Soccer Champions League: Braaten strike gives Copenhagen win over Galatasaray 1-0

Braaten got the hosts Copenhagen off to a flying start, applying a glancing touch to Rurik Gislason's precise centre to turn the ball home six minutes into the Group B match.

Galatasaray clawed their way back into the game, hitting a post and having a goal disallowed for offside, but despite going close several times in a pulsating second half they could not fashion an equalizer.

Copenhagen are now third, a point ahead of Juventus and level on four with second-placed Galatasaray who trail leaders Real Madrid who have 10. The Danes are unbeaten at home in the Champions League group stage during their three campaigns.

Read more: Braaten strike gives Copenhagen win over Galatasaray | SBS News

Soccer - European Champions League: Germany Extends Its Success to the Soccer Field - By Nicolas Kulish

France’s finance minister, Pierre Moscovici, warned on Tuesday against caricatures and misunderstandings over Germany’s handling of the euro crisis, but quickly qualified his conciliatory statement about the European Union’s most powerful country.

“There is one subject where Germany’s image is certainly bad,” Mr. Moscovici told an auditorium full of students at the Free University in Berlin. “Germany wins too often at soccer, particularly now in the Champions League.” 

Europe’s equivalent of the Super Bowl does not kick off for more than two weeks, but in a development that feels all too fitting under the current circumstances here, Germany has already won. Two German clubs, one from Dortmund in the Ruhr Valley and the other from Munich in deepest Bavaria, will face off for the European title, which means the nationality of the champion is already assured. 

The local news media are calling it the “dream final.” The daily newspaper Berliner Kurier summed up the mood in Germany perfectly in a front-page headline last week that read simply, “We versus us.”

“One thing is certain,” Chancellor Angela Merkel said. “Germany wins.”

Read more: Germany Extends Its Success to the Soccer Field - NYTimes.com

Soccer: Madrid and Barcelona can they still turn the tide?

Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona suffered crushing semi-final losses but, as both know from experience, even two or three-goal first leg defeats can be turned around.

It appears to be mission impossible for FC Barcelona and Real Madrid CF next week as they seek to overturn semi-final first-leg defeats of 4-0 and 4-1 respectively. Only five teams have overcome a first-leg deficit of two or more in the UEFA Champions League as UEFA.com discovers – though Barcelona have some previous.

Read more: Great UEFA Champions League comebacks - UEFA Champions League - News - UEFA.com

UEFA European Soccer Cup: Manchester United Shouldn't Play the Blame Game - by Rob Hughes

The shoe is raised dangerously high, and the referee, given only one split-second view of it, red-cards the offending player. Uproar. The e-mails, the television commentaries, the tweets pour in.

Some said Manchester United had been robbed by the Turkish referee’s decision to send off its winger, Nani, in the Champions League against Real Madrid on Tuesday. Others said the referee, Cuneyt Cakir, had done his duty, gone by the book and punished dangerous play.

Either way, a game played between two clubs worth more than a billion dollars apiece and televised live around the globe was deemed to have been perverted by a single call from the arbiter. 

Nobody knows whether United would have gone on to win the contest. It led at the time of the red card, but it ultimately lost, 2-1, after being reduced to 10 men against 11 for the remaining half-hour at Old Trafford Stadium.

Read more: Manchester United Shouldn't Play the Blame Game - NYTimes.com

Soccer: UEFA European Champions League day 1 a huge success

The UEFA Champions League group stages kicked off Tuesday with some big names and by the end there were some big headlines. The match of the day was as advertised as Real Madrid narrowly escaped Manchester City 3-2. Los Blancos overcame two one-goal deficits in the final 20 minutes thanks to goals by Marcelo, Benzema, and Cristiano Ronaldo, who clinched the win with a 90th minute strike from just inside the 18-yard box.

In other news, summer signings Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva helped PSG to a 4-1 over Dynamo Kiev, while German champs Borussia Dortmund scored in the closing seconds to beat Ajax Amsterdam 1-0, and claim a crucial three points in the “group of death.”

For all the scores of Tuesday’s other five games click on the link below:

Read more: UEFA Champions League day 1 a huge success - Washington DC college soccer | Examiner.com

Chelsea Beat Bayern Munich 4-3 on Penalties, Win the UEFA Champions League

Roman Abramovich’s $2.86 billion ambition has been fulfilled. Chelsea have won the Champions League. They walked the most tenuous of tightropes, but they  beat Bayern Munich 4-3 on penalties after drawing 1-1 in regulation. This was perhaps the worst and the ugliest team of the Abramovich era, but, ultimately, it was the most successful.

Bayern dominated the match statistically. They did not hold as much possession as expected, just 56 percent, but they outshot Chelsea 43-9. Bayern had 20 corner kicks to Chelsea’s one. Chelsea scored on that one. It was just that sort of night.

The real loser here may be Tottenham. The fourth place finisher in the EPL will not take the final Champions League place (Chelsea get one automatically). With financial fair play going into effect next season, the lost funds could cripple their ability to compete at that level in future years (and help Chelsea).

Chelsea Beat Bayern Munich 4-3 on Penalties, Win the UEFA Champions League | The Big Lead