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21 Sport maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 22 OCTOBER 2014 FOOTBALL Results and Fixtures UEFA Champions League Group E CSKA Moscow - Manchester C. ............ 2-2 Roma - Bayern Munich ....................... 1-7 Group F APOEL Nicosia - Paris St Germain ........ 0-1 Barcelona - Ajax ................................. 3-1 Group G Chelsea - Maribor ............................... 6-0 Schalke 04 - Sporting CP .................... 4-3 Group H BATE Borisov - Shakhtar Donetsk ........ 0-7 FC Porto - Athletic Bilbao .................... 2-1 Today Group A 20:45 Atletico Madrid - Malmo FF 20:45 Olympiakos - Juventus Group B 20:45 Liverpool - Real Madrid 20:45 PFC Ludogorets Razgrad - Basel Group C 20:45 Bayer Leverkusen - Zenit St. P. 20:45 Monaco - Benfica Group D 20:45 Anderlecht - Arsenal 20:45 Galatasaray - Borussia Dortmund Glorious Chelsea crush Maribor Chelsea 6 - 0 Maribor DIDIER Drogba scored his first Chelsea goal since his decisive strike in the 2012 Champions League final as the Premier League leaders thrashed Maribor 6-0 at Stamford Bridge to strengthen their position at the top of Group G. Drogba, whose final kick of his first spell was the last penalty in the shoot- out defeat of Bayern Munich which saw Chelsea win the European Cup, replaced Loic Remy after 16 minutes and converted a spot-kick seven min- utes later. The Ivory Coast striker's 158th Chelsea goal - he netted 157 goals in 341 appearances in his eight-year first spell - made it 2-0 after Remy's open- ing strike and captain John Terry swiftly added a third after sprinting the length of the field. The watching England manager Roy Hodgson would have been im- pressed, even though Terry's contro- versial international career is over, as he watched a number of Slovenia players ahead of next month's Euro 2016 qualifier. Mourinho, though, has a right to be concerned ahead of Sunday's trip to Manchester United as Remy, who started again up front with Diego Costa's hamstring problem ongoing, scored before going off with an appar- ent groin problem. Two of Chelsea's three front-line strikers are now injured, while the 36-year-old Drogba has only just re- turned from an ankle problem and is not ready to play 90 minutes. There were few worries on the night and Agim Ibraimi missed a penalty after Mitja Viler's own goal had made it four, before Eden Hazard converted a second Chelsea spot-kick 13 minutes from time and added a last-minute sixth with his second of the night. Chelsea had opened their Group G campaign with a 1-1 draw at home to Schalke, but a 1-0 win at Sporting Lisbon and the thumping of Maribor leaves the Blues in prime position ahead of the November 5 trip to Slov- enia. Chelsea began with attacking pur- pose, with Maribor, who advanced to the group stages at Celtic's expense, playing on the break. Viler crossed from the left and Damjan Bohar headed over a goal guarded by Petr Cech, starting for the second time this season - and mak- ing a third appearance - after being displaced as first choice by Thibaut Courtois. Kurt Zouma and Filipe Luis - the other two changes from Saturday's win at Crystal Palace - were either side of Terry in defence and enjoyed a comfortable evening as Chelsea poured forwards. Remy was unable to beat Jasmin Handanovic from a challenging angle before he gave Chelsea the lead with a more difficult chance. The France striker received a through ball from Hazard in the right channel, cut inside Marko Suler and on to his left foot before sending a precise shot into the far corner. He grimaced with pain and felt his groin as he received the congratula- tions of his team-mates. Drogba, who had already started warming-up prior to the goal, came on moments later. Cech saved Ibraimi's dipping long- range shot as Maribor threatened again, but the visitors were soon two down as Ales Mertelj was adjudged to have handled Willian's attempted pass. The midfielder's arm had been in a natural position as the ball skipped off the turf to hit him, but Dutch referee Danny Makkelie showed no sympathy and neither did Drogba as he converted. Terry then showed his powers are far from di- minishing as, in