Bayern and Lyon Grab Advantage

A couple really fun and exciting games to watch today. Lyon beat Bordeaux 3-1 and Bayern scored a injury time goal to beat the Red Devils 2-1. I applaud both away teams for trying to get forward and attack instead of playing like Chelsea and "parking the bus".

I saw the Lyon-Bordeaux game first and what a game it was. To the neutral observer this was a fun game to watch. An early goal from Lisandro Lopez gave Lyon the lead which was nullified 4 minutes later by Marouane Chamakh heading home. It looked like he might have pushed off on Cris to gain the advantage but there was no call and the match was square. Both teams, who have had strong defensive records coming into the game, gave up many opportunities. The goals were more due to poor defending than great attacking. The second Lyon goal came from Michel Bastos. A Bordeaux player missed a clearing header, Bastos took the ball, moved it to his left boot and then laced one into the corner. The attacking and chances continued for both teams. Chamakh had another chance with his head that he should have scored and Lyon could have put another couple in the net but failed to do so. The final goal came by way of a penalty. Lopez finished for his second of the game and gave Lyon the 3-1 advantage going into the second leg at Bordeaux. The tie is not over at all but Bordeaux must win by 2 at a minimum. I expect Bordeaux to come out attacking which could lead the space behind the mid and defense and to a Lyon goal which could really mess things up for Bordeaux. Lyon looks tough.

In the second game Bayern scored two late goals to pull a reverse of 1999 and the 2-1 win. Rooney scored within the first minute as he left his defender on a free kick and tapped in from close range. Man U also came out and attacked and made the game very open and fun to watch. Bayern controlled possession most of the game but couldn't score until Ribery scored off a deflected free kick. United didn't look great but still managed to get forward and create chances. Olic scored the final goal as he found Ferdinand and Vidic not paying attention and took it off them and then finished cooly to give Bayern the win. This gives Bayern the slight advantage in the tie and a nil-nil game in Manchester would give Bayern the tie. But holding United from scoring is hard to do. However, Rooney limped off at the end of the game with an ankle injury. There is no word on the extent of the injury but seeing as the game is in 8 days and how his ankle rolled I don't think he will be 100% fit. That being said, Rooney is tough and will try to get in the game if he can. Him not being fully fit though can cause problems as he seems to be the only United player who can score. The tie is very much still up in the air.

Tomorrow Barcelona travel to London to play Arsenal while CSKA Moscow travel to Milan to take on Inter Milan.