D Thursday, October 1, 2009 METROSPORT 23 SOCCER (7.45pm unless stated) UEFA Europa League Group C Celtic v Rapid Vienna ................ 8.05 Hamburg v Hapoel Tel-Aviv....... 8.05 Group E Roma v CSKA Sofia .................. 8.05 Fulham v Basle.......................... 8.05 Group I AEK Athens v Benfica................ 6.00 BATE v Everton.......................... 6.00 GOLF (until Sunday) European Alfred Dunhill Links Chship (St Andrews) HORSE RACING Ayr, Goodwood, Newmarket, Great Leighs, Sligo champions league group a Bayern Mun.....0 Juventus ......... 0 Bordeaux ........1 Maccabi Haifa 0 Ciani 83 P W D L F A Pts Bayern Munich 2 1 1 0 3 0 4 Bordeaux 2 1 1 0 2 1 4 Juventus 2 0 2 0 1 1 2 M Haifa 2 0 0 2 0 4 0 group B Man United .....2 Wolfsburg ....... 1 Giggs 59 Dzeko 56 Carrick 78 Att 74,037 CSKA Mosc ....2 Besiktas ......... 1 Dzagoev 7 Dag 90 Krasic 61 P W D L F A Pts Man United 2 2 0 0 3 1 6 Wolfsburg 2 1 0 1 4 3 3 CSKA Mosc 2 1 0 1 2 4 3 Besiktas 2 0 0 2 1 3 0 group c AC Milan ..........0 FC Zurich ........ 1 Tihinen 10 Real Madrid ....3 Marseille ........ 0 Ronaldo 58, 64 Kaka 61pen P W D L F A Pts Real Madrid 2 2 0 0 8 2 6 FC Zurich 2 1 0 1 3 5 3 AC Milan 2 1 0 1 2 2 3 Marseille 2 0 0 2 1 5 0 group D Apoel Nic.........0 Chelsea ........... 1 Att 20,000 Anelka 18 Porto ...............2 A Madrid ........ 0 Falcao 75 Rolando 82 P W D L F A Pts Chelsea 2 2 0 0 2 0 6 Porto 2 1 0 1 2 1 4 Apoel Nicosia 2 0 1 1 0 1 1 Atletico Madrid 2 0 1 1 0 2 1 coca-cola championship Newcastle .......1 QPR ................. 1 Harewood 70 Watson 7 Nottm For .......2 Scunthorpe..... 0 Chambers 71 Blackstock 76 P W D L F A Pts Newcastle 10 7 2 1 18 5 23 West Brom 10 6 2 2 21 11 20 Preston 10 5 3 2 18 12 18 Middlesbrough 10 5 2 3 16 12 17 Cardiff 10 5 1 4 19 11 16 Sheff Utd 10 4 4 2 18 14 16 Blackpool 10 4 4 2 13 9 16 Leicester 10 4 4 2 12 10 16 Bristol City 10 4 4 2 10 9 16 Coventry 10 4 3 3 15 15 15 QPR 9 3 5 1 13 8 14 Watford 10 3 5 2 16 15 14 Sheff Wed 10 3 4 3 17 13 13 Nottm Forest 10 3 4 3 11 11 13 Crystal Palace 9 3 3 3 7 10 12 Swansea 10 2 5 3 5 9 11 Scunthorpe 10 3 2 5 13 19 11 Doncaster 10 1 7 2 10 12 10 Reading 10 2 4 4 9 13 10 Derby 10 3 1 6 12 19 10 Barnsley 10 2 2 6 11 20 8 Peterborough 10 1 4 5 11 17 7 Plymouth 10 1 2 7 9 19 5 Ipswich 10 0 5 5 11 22 5 Second best: Gerrard On target: Anelka early anelka goal proves enough for Blues Man Utd: Kuszczak, OShea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Valencia (Fletcher 82), Carrick, Anderson, Giggs, Owen (Berbatov 20), Rooney. Wolfsburg: Benaglio, Riether, Madlung, Ricardo Costa, Schafer, Josue, Hasebe (Ziani 73), Misimovic, Gentner, Dzeko, Grafite (Martins 82). Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary). MATCH FACTS Milestone man: Ryan Giggs, centre, is congratulated after scoring his 150th goal for United Picture: Getty Images fixtures results sOCCer CHAMPIONS LEAGUE By JACK FOx CHELSEA returned to winning ways last night as Nicolas Anelka swept them to victory in Cyprus. He curled them into an early lead in their Group D affair with Apoel Nicosia and after that Carlo Ancelottis men always looked the better side. Chelsea, determined to bounce back after Saturdays Premier League defeat at Wigan, won a corner in the opening seconds but were unable to capitalise. The Cypriots opened their campaign with a creditable draw at Atletico Madrid and passed the ball around confidently without troubling Petr Cech in the Blues goal. Michael Essien sent a 20-yard drive wide of the right-hand post while Frank Lampard and Salomon Kalou also spurned decent chances before Chelsea took the lead in the 18th minute. Juliano Belletti was the architect with a fine run down the right before pulling the ball back beautifully for Anelka to clip his finish into the roof of the net for his fourth goal of the season. Yet despite looking both sharper and livelier than the visitors, the Blues were unable to finish off their rivals with a second goal. And Cech needed to be alert to keep out a 64th-minute effort from Savvas Poursaitides which took a deflection off John Terry as Nicosia attempted to grab a second-half equaliser. Apoel Nicosia: Chiotis, Poursaitides, Kontis, Grncarov, Haxhi, Charalambidis (Jean Paulista 85), Morais, Michael (Breska 80), Alexandrou (Kosowski 58), Pinto, Mirosavljevic. Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Carvalho, Terry, A Cole, Belletti (Deco 68), Essien, Lampard, Kalou (Joe Cole 80), Anelka, Malouda. Referee: Bertrand Layec (France) APOel N.... 0 CHelseA.. 