The good, bad and barely acceptable
It was a great week for the Premier League's Champions League contingent but in our opinion, the club who deserve the most praise for their exploits play in Denmark. We pick out the heroes, villains and those who fall somewhere in between from last night's matches...
THE GOOD
FC Copenhagen
The Danish champions were the stars of Wednesday night for us after their 2-0 victory away to Panathinaikos left them top of Group D, two points above Barcelona and five clear of third-placed Rubin Kazan. They are [1.4] to become the first Scandinavian team to reach the last 16 in 11 years.
Manchester United
All the statistics suggested that they were set for a tough night at the Mestalla - a poor record in Spain, disappointing recent away results, big name absentees and Valencia's fine form, however a late strike by substitute Javier Hernandez was enough for three points, and they're [1.45] to win Group C.
THE BAD
Werder Bremen
It's undoubtedly harsh on Inter Milan not to include either them or hat-trick hero Samuel Eto'o in "the good" after their 4-0 romp, but we've instead chosen to criticise their victims, who are bottom of Group A and have lost four of their five Bundesliga and European away games. No wonder they're out to [3.05] to progress.
Hapoel Tel Aviv
If the Israeli league winners were to have a chance of making the knockout stages, they needed to make home advantage count. A 3-1 loss to a Lyon side who had won just three of their last 16 on the road and had been beaten in all three this season didn't quite fit the bill, so they're [10.0] to qualify.
THE BARELY ACCEPTABLE
Rafael van der Vaart
How do you judge a performance in which a player has a penalty saved, scores a goal and then gets sent off? As his strike set Spurs on their way to a 4-1 success over FC Twente, van der Vaart's contribution could be classed as positive, though the fact he'll miss their trip to Inter evens it out.
Barcelona
A draw away to the Russian champions, especially having fallen behind, is far from a disaster, yet Pep Guardiola is sure to be far from satisfied that his club have faced Rubin Kazan three times now without winning. They trail FC Copenhagen by two points but are still a [1.15] lay to top Group D.
Disagree with our conclusions? Then shout us down in the box below...
Published: 30 Sep 2010
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