Thaindian News

Hamburg (DPA) French club Olympique Lyon were on fire as they won their away Group E match in the Champions League match against Hungarian side Debrecen 4-0 on a night when just one of three British sides in action managed to win.
Liverpool also lost their away Group E match 2-0 to Italian side Fiorentina, while

Glasgow Rangers lost 4-1 at home against Sevilla in Group G.

Arsenal, meanwhile, needed late goals by Robin van Persie and

Andrey Arshavin to beat Greek club Olympiakos 2-0 in Group H.

The other game in the group saw surprise Dutch champions AZ

Alkmaar draw 1-1 at home with Standard Liege. Mounir El Hamdaoui’s

strike gave the home side the lead three minutes after the restart,

but Moussa Traore found an injury time equaliser.

Arsenal’s victory sees the side from London top the group with six

points, from Olympiakos, who have three. Liege and Alkmaar are on one

point each.

In Florence Liverpool failed to score for the first time in a

Champions League match since late 2007, ending a 22-game streak.

Nineteen-year-old Montenegrin striker Stevan Jovetic scored twice in the

first half to give Fiorentina a deserved victory and move above

Liverpool on goal difference to second place with three points.

Liverpool coach Rafa Benitez was disappointed with the result. “In

the first half everything was wrong with our side, we were watching

the game. We gave the ball away and did not win challenges.

“The difference in football is if you take your chances. They did

and we did not.

“We were very disappointed at half time. You cannot play at this

level like this, the other sides are good too.”

Lyon are comfortable leaders in the group with six points after

completely outplaying Debrecen Tuesday. The visitors were up three goals

midway through the first half after Kim Kallstrom, Miralem Pjanic and

Sidney Govou found the net early on.

Bafetimbi Gomis scored his side’s fourth five minutes after the

restart.

In Glasgow, Rangers looked the stronger side in the first half,

but fell behind in the 50th minute when Abdoulay Konko scored for

Sevilla. Adriano doubled the score in the 64th minute, before Luis Fabiano

added a third in the 72nd minute. Just two minutes later Frederic

Kanoute made it four.

Nacho Novo found a consolation goal two minutes from the end.

The other game in the group saw Unirea Urziceni come from behind

to draw 1-1 with visiting VfB Stuttgart, for whom Serdar Tasci scored

the opener in the fifth minute. Serban Varga equalised in the second

half.

Sevilla have a four point lead at the top of the group with six

points, from Stuttgart who have two. Rangers and Debrecen are both on

one point.

Lionel Messi gave Barcelona the lead at home against Dynamo Kiev

in their Group F game and substitute Pedro made the final score 2-0

in the 76th minute.

Earlier Tuesday, a ten-man Inter Milan came away with a 1-1 draw

from Russian club Rubin Kazan in the other Group F match.

Inter, who had Mario Balotelli sent off on the hour after a

unnecessarily harsh foul on Ecuadorian midfielder Cristian Noboa,

went behind after just 11 minutes through a spectacular goal by

Alejandro Dominquez.

The Argentine striker picked up the ball just inside the Inter

half and then went around several defenders before unleashing a

powerful shot that gave goalkeeper Julio Cesar no chance.

The home side then controlled proceedings in the next 20 minutes,

but failed to add to their score.

Instead, it was Dejan Stankovic header leveled

matters in the 27th minute.

The sides then traded chances, but once Balotelli had been sent

off for a second bookable offence, Rubin again seized the initiative

and came close to finding a winner.

They came agonisingly close with just nine minutes to play when

captain Sergey Semak hit the post from close range, only to see his

ball bounce back into play.

Barcelona head the group on four points, while Dynamo Kiev have

three. Inter Milan are on two, with Kazan on one from Tuesday’s draw.