Manchester City plummeted
towards the Champions League
exit door on Wednesday night,
while Real Madrid were beaten
by Dortmund, a below-par
Arsenal side suffered a loss at
home to Schalke and AC Milan
fell to Malaga.
- Champions League gallery
- UCL Tuesday review
- Brewin: Arsenal's problems
persist
- Mancini takes blame for
defeat
- Vermaelen: Arsenal lacking
creativity
Roberto Mancini's Manchester
City headed to Ajax knowing
they were getting close to
must-win territory in Europe,
having taken a point from
their opening two games. A
double-header against the
perceived weakest team in
Group D provided a potential
catalyst for their revival, but
City failed to build on Samir
Nasri's opener as Ajax won 3-1
thanks to goals from Siem de
Jong, Nicklas Moisander and
Christian Eriksen.
It took over 20 minutes for
City to settle, but a sweet
strike from Nasri eased the
very evident nerves. James
Milner was the man to
advance across the edge of
the Ajax penalty area, sliding
the ball left to Nasri who
clipped it first time inside
Kenneth Vermeer's far post.
However, Ajax netted on the
stroke of half-time, De Jong
driving an emphatic first-time
hit past Joe Hart after
arriving onto a right-wing
cross.
The visitors tried to press
higher up the pitch after the
interval, but disaster struck in
the 57th minute when
Moisander capitalised on some
static marking at a corner to
glance home. It then got even
worse for City ten minutes
later as Eriksen dribbled
towards the area before
seeing his tame shot deflected
beyond Hart by Gael Clichy.
Dzeko missed two wonderful
chances to cut the deficit for
City as Mancini threw on all his
forward options, but there
was to be no dramatic rescue
act this time.
The table makes for grim
viewing from a City
perspective after Borussia
Dortmund beat Real Madrid
2-1 in Germany. Dortmund now
top the group on seven
points, while Madrid have six,
Ajax are on three and City
just one.
Robert Lewandowski was the
man to make the
breakthrough nine minutes
before half-time, but the
Spanish champions were level
two minutes later as Cristiano
Ronaldo dinked a beautiful chip
over the advancing 'keeper.
Marcel Schmelzer settled it for
Dortmund, who are looking a
real force in this year's
competition.
Arsenal still have much work
to do if they are to book their
place in the draw for the
last-16 after they were
deservedly beaten 2-0 by
Schalke at Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners are now second
in Group B on six points, one
behind the Germans.
Arsene Wenger's side were
fortunate not to concede a
14th-minute penalty as Vito
Mannone appeared to fell
Ibrahim Afellay inside the area,
the referee instead booking
the Dutchman for simulation.
Schalke then carved out a
golden chance for Klaas-Jan
Huntelaar, but the prolific
striker somehow shot wide
from six yards.
Schalke missed another
significant opening at the
start of the second period
when Benedikt Howedes
wastefully clipped over, with
Andre Santos having a
particularly bad night for the
Gunners. It was no surprise
when Huntelaar finally poked
past Mannone 14 minutes from
time, and then Afellay tapped
home at the back post to kill
the game off - inflicting
Arsenal's second defeat in four
days.
The good news for Arsenal is
that Montpellier were beaten
2-1 at home by Olympiakos,
leaving them well adrift of the
Gunners. Gaetan Charbonnier
netted for the French outfit
but they were overturned by
Vasilis Torosidis and Kostas
Mitroglou.
Elsewhere, Group C continues
to belong to Malaga after the
Spaniards beat AC Milan 1-0 to
move to nine points. A second-
half goal from Joaquin ensured
Milan - stuck on four points -
now face a scrap to make it
into the knockout rounds.
Malaga were handed a glorious
chance to open the scoring
from the penalty spot on the
stroke of half-time, but
Joaquin - who missed one at
the weekend - sent his effort
over the bar. However, he
made amends just after the
hour and that proved enough.
Zenit St Petersburg are one
point behind Milan thanks to a
1-0 win over Anderlecht in
Russia. Aleksandr Kerzhakov's
72-minute penalty earned
Zenit's first victory of the
campaign.
And in Group A, Porto are the
masters of their own fate
after a third straight win kept
them top on nine points.
Dynamo Kiev were overturned
3-2 at the Estadio do Dragao,
with Silvestre Varela scoring
for the hosts before Jackson
Martinez netted a brace.
Paris Saint-Germain are second
on six points after they beat
Dinamo Zagreb 2-0 on their
travels. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and
Jeremy Menez were on the
scoresheet for Carlo
Ancelotti's side.