his 501st appearance as Chelsea captain, he ran the length of the field to score. Hazard led a counter at- tack and Terry broke from his own six-yard box after a Maribor corner to convert a Cesc Fabregas cross from inside Maribor's six-yard box. He may have been offside but there was no flag. Hazard had an effort saved before Terry was felled by a forearm smash by Ibraimi as the pair tussled for an aerial ball. Branislav Ivanovic should have scored a fourth after Hazard's cross was not cleared and Zouma headed straight at Handanovic from Fabre- gas' corner on the resumption. Hazard contrived to fluff a chance after a one-two with Drogba before the Belgian turned Luis' cross back into the six-yard box and it deflected in off Viler. Nemanja Matic's clumsy tackle on Ibraimi gave Maribor a penalty, but the striker struck the outside of the post as the visitors failed to hit the target. Dominic Solanke replaced Oscar for his Chelsea first-team debut with 18 minutes to go, becoming the sec- ond Englishman on the pitch, aged 17 years and 37 days. The teenager appeared unflustered by the occasion as Chelsea searched for a fifth. Willian struck the crossbar with a thunderous effort before Ivanovic was fouled by Suler and Hazard tucked in the penalty. Hazard pulled down substitute Nathan Ake's lofted ball and thrashed a shot past Handanovic for a sixth to complete a handsome win. Schalke 04 4 - 3 Sporting CP FC Schalke 04 withstood a come- back by ten-man Sporting Clube de Portugal to edge an enthralling 4-3 win in UEFA Champions League Group G. Full of optimism following a work- manlike victory over Hertha BSC in the Bundesliga at the weekend, the home fans demonstrated their sup- port for a new era under the steward- ship of Roberto Di Matteo with an impressive pre-match mosaic bearing the message: "The whole city is be- hind you!" The Royal Blues made good on their promise to dominate too with much of the early possession. Yet it was Sporting who looked the more creative with Nani and Islam Slimani each misfiring early chances. When João Mário rolled a low corner to the unmarked Nani on 17 minutes, how- ever, the former Manchester United FC man needed no second invitation to score his second of this season's competition. Schalke almost hit back immediate- ly as Julian Draxler fired a searing vol- ley just wide of the post from Chinedu Obasi's cross. Sporting continued to look dangerous on the break, but the tide quickly turned in the hosts' favour as Maurício was shown a sec- ond yellow card for an unwieldy aerial challenge on Marco Höger to leave the visitors a man down just 33 min- utes in. The numerical disadvantage proved costly. Dennis Aogo swung over the resulting free-kick and Obasi's header squirmed under Rui Patrício to level the scores. The ten men of Sporting held out until the interval but their apparent decision not to shut up shot for the second period soon backfired as Obasi slipped in Klaas-Jan Hunte- laar for his third in as many group games this season. Now firmly in the ascendancy, Schalke again went close through substitute Eric-Maxim Choupo-Mot- ing before captain Benedikt Höwedes rose to head in his side's third from Kaan Ayhan's free-kick and seeming- ly sew up the three points. However, Sporting were thrown a lifeline when Ayhan brought down André Carrillo in the box. Adrien Silva converted the subse- quent penalty and, with 12 minutes remaining, headed in unmarked at the far post. But as it seemed Schalke were heading for a third draw, Hunte- laar's cross was blocked by the hand of Silva and substitute Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting converted. BATE Borisov 0 - 7 Shakhtar Donetsk Luiz Adriano became FC Sha- khtar Donetsk's all-time top scorer as FC BATE Borisov were spared no humiliation, capitulating utterly in the face of their UEFA Champions League Group H rivals. The 27-year-old completed a hat- trick inside 13 minutes and added a fourth for good measure just be- fore the break, with goals from fel- low Brazilians Alex Teixeira and Douglas Costa sending Shakhtar in at the break with an 6-0 lead – a UEFA Champions League first. Luiz Adriano's second moved him level with Andriy Vorobey's record of 114 