Shakhtar Donetsk underlined their ambitions to win the UEFA Champions League by defeating defending champions Chelsea2-1, while Manchester United came from two goals behind to beat Braga.
Shakhtar and Chelsea met in Donetsk, level atop Group E on four points and with both teams in fine domestic form. But for most of the match there was only one likely winner as Alex Teixiera scored on three minutes and Fernandinho added another early in the second half. Shakhtar totally dominated thi game and if it was not for Petr Cech, this score could have got embarrassing for Chelsea. A late goal from Oscar made the scoreline look more respectable, but left Chelsea knowing that they will have to beat Shakhtar at home in two weeks, and beat Juventus in Turin if they are to win this group.
Speaking of Juventus, they could only manage a draw away to Nordsjælland, their third in the group, and qualification for the knockout stages is beginning to look tricky for the Serie A champions.
For the eight time this season, Manchester United had to come from behind after up a early goal to Braga. When Alan added his, and Braga’s second after only 20 minutes, it looked like we had a major upset on ur hands at Old Trafford.
But two goals from Javier Hernández, and one from Jonny Evans, helped United win 3-2 and all but lock up their place in the knockout stage. United have nine points, five clear of Cluj, who were pegged back to 1-1 with 13 minutes left on a damp night at Galatasaray.
FBATE Borisov’s perfect start to Champions League play came to a end as a Roberto Soldado hat-trick gave Valencia a big 3-0 win in Minsk. Group F is quite a battle with BATE, Valencia and Bayern Munich, 1-0 victors at Lille, all tied in six points.
Celtic were seconds away from a huge draw at the Camp Nou against Barcelona, but their defence switched off for a second and deep into added time Jordi Alba scored to give Barca the 2-1 win. Barcelona are five points ahead of Celtic, who in turn sit one clear of Sparta Moscow who ended an unhappy opening to the group phase by beating Benfica 2-1. Will Celtic rue that dropped point at the end of Matchday 6?
The reversals of these fixtures are on 7 November, and Groups A to D continue tomorrow.
Group E
FC Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 Chelsea FC
FC Nordsjælland 1-1 Juventus
Group F
FC BATE Borisov 0-3 Valencia CF
LOSC Lille 0-1 FC Bayern München
Group G
FC Spartak Moskva 2-1 SL Benfica
FC Barcelona 2-1 Celtic FC
Group H
Galatasaray AŞ 1-1 CFR 1907 Cluj
Manchester United FC 3-2 SC Braga
