2012-13 UEFA Champions League (FIFA 13)

[Canada_Carlos_Ball]

Replayed using FIFA 13
Difficulty - World Class
Set-Up : Playing as Both Teams for Maximum Fairness (team quality will decide outcome more often than not)
Half Length - 5 minutes
Groups - Original 2012-13 Champions League
All teams that aren't in the game will be replaced by teams similarly obscure and talented.
Depending on the reader response, I MAY do a similar thing involving Europa League!

FOLLOW YOUR TEAM!
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GROUP A
FC Porto
PSG
Rubin Kazan (in place of Dynamo Kyiv)
SV Ried (in place of Dinamo Zagreb)

GROUP B
Arsenal
Schalke 04
Olympiacos
Montpellier

GROUP C
Malaga
AC Milan
Anderlecht
Zenit

GROUP D
Real Madrid
Man City
Borussia Dortmund
Ajax

GROUP E
Chelsea
Juventus
Anzhi (in place of Shakhtar Donetsk)
FC Nordsjaelland

GROUP F
Valencia
Lille
Bayern Munich
Slovenia (in place of BATE Borisov)

GROUP G
Barcelona
Benfica
Celtic
Spartak Moscow

GROUP H
Man Utd
SC Braga
Galatasaray
Krakow (in place of CFR Cluj)

[Canada_Carlos_Ball]

Wisla Krakow 2, Manchester United 3

It was an eventful match in Poland this evening as the hosts rattled United's chains in the closing stages after being pushed around for the first 75 minutes or so.

Wayne Rooney opened the scoring in the 24th minute with an absolute cracker of a goal, shooting the ball off the crossbar and in from the edge of the 18-yard box, giving United a deserved 1-nil lead.

United dominated for the rest of the half but failed to capitalize mostly due to Krakow's keeper Pareiko, as they outshot the helpless Estonian-born keeper.

Substitute Cleverley seemed to put the result of the match out of doubt in the 56th minute when he one-timed a back pass from Robin van Persie into the top left-hand corner of the net to give United a 2-0 lead, but it would prove to be far from over.

Five minutes later, United midfielder Michael Carrick made an uncharacteristic run through the heart of the Krakow back four before beating a charging Pareiko with a low finesse shot just inside the post to seal the deal for United. 3-0 Red Devils, 61st minute. Over right?

Wrong.

Tsvetan Genkov had other ideas. In the 76th minute, he deftly stepped in front of Rio Ferdinand to intercept a poorly-thought-out pass from Nemanja Vidic. Genkov took the ball and hammered a shot at goal, which caromed off of Ferdinand and beat a helpless De Gea, who was diving in the other direction. Two goal lead, 15 minutes to go, still safe right?

Wrong.

In the 87th minute, Genkov picked up a pass near the penalty spot and finessed a fantastic shot off the far post and in to cut the score in half.

Krakow had a few half-chances in extra time, but would fall just short. Final score, Man Utd 3, Krakow 2.

The home fans went home happy despite the loss, having not only seen but competed with one of the best clubs in the world.

Krakow will be satisfied knowing they can compete with the world's best, while United will be happy to have gotten the three points in a very hostile environment in Poland.

SC Braga 1, Galatsaray 1
In other Group B action, Portuguese side SC Braga hosted Turkish champions Galatsaray, looking to return to their former European glory. While Braga are probably viewed as the third-best squad in this group, they proved in this game they are no pushovers. Galatasary are obviously talented, with tons of imported talent in their Starting XI.

The hosts got off to a quick start, and Lima almost opened the scoring for Braga inside the first ten minutes, breaking in alone on Galatasaray keeper Muslera only to be denied by a spectacular diving save from the Uruguayan national team keeper.

Galatasaray came close in the 14th when Eboue's ambitious effort from 30 yards out klinked off the goalpost and out of play.

Braga nearly took the lead in the 19th, when Helder Barbosa's rocket of a shot was deflected well by Muslera, only to land on Lima's foot. The Brazilian then proceeded to completely miss the net from 6 yards away, a terrible miss.

The rest of the half went back and forth with Braga having the better of the half-chances, though none of note.

Neither team made any changes at halftime as both managers saw something they liked in their selected 11's first 45 minutes.

The hosts opened the scoring in the 55th-minte on a header by Douglao. The tall, lanky centre back headed Alan's corner kick powerfully into the corner, tucking it in just under the crossbar to put the Bragistas up one-nil.

Lima ambitiously tried to double the Portuguese side's lead in the 71st minute, when he tried to volley a cross from Ismaily to the far side of the net. He missed, somewhat embarrassingly, and fell to the ground while doing so.

The hosts had a very real chance to double their money five minutes later, when Mossoro ran on to a pass from Lima, and struck a hard, low shot off the short-side goalpost, beating Muslera but failing to strike Galatasaray's death blow.

Galatasaray flexed their offensive muscle in the 82nd minute, when Elmander's headed attempt handcuffed Braga keeper Beto and would've found the net had it not been for Paulo Vinicius' goal-line clearance.

