Real Madrid , Manchester City , Arsenal,
FC Porto and AC Milan are all held to
draws in the Champions League
group stage .
Mesut Ozil saved Real Madrid with a
brilliant late free-kick to earn a
Champions League point in an
entertaining 2 -2 draw with Borussia
Dortmund in the Santiago Bernabeu
on Tuesday.
Borussia were ahead until the 89th
minutes thanks to a Marco Reus strike
and an Alvaro Arbeloa own goal in the
first period . Pepe had earlier levelled
for the home side.
It could have been worse for Madrid
as it seemed for long periods the
Germans would repeat the 2 -1 result
from the first game between the sides
a fortnight ago in Dortmund.
The result means, with two games
remaining , the Germans still lead
Group D with eight points, one more
than Madrid , with Ajax three points
behind after a 2 -2 draw away at
Manchester City .
City stand on the verge of a second
successive group- phase exit from the
compeition after the draw with their
hopes hanging by a thread .
Sloppy defending saw City fall 2 - 0
down to a pair of early goals from
Siem de Jong, and although the
English champions rallied and drew
level through Yaya Toure and Sergio
Aguero , the last 16 remains an unlikely
objective .
The result left Roberto Mancini 's men
with two points from four games and
even victories in their remaining
Group D games against Madrid and
Dortmund may not be enough to
keep them in the competition.
The heat showed as Mancini and his
players gathered aggressively around
the referee and officials after they
refused to give a penalty for an
apparent foul on Balotelli in the last
minute .
In Group A , FC Porto remain top of
the group despite playing out a 0 - 0
draw at third -placed Dynamo Kiev.
Paris Saint -Germain held on to second
place after thrashing Dinamo Zagreb
4 -0 .
PSG moved to the cusp of qualification
with goals from Alex, Blaise Matuidi,
Jeremy Menez and Guillaume Hoarau
guiding the Parisians to a third win
from four matches. It lifted them onto
nine points, one behind leaders Porto .
Defeat for Zagreb extended their
barren group phase run to 10
matches , eliminating them from this
year' s competition and leaving them
as the only team yet to score .
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was a
constant thorn in the visitors ' defence
as he set up all four goals , told Canal+
after the match: "They had a good first
chance against us . ( But ) we took our
chances. "
Fightback
Schalke 04 came back from two goals
down to earn a 2- 2 draw with Arsenal
to leave the Royal Blues top of Group
B .
Having lost 2 -0 to Schalke at North
London' s Emirates Stadium a fortnight
ago, Arsenal shot into an early lead as
England' s Theo Walcott and France 's
Olivier Giroud netted to leave the
Royal Blues stunned at the Veltins
Arena.
But Holland striker Klaas - Jan
Huntelaar pulled one back for Schalke
on the stroke of half-time , then Peru
forward Jefferson Farfan netted the
equaliser miday through the second
half to claim a point .
" It would have been a great victory ,
but they dominated the second half to
be fair and before the game we would
have taken a point ," admitted Arsenal
goal- scorer Theo Walcott .
" It would have been a great victory ,
but they dominated the second half
to be fair and before the game we
would have taken a point"
Arsenal striker Theo Walcott
In the other Group B game, Greek
team Olympiakos defeated struggling
French club Montpellier 3 -1 .
Olympiakos kept alive their chances of
reaching the next stage with goals
from Paulo Machado - only his second
for the club - Leandro Greco and
Kostas Mitroglu. They held on to
victory even if Younes Belhanda had
briefly got the visitors back into the
game as he levelled with a penalty .
Victory takes Olympiakos onto six
points, two behind leaders Schalke
and one adrift of second - placed
Arsenal, while Montpellier are out of
contention on one point with two
games remaining.
In Group C , competition debutants
Malaga held seven-time champion AC
Milan to a 1- 1 draw at the San Siro to
secure qualification for the knockout
phase.
Milan , ousted in the quarter- finals by
Barcelona last season , dominated the
first half but spurned several
opportunities before Eliseu put the
visitors ahead against the run of play
in the 40 th minute .
Brazilian Alexandre Pato then gave
Milan hope of a second win in the
group phase when he levelled in the
73rd , but despite the hosts ' push for
a late winner the Rossoneri were to
be denied .
In the other Group C fixture,
Anderlecht defeated Zenit St.
Petersburg 1 -0 with Dieumerci
Mbokani scoring on his return from a
broken nose .
The victory kept Anderlecht in
contention to advance from Group C
as they jumped over Zenit from last
into third place , behind AC Milan in
second .
Aljazeera
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