Features

Biggest Champions League losers

Author: Brandon Barker
Date: 19/12/2009
Football betting

With the Champions League group stages at an end, as usual a few of Europe's giants have been slain after falling at the first hurdle.

The biggest casualty must be Liverpool after making incredibly hard work of life in Group E alongside Lyon, Fiorentina and Debrecen.

The five-times European champions picked up just one point from their French and Italian opponents and this ultimately proved to be their downfall.

Under Rafa Benitez, who guided them to Champions League glory during the 2004-05 season, they struggled from the onset when they failed to impress as they scraped to an opening day 1-0 win against Debrecen.

Successive defeats at Fiorentina and at Anfield against Lyon saw the Merseysiders on the back foot and, after going ahead in France in the return fixture, they looked to be getting back on track only for a last-gasp leveller from Lisandro Lopez proving to be the final nail in their coffin.

Juventus were sensationally humbled by Bayern Munich at home in the last round of fixtures to see them crash into the Europa League.

Needing just a point to ease through, the Old Lady astonishingly lost 4-1 and, at their expense, the German giants took their place.

Surprise group winners Bordeaux stymied the Italians as they picked up four points from six against them.

Marseille, Champions League winners in 1992-93, failed to win through. However, in a group consisting of Real Madrid and AC Milan, this wasn't such a shock.

As ever, last season's losing finalists Manchester United looked in imperious form as they topped Group B but perhaps it was a shock to see CSKA Moscow clinch second spot ahead of Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg.

United's 3-1 win against the odds in Germany coupled with CSKA's late 2-1 success over Besiktas saw them leapfrog the Wolves and into the knockout stage.

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Talent such as Edin Dzeko, Zvjezdan Misimovic, Obafemi Martins and Grafite are now out of the competition and in the Europa League and they are stars that will be missed for the rest of the continent's elite event.

Chelsea and FC Porto sauntered through to the knockout stage and Atletico Madrid were shockingly bad in Group D.

They collected just three points from six outings and with a strike pairing of Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan, it is difficult to fathom how they failed so miserably.

Group F powerhouses Barcelona, who are sportsbook favourites to retain their crown this season, and Internazionale didn't stroll through as expected as they were pushed hard by Dinamo Kiev and Rubin Kazan before the Eastern European outfits' challenge fizzled out.

Rangers crashed out as expected with Sevilla and Stuttgart going through, with the Germans needing a last-day win over Romanian minnows Unirea Urziceni to sneak through.

Arsene Wenger's Arsenal team sealed their progress early in the group stage and they go through to the next round with Olimpiacos, who found a way through Group H ahead of Standard Liege and AZ Alkmaar.

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