Elmander found the net two minutes later, capitalizing on a gaffe by Beto. The Braga keeper, attempting to pass the ball to his centreback, turned it over to Galatasaray forward Yilmaz, who simply passed off to Elmander, who easily scored on an open net to level the match late.

The rest of the match was quite flat as both teams seemed content with the point.

GROUP B STANDINGS
Manchester United 1-0-0 (3)
SC Braga 0-1-0 (1)
Galatasaray 0-1-0 (1)
Wisla Krakow 0-0-1 (0)

[Canada_Carlos_Ball]

Benfica 2, Spartak Moskva 0
The Portuguese got off to a great start in the sixth minute, as Rodrigo finished off a fantastic passing play with Nicolas Gaitan by powering a shot into the top corner, giving Spartak keeper Dikan no chance. 6th minute, 1-nil to the hosts.

Rodrigo doubled the hosts' lead in the 18th minute, when he headed home a fat juicy rebound which was the result of a Nolito strike from 15 yards out. 2-0 to Benfica inside twenty minutes, and the game seemed to be headed for a blowout.

Rodrigo seemed to have completed the hat trick in the 38th minute when he one-timed a pass from Nolito past a diving Dikan, but he was deemed to be offside. Upon replay, it showed that he was only a fraction offside.

Ari had a chance to draw Spartak back into the match right before the stroke of half, but tried a cheeky chip shot which left Spartak scoreless and his manager unimpressed.

Benfica 2, Spartak nil at halftime.

Ari had another great chance after the restart, cracking an effort towards the top corner only to have it well-parried by Artur Moraes.

Aidan McGeady almost cut the deficit in half in the 74th minute when he headed a ball directly into Moraes' chest, wasting a good opportunity.

McGeady had another glorious headed chance off of a corner kick in the 84th, but again failed to capitalize.

Spartak had tons of possession in the 2nd half, but failed to really create a lot of opportunities, and the ones they did create were squandered.

Overall, Benfica played very well in the first half but seemed to die as the second half wore on, while Spartak grew stronger as the game wore on, though their lack of finishing may pose a problem.

Barcelona 3, Celtic 1

The Catalans are off and running in their attempt to win their second Champions League crown in three years, as they manhandled a defensively-sound yet offensively-challenged Celtic at the Camp Nou.

The Scots actually took a surprising 1-nil lead inside ten minutes when Giorgios Samaras headed home an in-swinging corner past a diving Victor Valdes.

Cesc Fabregas settled the spectators' stomachs just five minutes later, when he calmly slotted home a brilliant pass from Lionel Messi to level the match at 1-1 inside fifteen minutes.

Barcelona dominated the final half hour of the first half, but failed to score, hitting a goalpost, a crossbar, and missing by inches on multiple occasions.

The Catalans caught a break in the 60th minute when they were the benefactors of a controversial penalty call against Gary Hooper and Celtic. Messi calmly placed the ball into the top left corner, and Barcelona had the lead.

Carles Puyol added a goal off of a headed corner six minutes later, and that was game, set, match for Barca as they cruised through the final 25 minutes unhindered.

GROUP G
Benfica (POR) 1-0-0, 2gf, 0ga
Barcelona (ESP) 1-0-0, 3gf, 1ga
Celtic (SCO) 0-0-1, 1gf, 3ga
Spartak Moskva (RUS) 0-0-1, 0gf, 2ga

[Canada_Carlos_Ball]

Slovenia 0, Bayern Munich 2

In what was a rather pedestrian match for both sides, German giants Bayern Munich visited Slovenia in Ljubljana and won easily 2-nil.

Slovenia suffered a big blow when their star player, Palermo's Jasmin Kurtic, went down with a knee injury in the 2nd minute, having to be stretchered off. It appears as though his season could be over.

Mario Gomez put home a header in the 16th minute and that virtually sealed the outcome as, without Kurtic, Slovenia showed no interest in moving forward.

Gomez then added a late goal in the 85th minute on a quick counterattack to seal the result for Bayern.

Valencia 2, Lille 0

Valencia got off to a solid start against a competitive Lille side.

A feisty game saw 7 yellow cards handed out between the two sides, and Lille's Kalou was sent off in the 79th minute.

Jonas opened the scoring for the hosts in the 34th minute with a lovely strike from distance, which nicked off of Landreau's gloved hand before striking the twine of the Lille net.

Substitute Valdez put the game away for the Spaniards in the 78th minute when he tapped in Guardados rebound to seal the three points for Valencia.

Valdez was then injured on the tackle which sent Kalou off, and in an awkward happenstance, the substitute had to be subbed off with an apparent ankle injury.

Group F
Bayern Munich 1-0-0, 2gf, 0ga
Valencia 1-0-0, 2gf, 0ga
Slovenia 0-0-1, 0gf, 2ga
Lille 0-0-1, 0gf, 2a