A goal from Yoann Gourcuff put French champions Bordeaux in the driving seat and even an equalizer from Konstantinos Mitroglou could not help Olympiakos back into the tie. A goal from Arsenal target Marouane Chamakh sealed progress to the Champions League Quarter Finals.
Harry Redknapp’s side romped home to victory in their first home friendly of pre-season with second half goals from Roman Pavyluchenko, Luka Modric and Jermain Defoe giving Spurs a 3-0 win over the Greek champions.
Chelsea might have been held to a 0-0 draw by Greek giants Olympiakos in Athens in the UEFA Champions League, last 16, first leg tie on Tuesday but the London Blues still remain the favourites against the Greek warriors.
Yet their performance on Tuesday night left much to be desired and manager Avram Grant isn’t happy with the display of his multinational and multimillionaire footballers exhibited.
Yes, it is a game in which we played less well. I am pleased with the result. A draw away from home is good. But the performance could have been better. We didn’t create many chances. But Olympiakos are a very well organised team and it is not easy to play against them. We hope to improve in the return leg.
But to be honest, deep inside Grant must be filled with alacrity since the former Premiership champions are one foot into the quarter-finals already. But Chelsea need to improve on their playing style or else the better sides in the subsequent stages could just brush them aside.
The F.A. Cup bores me. Let’s talk about Spain, which returned to league action Saturday. In the yesterday’s marquee match-up, third-placed Espanyol Barcelona trounced fourth-placed Villareal, 3-0. All goals were scored in the first half, with Espanyol captain Raul Tamudo notching a brace Second-placed Barcelona saw off Mallorca on second half goals by Rafa Marquez and Samuel Eto’o. With the victory, Barca move four points behind leaders Real Madrid, who host Zaragoza tonight. Espanyol put some distance between themselves and Villareal, who can fall further if fifth-placed Atletico Madrid win at Deportivo tonight.
In Portugal’s bwinLIGA, fifth-placed Vitoria Setubal held second-placed Benfica to a 1-1 tie but the bigger surprise came in yesterday’s other game, between third-placed Sporting Lisbon and 10th placed Boavista Porto. Sporting went down, 2-0, and can now probably forget about whatever slim title hopes they were holding on to as they are nine points in arrears of FC Porto, who play tonight.
There was one game in the Greek Super League, which saw Olympiakos (Chelsea’s Champions League opponent in the Round of 16) return to first place thanks to a come-from-behind win at Iraklis Saloniki.
anonymous wrote on Arsenal Plan Ambitious £40m Trio Raid (20):PL Transfer Targets Summer 2010 Chelsea We like the look of Christian Eriksen too. Deco, Belletti, Ferreira and Malouda OUT Definitely Joe Cole, Ashley Cole, Kalou, Anelka OUT...
