08-09 Champions League Matchday 5 Predictions and Stats

European football returns this week with Matchday 5 of the 2008/2009 Champions League, which takes place on Tuesday 25 and Wednesday 26 November. We have a few predictions for today’s and tomorrow’s matches at the end plus some stats from this season’s Champions League so far:

Top scorers 2008/2009 Champions League

Player Nation Club Goals Apps All-time goals All-time Apps
Dimitar Berbatov BUL Manchester United 4 3 11 29
Alessandro Del Piero ITA Juventus 4 4 41 83
Steven Gerrard ENG Liverpool 4 4 16 58
Lionel Messi ARG FC Barcelona 4 4 12 25
Vangelis Mantzios GRE Panathinaikos 3 2 4 6
Emmanuel Adebayor TOG Arsenal 3 3 7 34
Ruud van Nistelrooy NED Real Madrid 3 4 56 72
Karim Benzema FRA Olympique Lyon 3 4 10 15
Mirko Vucinic MNE AS Roma 3 4 8 18
Mamadou Niang SEN Olympique Marseille 3 4 5 10
Sergio Agüero ARG Atlético Madrid 3 4 3 4
Joseba Llorente ESP Villarreal CF 3 4 3 4
Danny Koevermans NED PSV 3 4 3 9

Head-to-heads in major European Cup competitions

Group A               CFR 1907 Cluj — AS Roma

UEFA Champions League 16 Sep 2008 AS Roma CFR 1907 Cluj 1 – 2 (1 – 1)

 
Group A           Girondins Bordeaux — Chelsea

UEFA Champions League 16 Sep 2008 Chelsea Girondins Bordeaux 4 – 0 (2 – 0)

 
Group B               Anorthosis Famagusta — Werder Bremen

UEFA Champions League 16 Sep 2008 Werder Bremen Anorthosis Famagusta 0 – 0 (0 – 0)

Group B               Internazionale — Panathinaikos

UEFA Champions League 16 Sep 2008 Panathinaikos Internazionale 0 – 2 (0 – 1)

 
Group C               Shakhtar Donetsk – FC Basel

UEFA Champions League 16 Sep 2008 FC Basel Shakhtar Donetsk 1 – 2 (0 – 2)

 
Group C               Sporting CP — FC Barcelona

UEFA Cup 22 Oct 1986 FC Barcelona Sporting CP 1 – 0 (0 – 0)
UEFA Cup 05 Nov 1986 Sporting CP FC Barcelona 2 – 1 (1 – 0)
UEFA Champions League 16 Sep 2008 FC Barcelona Sporting CP 3 – 1 (1 – 0)

 
Group D              Atlético Madrid — PSV

UEFA Champions League 16 Sep 2008 PSV Atlético Madrid 0 – 3 (0 – 2)

 
Group D              Liverpool — Olympique Marseille

UEFA Cup 11 Mar 2004 Liverpool Olympique Marseille 1 – 1 (0 – 0)
UEFA Cup 25 Mar 2004 Olympique Marseille Liverpool 2 – 1 (1 – 1)
UEFA Champions League 03 Oct 2007 Liverpool Olympique Marseille 0 – 1 (0 – 0)
UEFA Champions League 11 Dec 2007 Olympique Marseille Liverpool 0 – 4 (0 – 2)
UEFA Champions League 16 Sep 2008 Olympique Marseille Liverpool 1 – 2 (1 – 2)

 
Group E               Villarreal CF — Manchester United

UEFA Champions League 14 Sep 2005 Villarreal CF Manchester United 0 – 0 (0 – 0)
UEFA Champions League 22 Nov 2005 Manchester United Villarreal CF 0 – 0 (0 – 0)
UEFA Champions League 17 Sep 2008 Manchester United Villarreal CF 0 – 0 (0 – 0)

 
Group E               AaB — Celtic

UEFA Champions League 17 Sep 2008 Celtic AaB 0 – 0 (0 – 0)

