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Champions League Latest : Liverpool Out, Arsenal Progress

Published by Ian John on November 25, 2009

A mixed night for the EPL teams in the Champions League last night. Most of the news has focused on Liverpool’s departure from the competition after they made hard work of defeating a spirited but limited Debreceni side 1-0 in Budapest. Despite the victory, given to them with a flick of David N’Gog’s ankle, progress into the latter stages was denied when Fiorentina managed to hold on to secure a 1-0 win over Lyon at the Artemio Franchi stadium in Florence.

Much has already been discussed on Liverpool’s limitations this season, so repeating them here is pointless, suffice to say that regardless of the result in Florence, this elimination has been on the cards pretty much since the campaign began with another unimpressive 1-0 win. Liverpool may moan that two crucial late goals against Lyon in both home and away legs has ultimately cost them, but the fact of the matter is that they were nowhere near good enough to progress when compared to either Lyon or Fiorentina.

Arsenal however did make it into the latter stages of the competition. Arsene Wenger’s men recorded a straightforward 2-0 victory over Standard Liege at the Emirates, thanks to goals from Samir Nasri and Denilson. The victory not only confirms Arsenal as progressing to the next stage, but also confirms them as group winners and as such they are more likely to get a favourable draw in the first round of the knockout stage at least. The only bad news for the Gunners coming when it emerged that Kieran Gibbs broke a metatarsal in his left foot during the latter stages of the game. The youngster looks set to be out several weeks while the bones knit together.

Chelsea travel to Portugal tonight, safe in the knowledge that they are through to the knockout phase. Carlo Ancelotti’s men face a tricky task in the Jose Alvelade stadium against an improving Porto side who sit just a point behind Chelsea in the group. A win for Chelsea would confirm them as group winners ahead of their final game, while a draw tonight in Portugal, followed by a home win in the final league game against Apoel Nicosia would be enough to secure top spot too. Porto, with Brazilian star Hulk a focal point of their team, will be hoping to beat Chelsea to give themselves a chance of finishing top of the table, but it looks likely they will have to beat Chelsea at home and then Atletico Madrid away to achieve that, and that seems a tall order.

Manchester United take on Besiktas at Old Trafford in a game which United should win. Indeed a victory or even a draw, given that second place Wolfsburg face a tricky trip to Moscow to take on a resurgent CSKA Moscow, may well be enough to confirm United as group winners. This would then give Sir Alex’s team the luxury of resting players in their final group game against Wolfsburg in Germany.

With several big clubs possibly struggling to make the final stages of the competition, such as Barcelona and Inter, Milan and Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, it could well be a season when some new names begin to push themselves forward as genuine Champions League contenders, though it is very hard to see past the remaining English trio as being strong favourites for the semi finals.

Image Courtesy of ***The EFP*** on Flickr.com

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