A late Alou Diarra goal held Chelsea to a 1-1 draw at Girondins Bordeaux and denied last year’s runners-up an early ticket to the Champions League first knockout phase.
Chelsea will have to wait to enter the knockout phase as they are held to a draw by Bordeaux while Liverpool, Inter and Atletico qualify for last 16
BORDEAUX: A late Alou Diarra goal held Chelsea to a 1-1 draw at Girondins Bordeaux on Wednesday and denied last year’s runners-up an early ticket to the Champions League first knockout phase. Meanwhile, former European champions Liverpool, Italian giants Inter Milan and Spanish side Atletico Madrid sealed their berths in the last 16.
French midfielder Diarra headed home from a Yoann Gourcuff cross with seven minutes remaining to cancel out Nicolas Anelka’s 60th-minute opener. Chelsea, who had England midfielder Frank Lampard sent off in the 86th minute, are now second in Group A with eight points from five matches, one point behind AS Roma, who won 3-1 at CFR Cluj. Bordeaux are third on seven points and travel to Roma in two weeks’ time with Chelsea hosting Cluj.
“The result is fair,” Chelsea coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said. However, the Brazilian was furious at his players for having conceded a goal at a set piece. “I am very angry because we are usually strong on these set pieces, which we work on a lot during training. It is the first goal we concede from a corner since I have been in charge,” he said.
Scolari added he was not worried about his team’s qualification. “We cannot be sure of topping the group... but if we do not go through, I’ll just have to go back to Brazil” he said with a smile.
At Anfield Steven Gerrard headed Liverpool’s winner in a 1-0 victory over Marseille. Liverpool had to withstand strong Marseille pressure in the second half at Anfield but held on to record home and away victories over the French team.
“It was a nervy match but still a job well done,” said Gerrard, who was hit by an object from the Marseille fans while taking a corner at the end of the first half. “We wanted all three points and a clean sheet and we got both of those. It was a frustrating second half for us. We lost control a bit and there are a few things that need looking at.”
In Madrid, Simao Sabrosa and Maxi Rodriguez scored in the first 28 minutes for Atletico in a game played behind closed doors because of crowd violence when the Spanish team played Marseille October 1. Inter was beaten 1-0 at home by Panathinaikos but still qualified despite winning only one of its three home games. Its two nearest rivals, Panathinaikos and Anorthosis Famagusta, face each other December 9 and only one of the teams can finish above the Serie A leader.
“Panathinaikos deserves this win and we deserved to lose,” said Inter coach Jose Mourinho. “We played a terrible game. In the first half we basically didn’t create anything, we didn’t fight for the lose balls. I think the players were tired, that’s the explanation I prefer.”
Barcelona won 5-2 at Sporting while Shakhtar beat FC Basel 5-0 helped by a hat trick by Jadson.
Ten teams who have already qualified are Barcelona and Sporting Lisbon from Group C, Manchester United and Villarreal from Group E, Lyon and Bayern Munich from Group F, Arsenal and FC Porto from Group G and Juventus and Real Madrid from Group H.
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