 
Group F               Bayern München – Steaua Bucuresti

Cup Winners Cup 08 Mar 1972 Steaua Bucuresti Bayern München 1 – 1 (1 – 0)
Cup Winners Cup 22 Mar 1972 Bayern München Steaua Bucuresti 0 – 0 (0 – 0)
UEFA Champions League 17 Sep 2008 Steaua Bucuresti Bayern München 0 – 1 (0 – 1)

 
Group F               Fiorentina – Olympique Lyon

UEFA Champions League 17 Sep 2008 Olympique Lyon Fiorentina 2 – 2 (0 – 2)

Group G               Fenerbahçe — FC Porto

UEFA Champions League 17 Sep 2008 FC Porto Fenerbahçe 3 – 1 (2 – 1)

 
Group G               Arsenal — Dynamo Kyiv

UEFA Champions League 21 Oct 1998 Arsenal Dynamo Kyiv 1 – 1 (0 – 0)
UEFA Champions League 04 Nov 1998 Dynamo Kyiv Arsenal 3 – 1 (1 – 0)
UEFA Champions League 21 Oct 2003 Dynamo Kyiv Arsenal 2 – 1 (1 – 0)
UEFA Champions League 05 Nov 2003 Arsenal Dynamo Kyiv 1 – 0 (0 – 0)
UEFA Champions League 17 Sep 2008 Dynamo Kyiv Arsenal 1 – 1 (0 – 0)

 
Group H              BATE Borisov – Real Madrid

UEFA Champions League 17 Sep 2008 Real Madrid BATE Borisov 2 – 0 (1 – 0)

 
Group H              Zenit St. Petersburg — Juventus

UEFA Champions League 17 Sep 2008 Juventus Zenit St. Petersburg 1 – 0 (0 – 0)

Statistic of the week — Sporting CP gained most points of goals scored — minimum of five points
Sporting CP have scored five goals and gained nine points in the 2008/2009 Champions League. This is an average of 1.80 points per goal scored, which makes them the most efficient team with five points or more in this year’s competition.
 
Poinst gained per goals scored 2008/2009 Champions League

Pts per goal Club Nat Pts GF
1.80 Sporting CP POR 9 5
1.67 Dynamo Kyiv UKR 5 3
1.50 Girondins Bordeaux FRA 6 4
1.43 Juventus ITA 10 7
1.33 Bayern München GER 8 6
1.20 Real Madrid ESP 6 5
1.20 FC Porto POR 6 5
1.17 Chelsea ENG 7 6
1.14 Manchester United ENG 8 7
1.14 Atlético Madrid ESP 8 7
1.14 Liverpool ENG 8 7
1.14 Internazionale ITA 8 7

Note: Only clubs with five points or more have been taken into account

Streak of the week — Most succesive CL seasons reached knockout rounds

# Club Nation From To
11 Real Madrid ESP 1997/1998 2007/2008
9 Manchester United ENG 1996/1997 2004/2005
6 AC Milan ITA 2002/2003 2007/2008
5 Bayern München GER 1997/1998 2001/2002
5 Arsenal ENG 2003/2004 2007/2008
5 Chelsea ENG 2003/2004 2007/2008
5 Olympique Lyon FRA 2003/2004 2007/2008
5 FC Barcelona ESP 2004/2005 2008/2009
4 Juventus ITA 1995/1996 1998/1999
4 Juventus ITA 2002/2003 2005/2006
4 Bayern München GER 2003/2004 2006/2007
4 Internazionale ITA 2004/2005 2007/2008
4 Liverpool ENG 2004/2005 2007/2008

Bold denotes running streak
Note: FC Barcelona have already reached the knockout phase this season