goals in all competitions for the Pitmen; his fifth, in the second half, meant Luiz Adriano ended the night on 117. Taison set up Alex Teixeira to round Sergei Chernik and open the scoring on 11 minutes, but it took a heroic saving block from Darijo Srna to deny Maksim Volodko an equaliser, the Croatian clattering into his own goalpost in the proc- ess. However, the focus switched to the other end as Chernik f lattened Alex Teixeira in the box, Luiz Adri- ano putting the resulting penalty into the bottom corner. Taison played in Douglas Costa to make it 3-0 on 35 minutes, and within seconds BATE were four behind, Luiz Adriano clipping into the net at the near post from Vy- acheslav Shevchuk's assist from the left. His hat-trick was completed on 40 minutes as the luckless Nemanja Tubić inadvertently delivered the ball to him inside the penalty area, and his fourth was the easiest of the lot, as he bundled another killer Shevchuk delivery into the net. BATE tightened up at half-time, fearful perhaps of matching some unwanted records – the heaviest home defeat in UEFA Champions League history (MŠK Žilina 0-7 Olympique de Marseille) and in- deed the competition's all-time heaviest loss (still, Liverpool FC 8-0 Beşiktaş JK). Luiz Adriano wheeled away in despair after coming agonisingly close to a fifth, heading against the post on 66 minutes. He might have feared that he was fated not to join Lionel Messi as one of only two players to have scored five in a UEFA Champions League game after he converted an 81st minute penalty only to have it chalked off for encroachment. However, he regained his com- posure and finished into the same corner from the re-spot. FC Porto 2 - 1 Athletic Bilbao FC Porto stretched their advan- tage at the top of Group H after Ricardo Quaresma came off the bench to secure the three points in a thriller against Athletic Club. After a 58-year wait to renew acquaintances, the sides did not disappoint in a hectic first half. Starting the day top of the section, the hosts played the central role for much of the first 45, Cristian Tello providing an electric presence on the f lanks, zipping about with un- matched energy. The first chance fell to Bruno Martins Indi who turned wide at the front post after Casemiro crossed low. Tello dragged a shot wide after a hypnotic run, but bottom-of-the- group Athletic were not in Portugal to make up the numbers. With their first shot of the game Mikel San José cracked an effort at goal from a full 30 metres which clipped the body of Martins Indi before giving the post an almighty smack. It was breathless stuff as Óscar de Marcos denied Porto forward Jackson Martínez from close with a perfectly-timed challenge before Guillermo Fernández scuffed his effort wide at the other end with the goal at his mercy following a spill by keeper Fabiano. The home breakthrough eventually came on the stroke of half-time after a lovely passing move. It culminated as Juan Quintero slipped a ball into the area which Herrera met with a deft right-footed finish that left Gork Iraizoz helpless. With their qualification hopes re- ceding the visitors came out fired up for the second period and half- time substitute Beñat fizzed an ef- fort just wide from the edge of the area before Guillermo Fernández skillfully beat his man before be- ing denied by Fabiano. The Basque club were level on 58 minutes however, as a loose Porto pass was pounced on in the centre and Beñat released Fernández who ducked in- side marker Maicon before slotting into the corner from ten metres. Neither side was happy to settle for a point and Tello f lashed off target while Iker Muniain dragged a low effort just wide for Athletic. It was Ricardo Quaresma who made the difference, however. Four minutes his 71st-minute introduc- tion, the winger jinked in from the left before driving at goal from the edge of the area and seeing his shot slip beneath the body of Gorka Iraizoz and into the net. Aymeric Laporte met a free-kick powerfully with his head as Athletic chased a late equaliser, but the effort was straight at Fabiano as Porto se- cured the points. Didier Drogba scores from the penalty spot

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