UEFA Championships: Zenit tears ahead

André Villas-Boas' Zenit have the maximum 18 points from the first six games. Zenit beat Lokomotiv away in Moscow 1-0 with a goal from Javi Garcia; Dinamo beat FC Krasnodar in Krasnodar 2-0, goals from Valbuena and Noboa; Bukur scored the only goal in Kuban's away match at Arsenal Tula.

Chempionat Rossii - Russian Premier League (After 6 matches)

1. FC Zenit Saint Petersburg 18 points; 2. FC Dinamo Moskva (15); 3. FC Kuban Krasnodar (14). Zenit have the maximum 18 points from the first six games. Zenit beat Lokomotiv away in Moscow 1-0 with a goal from Javi Garcia; Dinamo beat FC Krasnodar in Krasnodar 2-0, goals from Valbuena and Noboa; Bukur scored the only goal in Kuban's away match at Arsenal Tula.

Premier League (England) (After 3 matches)

Chelsea FC and Swansea City FC lead the Premiership with a maximum, nine points from the first three games, while Aston Villa is third on 7 points. Chelsea FC went to Everton to put 6 past Everton (6-3); Swansea beat West Bromwich Albion 3-0 and Villa beat Hull 2-1 at home in Birmingham.

FA Community Shield Arsenal 3 Manchester City 0

Goals from Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey in the first half, followed by the third, a rocket from 25 metres, after the break from Olivier Giroud started a promising season for Arsene Wenger's Gunners and raises questions as to the preparation of Manuel Pelligrini's Manchester City.

La Liga (Spain) (After 2 matches)

FC Barcelona has the maximum 6 points from 2 matches, while a pack of 5 teams follows on 4: Valencia CF, RC Celta de Vigo, Granada CF, Sevilla FC and Club Atlético de Madrid.

 Bundesliga (Germany) (After 2 matches)

Bayer 04 Leverkusen is the leader on 6 points from 2 games, followed by 6 teams on 4: SC Paderborn, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, FC Koln, Eintracht Frankfurt, FC Bayern München and Hannover 96.

Ligue 1 (France) (After 4 matches)

FC Girondins de Bordeaux (10 points), Paris Saint-Germain (8) and LOSC Lille (8) lead Ligue 1.

Serie A (Italy) (After 1 match)

The winners of the first games are AC Milan, AS Roma, Udinese Calcio, SSc Napoli, AC Cesena, Juventus.

Primeira Liga (Portugal) (After 3 matches)

The three totallists with 9 points from 3 games are Rio Ava FC, Vitória SC (Guimarães) and FC Porto, all in the north.

Premer Liga (Ukraine) After 5 matches

FC Shakhtar Donetsk, maximum 15 points from 5 matches, followed by FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (13) and FC Dynamo Kyiv (13).

In Romania, after 4 games, FC Steaua Bucureşti leads with the maximum 12 points, followed by FC Petrolul Ploieşti on 10 and FC Astra Giurgiu on 9. Steaua beat Pandurii 6-0; Petrolul drew 0-0 at home with Rapid Bucureşti and Astra beat Iaşi 2-1.

In Armenia, FC Pyunik and FC Shirak top the table with 6 points from the first two games.

Pyunik won 2-0 away at Alashkert, while Shirak beat Mika 1-0

In the Azerbaijan Premier League (Topaz Premyer Liqası), Sumqayit FK leads with 6 points out of 6 after 2 games (1-0 away at Xäzär Länkära) while Inter Baki PIK is second on 4 points (1-0 defeat at Neftçi).

Champions League: The Groups

Russia has two teams in the Champions League Group Phase: FC Zenit (Saint Petersburg) and PFC CSKA Moskva (Moscow). Zenit is in Group C with SL Benfica (Portugal), Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Germany) and AS Monaco FC (France), while PFC CSKA Moskva is in Group E, with FC Bayern München (Germany), Manchester City FC (England) and AS Roma (Italy).

