Grand finales?

It wasn't pretty, but Bayern Munich's win on Wednesday night, sealed by a 62nd minute goal from Croatian striker Ivica Olic, may yet prove key to the continuation of their Champions League campaign.

Mario Gomez had done well to receive a ball from midfield, turn, cut back, and unleash a shot from distance that Maccabi keeper Nir Davidovitch could only redirect. A streaking Olic was there to poke in the rebound.

After the match, Olic said he thought the win might help get Bayern on track.

The win was "very important," he said. "We've put our poor streak behind us now, and are headed in the right direction."

Bayern had gone into Wednesday's match moving very much in the wrong direction. They were winless in their last three Champions League matches, and so needed a victory - and also some help from Girondins de Bourdeaux, who were hosting Juventus.

Bayern lived up to its end of the deal, and the French champions came through as well, getting an emphatic 2-0 win that sealed their dominance over Group A - and a first-place seed in the round of 16 draw.

Juventus will now host Bayern in Turin on December 8 in what is may be an explosive encounter in that Bayern needs a win to advance.

Missed opportunity

Reigning German champions Wolfsburg are in nearly the same boat after they failed to close out Russian side CSKA after going up early in Moscow.

Edin Dzeko put the Wolves up after 19 minutes after being sent a well-timed through ball from his strike partner Obafemi Martins that caught CSKA's back line napping.

Wolfsburg needed only to protect that lead and come away with a draw to guarantee second place in group B and a spot in the next round but missed chances later in the first half, and defensive lapses in the second, doomed Wolfsburg on the night.

Tomas Necid scored a headed goal on 58 minutes after slipping his markers in the area as an Evgeni Aldonin cross came in. And just eight minutes later, Milos Krasic gave the onetime Moscow police team the lead with a shot from 25 meters out.

"If we'd only kept on playing like we had in the first half, we'd have won," said Wolfsburg playmaker Zvejdan Misimovic. "We pulled back too much, and felt too comfortable."

Wolfsburg now face the uncomfortable prospect of needing a result from their home match against Manchester United in just under two weeks' time. Wolfsburg must win that match, or draw and hope for CSKA, now level on points with them, to lose in Istanbul to Besiktas.

"We got exactly what we didn't want," said Wolfsburg business manager Juergen Marbach after the match.

"An all-or-nothing game against Manchester United - not exactly what anybody wishes for, against that kind of opponent."

United fell on Wednesday, however. With the knowledge they were already assured a place in the knock-out round, United suffered its first home loss in the Champions League group stage in eight years, as Besiktas won 1-0.

Other groups

Last year's beaten semifinalists Chelsea continued their imperious Champions League campaign on Wednesday, subduing the crowd at the Estadio do Dragao by downing their closest group D rivals Porto 1-0.

The result saw German national team captain Michael Ballack's club take the group, but the Oporto side were already through as well, as Atletico Madrid and Cypriot side APOEL (who drew 1-1 on the night) were well back in the table.

Group C, however, remains tight. Real Madrid took a two-point lead at the top on Wednesday after a workmanlike 1-0 home win over FC Zurich. And AC Milan were held to a 1-1 draw at the San Siro by Olympique de Marseille.

The results set up a tangled web of qualification prospects. Real Madrid need only a draw in their match in France against Marseille to go through. Milan would qualify with a win in Zurich, or with a Marseille loss.

Marseille, meanwhile, need either a win and a Milan loss or draw or, in the event of a Milan win, a victory in their last match against Real Madrid by four goals or more.

Author: Matt Hermann
Editor: Nathan Witkop