Real Madrid shuts out AC Milan, 2-0
Jose Mourinho, never at a loss for words no matter which club he is coaching or what country he is in, had a few of them for one of his former players, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, earlier this week.
“A side that contains a player like Ibrahimovic is a special one,” Mourinho said. “Every player who has played for me is always in my heart, and Ibra was a fundamental part of my team.”
That was last season, however, when Ibrahimovic helped Mourinho’s Inter Milan win the European Champions League.
Now, the Swede is at AC Milan and Mourinho is coaching Real Madrid, which Tuesday had little time for sentiment as it defeated Milan, 2-0, at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid.
Oddly enough, it was Ibrahimovic who gifted Real Madrid the lead, jumping out of the way of Cristiano Ronaldo’s 13th-minute free kick that thereby pierced the defensive wall and found the back of the net.
One minute later, Mesut Oezil scored off a pass from Ronaldo with a shot that deflected off defender Daniele Bonera’s head to make it 2-0 and effectively put the result in the bag.
“Milan didn’t play well, we did,” Mourinho said.
“This was a mistake that should not be repeated,” Coach Massimiliano Allegri said. “We are not happy with this defeat. We must have a different type of performance to be competitive at the European level.”
The teams, with 16 European championships between them, play each other in Milan on Nov. 3.
In Amsterdam, another former champion, Ajax, had to settle for a one-goal victory, beating Auxerre of France, 2-1, in a game in which both teams finished with 10 men after having players ejected.
Demy de Zeeuw and Luis Suarez scored first-half goals for Ajax, and Valter Birsa got Auxerre’s goal. Ajax and AC Milan are tied for second place in their group, five points behind Real Madrid.
Chelsea returned to Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, the site of John Terry’s missed penalty kick in the 2008 final when the Blues lost to Manchester United.
First-half goals by Russian midfielder Yuri Zhirkov and French forward Nicolas Anelka earned the London club a 2-0 victory over Spartak Moscow and allowed Chelsea to remain unbeaten and untied and atop its group three games into the tournament.
“We did not play the way we planned,” Coach Valery Karpin said. “I believe that happened because we respected our opponents too much; we were a bit scared.”
Arsenal defeated Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine, 5-1, in London to remain unbeaten and untied and in first place in its group.
Alex Song and Samir Nasri gave the Gunners a 2-0 lead by halftime and Cesc Fabregas, Jack Wilshire and Marouane Chamakh scored during a 10-minute blitz in the second 45 minutes.
“Our technical quality slowly got them tired and, especially in the second half, the goals came,” Coach Arsene Wenger said.
Injury-depleted Bayern Munich, last season’s runner-up, struggled to hold onto a 3-2 victory over unheralded CFR Cluj of Romania in Munich in a bizarre game in which Portuguese defender Cadu score a goal for each team.
Cadu first put Cluj in the lead in the 28th minute, but four minutes later he scored an own goal to tie it. Five minutes after that faux pas, the Romanian club scored a second own goal, with Cristian Panin the villain this time, to put the German side ahead.
Mario Gomez sealed the win with a late goal, but Cluj still managed a goal from Culio four minutes from the end to keep Bayern sweating.
“We have to thank them,” said Gomez, whose goal also was the result of a Cluj miscue. “All three were strange goals.”
One club that was upset at home was AS Roma, which fell, 3-1, at Stadio Olimpico to FC Basel of Switzerland on the back of goals by Alexander Frei, Samuel Inkoom and Cabral. Marco Borriello scored for Roma.
“In the first half, we were indecisive,” Coach Claudio Ranieri said. “We didn’t commit one foul or take one ball away. I’m asking myself why and I’m asking the players why, but they don’t have an answer.”
Also, France’s Olympique Marseille kept its hopes of advancing to the final 16 barely alive by beating Zilina of Slovakia, 1-0, in Marseille on a headed goal by Souleymane Diawara, who celebrated in an odd manner.
After heading in Lucho Gonzalez’s corner kick, Diawara rolled around on the ground feigning pain while teammate Taye Taiwo used one of the corner flags as a “gun” and fired at him. Taiwo got a yellow card for his trouble.
Braga beat Partizan Belgrade of Serbia, 2-0, in Portugal as Brazilian strikers Lima and Matheus provided the goals.
The tournament continues with eight group-stage games Wednesday.
Jones reported from Los Angeles