1 McGeady in the frame Aiden McGeAdy is in contention for Celtics europa League clash with Rapid Vienna tonight as he continues to make progress from an ankle injury. Celtic manager Tony Mowbray took no chances with the Republic of ireland player for Saturdays Clydesdale Bank Premier League win at St Mirren but is ready to bring him back in for the visit of the Austrians. Midfielder Paddy McCourt and defender Andreas Hinkel missed training today with knocks and will also be assessed this morning. SIR ALEx Ferguson has rejected criticism of Michel Platinis changes to the Champions League. Although Uefa president Platini attempted to inject some life into the group stages by widening the number of countries involved, many still believe the format is flawed. But Manchester United boss Ferguson said: I do not agree the preliminaries are meaningless and simply a money-making exercise. Obviously the group games are not as dramatic as the knockout final stage but the critics are missing the point. Fergie: Group stage critics miss the point eurOPA leAgue AMERICAN billionaire Stan Kroenke has increased his stake in Arsenal to move closer to launching a takeover bid. The owner of the NBAs Denver Nuggets has bought 80 more shares in the company and has doubled his stake in the last 12 months to 28.7 per cent. If he reaches the 29.9 per cent mark it would trigger a formal offer for the rest of the club. Meanwhile, manager Arsene Wenger overtakes George Allison as Arsenals longest-serving manager today. In 13 seasons Wenger has won three Premier League titles and four FA Cups, but Arsenal have not not collected any silverware since 2005. In the past few years, we havent won anything and people talk bad about [the boss], defender Gael Clichy said. The players want to win something for him. Kroenke closer to formal arsenal bid STeVen GeRRARd is confident Liverpool can still reach the knock- out stages of the Champions League despite a horror show in Florence. Rafeal Benitezs side were soundly beaten 2-0 by Fiorentina in the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Tuesday night, and now face tricky back-to-back ties with Group e leaders Lyon, who have won both their matches so far. Captain Gerrard accepted the criticism of Liverpools abject performance, saying: We just didnt turn up. We were second best all over the pitch. The reaction was better in the second half and we created some chances, but we just could not get into the game. But i believe this group is still wide open, theres plenty of football to be played and we are now in the same position as Fiorentina with a win and a defeat, and they still have to face us at Anfield. if we win our next home game, against Lyon, things will be different. if we win our home games now that should still be enough. What we need is to produce a reaction to this defeat at Chelsea [on Sunday], that has to be the aim now. Gerrard insists Reds can home in on qualification reds leave it late before taming dogged Wolfsburg MANCHESTER UNITED battled back to overcome tough German champions Wolfs- burg in their Champions League Group B clash last night. Ryan Giggs claimed his 150th goal for the hosts before Michael Carrick fired home a stunning winner 12 minutes from time to end Wolfsburgs hopes of becoming the first side to win a European tie at Old Trafford in more than four years. After a stuttering start the hosts suffered a blow on 20 minutes as Michael Owen watched from the stands by England boss Fabio Capello was forced off with a groin injury and replaced by Dimitar Berbatov. The Bulgarian appeared to breathe some much-needed life into the Premier League leaders as United finally began to find their rhythm, with only an excellent point-blank save from Diego Benaglio denying Carrick a breakthrough. Anderson forced another fine save from the German goalkeeper as United began the sec- ond half in search of an opener. However, when one finally came it was the visitors who took advantage as Edin Dzekos 56th-minute fine header looped over Tomasz Kuszczak into the United net. But Wolfsburgs joy proved to be short- lived as three minutes later, Giggs levelled the scores after his free-kick took a massive deflection off Christian Gentner. The Welshman had the ball in the net again minutes later only to see it ruled out for off- side before Carrick settled the tie with a stunning finish after a fine move involving Wayne Rooney. MAN utD ............................................2 WOlfsBurg.....................................1 index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html