Atletico de Madrid travelled to Portugal to face the always difficult Porto team in their Group G match. The final result was 1 - 2 in favour to the Spaniards in a great & fought out encounter were both teams could have easily proclaimed the three points. What tipped the balance to Atletico de Madrid was a free-kick in the 87th min that surprised all the Porto defence which was expecting to see Gabi shoot at goal, but what they saw was a short inside pass that found Arda Turan free in the goal square who fired the winner. A brilliant set piece that had the stamp of Coach Simeone all over it & plenty of hours of work to make it happen.
Before this Porto started strong & managed up to 67% of ball possession forcing Atletico on the back foot. The Portuguese were rewarded in the 16th min when Jackson Martinez headed in a Lucho Gonzalez free-kick that put the home team ahead.
From here Atletico progressively fought their way back into the match with pressure Football that suffocated the home team into mistakes. The Spaniards strengthen the midfield with Cristian Rodriguez ( sub. for Villa ) to add pressure upfront. The equalizer came in the 58th min with a header from defender Godin.
The match see-sawed until Atletico pulled the "rabbit out of the hat" set piece goal. Magnificent stuff & greatly earned victory by Atletico.
FC Barcelona travelled to Scotland to play Celtic Glasgow in their Group H clash. Without Messi new arrival Neymar had all the attention & played up to the occasion. Said this the locals set up a "defensive wall" that managed to keep out Barça right up to the 76th min. This strategy was complemented by very tight & physical marking ( tackling ) that boarded at times the limits of the acceptable. That´s Footabll, a contact Sport.
The Scottish tactics worked & Barça goalkeeper Victor Valdes had to do his "magic" to keep Celtic from scoring. But the turning point came in the 58th min mark when Celtic player Scott Brown was shown a red card leaving his team at a disadvantage with 10 men. FC Barcelona "smelt blood" & managed to exploit the situation scoring in the 76th min when Cesc Fabregas headed an Alexis pass that started from a Neymar counter-attack.
The blow was definite for the Scots who never recovered. Final result 0 - 1 & a valuable win for Barcelona in far & "hostile" territory. Celtic will not be very happy with the red card decision.
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