Champions League: A Great Draw and a Terrible Loss

By: Martha | October 3rd, 2007

Doh! Lazio achieved a phenomenal result today, drawing with Real Madrid 2-2 at home. After giving up an early goal to Ruud van Nistelrooy thanks to awful, awful defending, Lazio settled down and gave Real everything they could hand. The capital side were tough and aggressive, attacking mostly via long balls over the top and occasional long passes through the midfield, many of which were cut off. When they got through, though Real were cut open with surprising ease, and Goran Pandev had a shocking miss shortly before his equalizer, skying the ball over Iker Casillias’ goal when he was in all alone. Given a second chance, though, Pandev didn’t make the same mistake again, and instead placed his volley in the top of the Real net, tying the match just after the half-hour mark.

The second half started unbelievably well for Lazio, and they could have been 3-1 up before an hour had passed, but both Tomasso Rocchi and Stefano Mauri failed to capitalize on fantastic chances in the box. To make matters worse for the Italians, van Nistelrooy was put in alone just after the hour mark and easily beat Lazio’s 100 year old keeper Marco Ballotta to put his club ahead, a goal which, given its timing, could easily had completely demolished Lazio’s confidence. They managed to keep it together, though, and Pandev tied the match in the 75th minute, freeing himself just outside the box and slotting the ball home between Gabriel Heinze and Fabio Cannavaro (whose hostile reception by the Lazio supporters was a source of great hilarity to the Spanish announcers). And Lazio held on to the end, earning themselves a well-deserved point; they’ve got two points from two games, and will face group whipping boy Werder Bremen on Matchday 3.

For their part, Milan suffered a heartbreaking loss in Glasgow, going down in the 90th minute to a tap-in by Scott McDonald after a shot was parried into his path by Nelson Dida. Dida reportedly had a dreadful match, and was apparently slapped by a fan (!!!!) after the McDonald goal. [Anyone who watched the match, please tell us what in the comments what the hell happened.] Playing on a soaked pitch, Stephen McManus put Celtic ahead just after the hour mark thanks to poor Milan defending of a corner, but Kaka equalized with a penalty after Ambrosini was held going for a headball just a few minutes later. Milan looked headed for a welcome away point when they failed to clear a corner and Dida’s save felt at McDonald’s feet.

The loss leaves Milan tied for second in the group with three points, and they host surprise leaders Shakhtar in the next round.

Edit: Is Dida the worst diver of all time? Discuss.