 13 March, 2011

A-League wrap: Perth win thriller, Mariners go third

A second-half brace from Robbie Fowler re-ignited Perth Glory’s faint finals hopes as they won 4-2 over Adelaide United on Wednesday.

In a see-sawing affair, Perth opened the scoring through Jamie Coyne in the sixth minute before Adelaide equalised against the run of play through early substitute Joe Keenan, who had been on 12 minutes for Paul Reid when he fired home in the 22nd.

The Glory again went ahead through Mile Sterjovski 10 minutes before the break but once again gave up the advantage when Sergio van Dijk levelled in the 50th minute through his 10th goal of the season.

But Adelaide failed maintain the momentum as Cassio narrowly missed with a 67th-minute volley, the Glory going on with the job as a brilliant Adriano Pellegrino through-ball released Fowler one-on-one with Eugene Galekovic, the Liverpool legend making no mistake.

Iain Ramsey missed a gilt-edged chance in the 74th minute when he was released through on goal, Glory stopper Tando Velaphi doing well to partially come off his line and force Ramsey wide, the Adelaide man subsequently shooting over.

The Glory made the Reds pay just three minutes later. Sterjovski was somewhat fortunate to be still on the park after only receiving a yellow when he appeared to kick out at Iain Fyfe in the 55th minute.

And, Adelaide will feel further aggrieved as Sterjovski burst through into the area in the 75th minute, with Nigel Boogaard grabbing hold of the former Socceroo’s shirt as he went to ground.

Boogaard, on the field for just two minutes for Fyfe, was sent on his way and Fowler stepped up to take the spot kick, giving Perth just their second win in 17 games, as the Glory moved off the bottom of the table.

In Wednesday’s other game, Central Coast Mariners cruised to a 1-0 victory in their clash with North Queensland Fury at Bluetongue Stadium.

A first-half goal to Adam Kwasnik was all that was needed to give Graham Arnold’s men their ninth win of the season.

Kwasnik’s emphatic header in the 28th minute was his eighth goal of this A-League campaign, and pushed the Mariners past Gold Coast United on goals scored, and subsequently into third spot on the ladder.

Wed 22 December, 2010

A-League wrap: Perth win thriller, Mariners go third

A second-half brace from Robbie Fowler re-ignited Perth Glory’s faint finals hopes as they won 4-2 over Adelaide United on Wednesday.

In a see-sawing affair, Perth opened the scoring through Jamie Coyne in the sixth minute before Adelaide equalised against the run of play through early substitute Joe Keenan, who had been on 12 minutes for Paul Reid when he fired home in the 22nd.

The Glory again went ahead through Mile Sterjovski 10 minutes before the break but once again gave up the advantage when Sergio van Dijk levelled in the 50th minute through his 10th goal of the season.

But Adelaide failed maintain the momentum as Cassio narrowly missed with a 67th-minute volley, the Glory going on with the job as a brilliant Adriano Pellegrino through-ball released Fowler one-on-one with Eugene Galekovic, the Liverpool legend making no mistake.

Iain Ramsey missed a gilt-edged chance in the 74th minute when he was released through on goal, Glory stopper Tando Velaphi doing well to partially come off his line and force Ramsey wide, the Adelaide man subsequently shooting over.

The Glory made the Reds pay just three minutes later. Sterjovski was somewhat fortunate to be still on the park after only receiving a yellow when he appeared to kick out at Iain Fyfe in the 55th minute.

And, Adelaide will feel further aggrieved as Sterjovski burst through into the area in the 75th minute, with Nigel Boogaard grabbing hold of the former Socceroo’s shirt as he went to ground.

Boogaard, on the field for just two minutes for Fyfe, was sent on his way and Fowler stepped up to take the spot kick, giving Perth just their second win in 17 games, as the Glory moved off the bottom of the table.

In Wednesday’s other game, Central Coast Mariners cruised to a 1-0 victory in their clash with North Queensland Fury at Bluetongue Stadium.

A first-half goal to Adam Kwasnik was all that was needed to give Graham Arnold’s men their ninth win of the season.

Kwasnik’s emphatic header in the 28th minute was his eighth goal of this A-League campaign, and pushed the Mariners past Gold Coast United on goals scored, and subsequently into third spot on the ladder.

Wed 22 December, 2010

Werder edge Sampdoria in a thriller, 2-3 (agg 5-4)

By Shourin Roy on August 24, 2010 7:17 PM | Comments | TrackBacksShare|

This match lived up to its billing as Giampaolo Pazzini lit up the pitch with a very impressive opening brace. Antonio Cassano crossed the ball perfectly for Pazzini to bury his header into goal for Samp to go up.

Pazzini's second goal was almost as majestic as Gareth Bale's against Stoke this weekend. It was Cassano's turn to score with a cheeky back heel to make it 3-0. The fans at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris were going berserk as their club were up 4-3 in aggregate with just about 6 minutes left.

Just when it appeared Thomas Schaaf's club was destined to contemplate more misery, Markus Rosenberg's acutely angled grounder in the 92nd minute from 25 yards out took Gianluca Curci completely by surprise. Werder were off the hook and with the aggregate at 4-4, the match headed into extra time.

In the 99th minute Marko Marin pulled of a sequence of dazzling moves to go past three Sampdoria players before laying a pass to Claudio Pizzaro. The Peruvian striker took one step and belted an earth kissing scorcher from a similar distance to again catch Curci out of position.

Brilliant comeback by Werder but heartbreak for Sapmdoria - cruel, she is, the game of football.

Categories: Soccer Videos, Soccer Teams - Club, Soccer Skills, Champions League 2010-2011, Gossip/Trash Talk, Soccer Coaches & Coaching, Soccer History, Soccer Hall of Fame, Soccer Players Tags: Champions League 2010-11, Sampdoria, Werder Bremen No TrackBacks

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Braga's Brazilians stun Sevilla, 4-3 was the previous entry in this blog.

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