Top ten of the week — Most Champions League wins – Coaches

Won Coach Club(s) Matches
76 Alex Ferguson Manchester United 144
49 Arsène Wenger AS Monaco / Arsenal 110
47 Ottmar Hitzfeld Borussia Dortmund / Bayern München 95
43 Carlo Ancelotti Parma / Juventus / AC Milan 89
42 Louis van Gaal Ajax / FC Barcelona 68
38 Fabio Capello AC Milan / AS Roma / Juventus / Real Madrid 78
38 Marcello Lippi Juventus 76
34 Rafael Benítez Valencia CF / Liverpool 64
34 Vicente del Bosque Real Madrid 60
26 José Mourinho FC Porto / Chelsea / Internazionale 54
26 Héctor Cúper Valencia CF / Internazionale 52

This week’s milestones
> FC Barcelona’s Thierry Henry has played 99 Champions League matches so far (French record holder).
> Liverpool have scored 298 goals in the Champions Cup/Champions League.
> Iván Córdoba (Internazionale) has played 49 matches in the Champions League.
> Christian Panucci has played 49 matches in European competition for AS Roma.
> Girondins de Bordeaux have lost 49 matches in all European competitions.
> Olympique Marseille have scored 47 goals and conceded 49 goals in the Champions League.
> Overall, Marseille have conceded a total of 148 goals in all European Cup competitions, 99 of which away. 
> Steaua Bucuresti have scored 298 goals in all European competitions.
> Olympique Lyon have scored 249 goals in all European competitions. They have also conceded 198.
> Arsenal have scored 149 Champions League goals.
> Arsenal have lost 49 matches in all their European competitions.
> Juventus have lost 49 matches in the Champions Cup/Champions League.
> Real Madrid have 49 Champions Cup/Champions League away wins.

Matchday 5 Predictions

Zenit v Juventus: Juventus need one point from two games to be sure of qualification, Zenit need to win to stand any chance. The odds are on Zenit getting a win, but I’m going for a draw here.

BATE v Real Madrid: Real Madrid for the win – they need to pick themselves up and perform now or their season is going to collapse embarrassingly.

Villareal v Manchester United: The European Champions and Villareal are tied on 8 points each, and are virtually assured of reaching the knockout stages (United’s remaining game is at home to Aalborg). I would expect United to play for a point and keep players fresh for the weekend league challenge, and my money is on a draw again.

Aalborg v Celtic: Celtic to win and assure themselves of a place in the UEFA Cup, at least.

Fiorentina v Lyon: Lyon to win and wrap up qualification to the second round.

Bayern Munich v Steaua Bucharest: Ditto for Bayern.

Fenerbahce v Porto: Fener have been defensively suspect in Europe and Porto should be able to grab a win here.

Arsenal v Dynamo Kyiv: The perfect antidote to league woes – Arsenal to thrash Kyiv and to come out saying that his methods are working.

Bordeaux v Chelsea: A closer match than you might expect. Chelsea should win, but Bordeaux are fully capable of causing an upset and if they win here (and there’s a winner in the Roma-Cluj game), Chelsea will be looking at a 3 or 4 horse race going into Matchday 6. Money is on Chelsea, hearts with Bordeaux.

Cluj v Roma: Roma to avoid the upset and win.

Inter v Panathinaikos: Inter should wrap this game up in the first half.

Famagusta v Werder Bremen: What a chance for Famagusta – a win for them plus a win for Inter sees them qualify for the knockout stage. Money’s on Famagusta.

Sporting Lisbon v Barcelona: Barcelona, for no other reason than their European form this season.

Shakhtar Donetsk v FC Basel: Basel can’t stop conceding goals, and away from home I wouldn’t bank on them scoring too many either. Shakhtar for the win.

Atletico Madrid v PSV Eindhoven: Atletico Madrid can capitalise on their previous performances against Liverpool and get a win here.

Liverpool v Marseille: Liverpool need to improve in Europe; Marseille will be a challenge but if Torres gets his time on the pitch this game is Liverpool’s and Rafa can then rest players for Matchday 6.

Let us know your predictions here.

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