Puddle's UCL Recap: A Week of Stunners

Edinson Cavani after scoring against Chelsea: AP Images

So it turns out that the UEFA Champions League isn't necessarily as predictable as one might think, judging from this last week's results. I think one wouldn't be blamed for picking Real Madrid, Chelsea, Inter, and Bayern Munich to go through from the teams that played this week, but they all either lost or were drawn into a late draw. Here's my recap of the action for the week.

CSKA Moscow vs. Real Madrid
I think Madrid knew they were in for a tough match in Russia against CSKA. All one has to do is look at the Zenit vs. Benfica game last week to tell how difficult the conditions are in Russia this time of year. Even so, Madrid controlled the match fairly easily. Cristiano Ronaldo scored first on 28 minutes, blasting a shot in after a cross from Fabio Coentrao. In the second half, Madrid had several chances to put it away, notably from Ozil and Ronaldo, but couldn't get the ball into the back of the net again.

This set up the week's first dramatics. Late in stoppage time Aleksei Berezutski passed up a shot on target and passed over to Pontus Wernbloom, who shot before the Madrid defense could switch over and beat Casillas from 7 yards to seal the draw, 1-1. Still Madrid have the away goal, so one would suspect with the next leg of the tie in Spain, they should still advance.

Napoli vs. Chelsea
Okay, this one was tough to even watch the highlights of, let alone write about as a Chelsea FC fan. I'm not sure what's going on under AVB, but it's not quality football. Especially at the back. The Blues actually jumped on top first in this one, with Juan Mata snatching a goal on 27 minutes. After that, Chelsea's defense fell apart, and the match became a nightmare.

Napoli equalized in the 38th minute. Ezequiel Lavezzi blasted home a shot from distance after being left totally alone by the Chelsea defense. Edinson Cavani gave the Italian side the lead right before half time, with a header/body shot that could have been a handball. David Luiz cucked up yet again in the 65th minute by kicking the ball right to Cavani, who passed to Lavezzi. Lavezzi then completed his brace by tapping into the relatively empty net to make the final 3-1.

This result and player selection has finally turned me totally against AVB. He is just not ready for this type of pressure yet, in my opinion. Still, the Blues aren't out of it, if they can get their defense to get better. A 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge would see them through, and they are more than capable of that.

FC Basel vs Bayern Munich
This one was really the shocker of the week, as Basel absolutely STUNNED the German giants. It really was a good match, with Basel showing a lot of attacking intent despite the edge in possession for Bayern. Basel in even hit the woodwork twice in the first half.

Both defenses tightened down in the second half, allowing for far fewer chances. Still, Basel found their breakthrough in the 86th minute. The German defense collapsed a little bit, and Jacques Zoua was able to find Valentin Stocker unmarked on the left side. He nutmegged Bayern 'keeper Manuel Neuer to give the Swiss side a 1-0 win. Still, Bayern should feel fairly confident heading home as well.

Marseille vs. Inter Milan
It's always tough to play Marseille in France, but one has to think Inter should have done better here. They too were shocked late. Inter was anxious all night long and allowed Marseille plenty of looks. Both Forlan and Schneider had major chances as well, but once again Inter was not amongst the goals.

The French took the win literally on the last kick of match. Andre Ayew snuck away from Chivu and headed in a corner kick to make it 1-0 and disappoint Inter once again. Still, like Bayern and Madrid, Inter should fancy their chances going back to the San Siro, but they'll need to tighten things up quite a bit.

UCL: CSKA Moscow vs. Inter Milan

Inter Milan got their new Champions League campaign off on the wrong foot on match day one with a loss to Trabzonspor at the San Siro. That was one of the big factors that got Gasperini canned. Inter needed a result in Moscow to keep the quarterfinals in sight.

One of the biggest problems they had against the Turkish side was that they failed to come out and take control of the match. That was not the case in Moscow. Inter jumped on the Russians right away. Lucio took advantage of horrible gaff at the back for CSKA to notch the first Inter goal on 6 minutes. The Milanese continued their all out attack through the opening 25 minutes. Joel Obi had a great header that was well saved in the 11th, and Diego Milito sent a screamer in on 14 minutes that was barely held on to. Finally Inter capitalized again in the 23rd minute when Pazzini volleyed home a cross from Nagatomo to make it 0-2.

Then for some reason, Inter took their foot off the gas. They went into a defensive shell, which doesn't always work when there's still 2/3 of the match left to play. CSKA got one back at the stroke of half time off of a free kick by Dzagoev to make it 1-2 at the interval.

The goal did not really wake Inter up much either, and CSKA continued to claw their way back in the second half. Finally in the 78th minute, Wagner Love took a ball in from Aldonin and slotted it home to equalize the match at 2-2.

That woke the Italian giants up, finally. Just less then 2 minutes later, Zarate slammed in a goal for Inter from outside the 18 to make it 2-3. Inter killed the match off after that and held on for all 3 points. 3 crucial points for advancing in the Champions League.