Man United, Chelsea, Bordeaux, FC Porto reach next round of Champions League
By Stuart Condie, APTuesday, November 3, 2009
Man United, Chelsea advance in Champions League
LONDON — Manchester United and Chelsea scored late goals Tuesday to reach the next round of the Champions League with Bordeaux and FC Porto.
United trailed 3-1 at home to CSKA Moscow with six minutes left, but Paul Scholes and Antonio Valencia scored to make it 3-3 in the Group B game to give last season’s runner-up the point needed to advance.
Didier Drogba scored in the 82nd and 88th to put Chelsea 2-1 up at Atletico Madrid in Group D. The 2008 finalist conceded an injury-time goal to Sergio Aguero and drew 2-2.
The two English clubs moved into the next round with Bordeaux, which won 2-0 win at Bayern Munich in Group A, and FC Porto. Four-time European champion Bayern is on the verge of elimination.
Porto’s 1-0 win at APOEL Nicosia means it advances alongside Chelsea and eliminates the other Group D clubs. AC Milan and Real Madrid still have to play following their 1-1 draw in Italy.
In other games, Juventus won 1-0 at Maccabi Haifa in Group A; Wolfsburg won 3-0 at Besiktas in Group B; and Marseille routed visiting FC Zurich 6-1 in Group C.
Lyon puts the tournament’s last perfect record on the line Wednesday when it hosts a Liverpool team desperate for victory. Arsenal hosts AZ Alkmaar and Inter Milan is at Dynamo Kiev in another of the day’s eight games.
United manager Alex Ferguson rested several key players and watched his team defend poorly before inserting Wayne Rooney and Patrice Evra for the last half hour. The three-time European champions gave CSKA to much room to attack to suit Ferguson.
“We lost three goals at home and you don’t like that,” he said. “But I can’t believe how many chances we did create.”
Wolfsburg moved to seven points, three fewer than United and three more than CSKA after its win at Besiktas.
Chelsea looked to be heading to a first defeat in Group D when Atletico substitute Aguero put his team ahead with a volley in the 66th minute.
But Drogba marked his first Champions League match this season with a header in the 82nd and solo goal six minutes later. The Ivory Coast striker was back with Chelsea following a three-game suspension for his postgame tantrum in last season’s semifinal loss to Barcelona.
Atletico lost 4-0 to Chelsea two weeks ago but Aguero tied it with a curling free kick beyond goalkeeper Petr Cech.
“It’s really frustrating when you concede a goal like this,” Drogba said.
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