Champions League Matchday 5 Tuesday Games

The matchday 5 games from groups E, F, G & H are in the books with the remaining 4 groupings in action Wednesday in throughout Europe.

Group E --
This group is already decided leaving matchday 6 little drama. Lyon of France and Real Madrid will both advance to the knockout round. The surprise is that Lyon has the group wrapped up and Real Madrid will be 2nd. Lyon secured the top spot with 2-2 away draw at Real Madrid yesterday.
Real Madrid 2 Lyon 2
Steaua 1 Dynamo Kiev 1

Group F --
This group continued to show adventure as Celtic made a fabulous free kick stand up at home to beat Man U. A questionable call gave Celtic a free kick 30 yards from goal which Japanese international Shunsuke Nakamura curled into the top left corner for the lead in the 81st minute. Man U was awarded their own free kick minutes later right at the top of the box where Christiano Ronaldo tried to swerve a ball over the Celtic wall. Celtic player Shaun Maloney jumped in the wall and was ruled to have handled the ball resulting in a penalty kick for Man U. Louis Saha stepped up for the spot kick but was stoned by Celtic keeper Artur Borac to send the home crowd into a frenzy. The Celtic win assures them advancement from the group and leaves Man U some work to be done. Meanwhile on Tuesday Benfica was making matchday 6 meaningful with a strong 3-1 win over FC Copenhagen. The win sets up a showdown with Manchester United for a spot in the knoc kout phase. It won't be easy though as Benfica will have to go to England and beat Manchester on their home grounds.
Celtic 1 Manchester United 0
Benfica 3 FC Copenhagen 1

Group G --
The two big boys took care of business Tuesday as both Porto and Arsenal notched wins. It wasn't all easy for Arsenal as they found themselves behind a goal after only 4 minutes. A long range effort from Rafael van der Vaart stunned the Arsenal crowd. The lead held until the 2nd half when Arsenal let their class take over and Robin van Persie tied the game early in. It looked as if Hamburg were due a point but 17 year old wonderkid Theo Walcott would still have a say. Just onto the pitch from the substitutes bench Walcott began to make his mark on the game. Arsenal scored in the 83rd and 88th minutes to send the home crowd into a frenzy and send the Walcott hype through the roof. The 17 year old had a hand in creating both goals. The only disappointment from the game is that Henry received a yellow card that will keep him out of the last match.

Meanwhile Porto travelled to Moscow and won convincingly over CSKA Moscow 2-0. It was a disappointing day for the Russians as they could have wrapped up a spot in the next round with a home win. Instead they will have to travel to Germany and beat Hamburg in matchday 6. This group is wide open still with Arsenal, Porto and CSKA Moscow all looking to advance. Arsenal must travel to Porto and Hamburg hosts CSKA Moscow in matchday 6. An Arsenal loss at Porto and a Moscow win in Germany would leave Arsenal out of the competition.
Porto 2 CSKA Moscow 0
Arsenal 3 Hamburg 1

Group H --
An injury riddled AC Milan side went to Greece and were beaten by AEK Athens 1-0. The good news for Milan is that with the draw between Lille and Anderlecht the Italians will advance to the next round. Filippo Inzaghi couldn't convert a few golden chances in the first half that would have changed the match. Instead it was a brilliant free kick from Brazilian Julio Cesar in the 32nd minute that marked the game. It became increasingly obvious how much Milan missed injured Gattuso as the match wore on. His ball winning and tackling were definitely absent. AEK Athens need now to win away at bottom placed Anderlecht or have AC Milan beat Lille in Italy to get passage to the next round.
Lille 2 Anderlecht 2
AEK Athens 1 AC Milan 0