Champions League: Juventus punish Bayern's mistakes

Goup A leaders Bayern Munich traveled to Turin on Wednesday, hoping for a repeat performance against Juventus two weeks ago. A win would have given them a good chance of winning their group. But the pressure’s on Bremen. It was really their last chance to make it through to the quarter-finals, so a win against Udinese was obligatory.

Bayern’s coach Felix Magath threw down the gauntlet before the match against Juventus. “We will play aggressively up front. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t win the second match against Juve”, he said.

Fighting talk from the Bundesliga champions. Victory would have been Bayern’s first win in Italy for 17 years. But the 2-1 defeat means it’s now wide open in group A with two more games to play.

Bayern will now have to win those games to avoid confronting big clubs like Barcelona and Chelseas early in the knockout stage.

Despite their optimism going into the game, worries remain about Bayern Munich’s offensive play. Dutch international Roy Makaay’s definetely below his usual goalscoring form and Paraguayan interational Rocqe Sant Kruz is sidelined for the next six months with a nasty ligament injury.

Makaay did had a good chance of ending his goal drought in the 12 minute, his shot just wide of the Juventus goal. But he was booed off the field, subsitituted 5 minutes before the final whistle, having gone more than a thousand minutes without scoring.

But Magath insists there are enough players who can score goals – namely Ballack, Zé Roberto, Lucio and Deisler.

Juventus took the lead early in the second half with a goal by Treseguet, taking full advantage of a goalscoring opportunity. The reward for piling on the pressure. Bayern’s Sebastian Deisler pulled one back -- from 37 metres. But Tresequet hit the target a second time, sealing the victory for the home side. Bayern punished for two mistakes in defence.

Meanwhile Werder Bremen were counting on Miroslav Klose and Ivan Klasnic to show Udinese why they are the Bundesliga's top goalscoring duo on Wednesday night. But Klasnic missed the game, suffering from a bout of appendicitis.

Bremen’s Champion's League form has been less than convincing so far, leaving them bottom of group C.

The northern German side knew only a win would against Udinese would give them a chance of making it to the last 16 teams in the quarter finals. Goals by Miroslav Klose in the 15th minute and Thomas Baumann in the 24th gave Bremen a helping hand. But in the second half it was the same old story. Within the space of 5 minutes they gave away a 3-nil lead. What looked like a sure win turned into a nailbiting affair. Bremen clinched the win 4-3, but were lucky to come away with a victory. In the dying minutes of the match Bremen’s Nanado elbowed the Italian striker – but the referee seemed paralysed and did not award a penalty to Udinese.

So a high-scoring match in Bremen’s Weser stadium, but will it be enough to revive their Champions League aspirations? Bremen are now on four points, level with Udinese and
Panathinaikos, but face a tough trip to Group C leaders Barcelona for their next match on November 22.

In other matches played on Wednesday

Bruges 3 Rapid Vienna 2
Barcelona 5 Panathinaikos Athens 0
Arsenal 3 Prague 0
Thun 2 Amsterdam 4
Lille 0 Manchester United 1
Benfica Lisbon 0 Villareal 1

Schalke`s Champions League dream lives on after beating Turkish side Fenerbahce Istanbul 2-0 on Tuesday night in the packed Arena AufSchalke.
Managing director Rudi Assauer has invested millions in his squad and had high expectations before the game and will have been a relieved man after the final whistle....

In spite of winning Schalke once more showed their two faces.
The Bundesliga club took the lead through their centre forward Kevin Kuranyi who rose well to put a powerful header into the net inspite of being marked by two defenders. A fine strikers goal ....minutes later the Turkish side were down to 10 men after Fabio brought down Lincoln....half-time score 1-0 to Schalke....
Minutes into the second half the Turkish side lost yet another player after the referee very harshly sent off Aurelio for a foul on Kuranyi.
So, Fenerbahce down to nine men .....surprisingly after their good first half Schalke began to struggle in front of their vociferous fans.
The Turkish side were well organised at the back by Ghanian captain Steven Appiah....Nicolas Anelka, Fenerbahce`s lone striker had a great chance to equalise but missed.
Minutes before the end Danish striker Ebbe Sand made it 2:0 for Schalke and relieved the tension for Assauer and his side.

Other results on Tuesday:
Schalke (Germany) 2, Fenerbahce (Turkey) 0
PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) 1, AC Milan (Italy) 0

Group F=
Rosenborg (Norway) 0, Real Madrid (Spain) 2
Olympiakos (Greece) 1, Lyon (France) 4

Group G=
Liverpool (England) 3, Anderlecht (Belgium) 0
Real Betis (Spain) 1, Chelsea (England) 0

Group H=
Inter Milan (Italy) 2, FC Porto (Portugal) 1
Artmedia Bratislava (Slovakia) 2, Rangers (Scotland) 2