Group A: Club Atlético de Madrid (Spain), Juventus (Italy), Olympiacos FC (Greece), Malmö FF (Sweden) 

Group B: Real Madrid CF (Spain), FC Basel 1893 (Switzerland), Liverpool FC (England), PFC Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria)

Group C: SL Benfica (Portugal), FC Zenit (Russia), Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Germany), AS Monaco FC (France)

Group D: Arsenal FC (England), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Galatasaray AŞ (Turkey), RSC Anderlecht (Belgium)

Group E: FC Bayern München (Germany), Manchester City FC (England), PFC CSKA Moskva (Russia), AS Roma (Italy)

Group F: FC Barcelona (Spain), Paris Saint-Germain (France), AFC Ajax (Netherlands), APOEL FC (Cyprus)

Group G: Chelsea FC (England), FC Schalke 04 (Germany), Sporting Clube de Portugal (Portugal), NK Maribor (Slovenia)

Group H: FC Porto (Portugal), FC Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine), Athletic Club (Spain), FC BATE Borisov (Belarus)  

England (4): Liverpool FC, Arsenal FC, Manchester City FC, Chelsea FC

Germany (4): Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, FC Bayern München, FC Schalke 04

Spain (4): Club Atlético de Madrid, Real Madrid CF, FC Barcelona, Athletic Club (Bilbao)

Portugal (3): SL Benfica, FC Porto, Sporting Clube de Portugal

France (2): AS Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain

Italy (2): Juventus, AS Roma

Russia (2): FC Zenit, PFC CSKA Moskva

Belarus (1): FC BATE Borisov

Belgium (1): RSC Anderlecht

Bulgaria (1): PFC Ludogorets Razgrad

Cyprus (1): APOEL FC

Greece (1): Olympiacos FC

Netherlands (1): AFC Ajax

Slovenia (1): NK Maribor

Sweden (1): Malmö

Switzerland (1): FC Basel 1893

Turkey (1): Galatasaray AŞ

Ukraine (1): FC Shakhtar Donetsk

The qualifiers

August 27

Alexis Sánchez puts Arsenal FC through to the group phase of the UEFA Champions League for the seventeenth consecutive season, an amazing feat for manager Arsene Wenger, approaching the totallists Real Madrid, FC Porto and until this season, Manchester United. Steaua Bucureşti went out on penalties and this year misses out on the Champions League.

Malmö 3 Salzburg 0 (aggregate 4-2); Arsenal 1 Besiktas 0 (1-0); Athletic 3 Napoli 1 (4-2); Ludogorets 1 Steaua 0 (1-1, 6-5 on penalties); Leverkusen 4 Kobenhaven 0 (7-2)

First leg

Salzburg 2 Malmö 1; Besiktas 0 Arsenal 0; Napoli 1 Athletic 1; Steaua 1 Ludogorets 0; Kobenhavn 2 Leverkusen 3;

August 26

FC Porto 2 Lille 0 (aggregate 3-0); Zenit 3 Standard Liège 0 (4-0); Celtic 0 Maribor 1 (1-2); BATE 3 Slovan Bratislava 0 ( 4-1); APOEL 4 AaB 0 (5-1)

First leg

Lille 0 FC Porto 1; Standard de Liège 0 Zenit 1; Maribor 1 Celtic 1; Slovan Bratislava 1 BATE 1; Aab 1 APOEL 1

Zenit passes to the group phase of the Champions League after beating Standard de Liège (Belgium) over two legs, 1-0 away in Belgium and 3-0 at home tonight in Saint Petersburg. The goalscorers for André Villas-Boas' team were Rondón (30') and a brace from Hulk, a penalty on 54' and another on 58'. Zenit, Porto, BATE, Maribor and APOEL pass.

UEFA Europa League

Thursday 18th September 2014

Group A Apollon Limassol V FC Zürich; Borussia Mönchengladbach V Villarreal

Group B Club Brugge V Torino; FC Copenhagen V HJK Helsinki

Group C Besiktas V Asteras Tripolis; Partizan Belgrade V Tottenham

Group D Dinamo Zagreb V Astra Giurgiu; FC Red Bull Salzburg V Celtic

Group E Panathinaikos V Dynamo Moscow; PSV V Estoril Praia

Group G Sevilla V Feyenoord; Standard Liège V HNK Rijeka

Group H Everton V VfL Wolfsburg; Lille V FK Krasnodar

Group I BSC Young Boys V Slovan Bratislava; Napoli V Sparta Prague

Group J Rio Ave V Dynamo Kiev; Steaua Bucharest V Aalborg BK

Group K Fiorentina V Guingamp; PAOK Salonika V Dinamo Minsk

Group L Legia Warsaw V KSC Lokeren; Metalist Kharkiv V Trabzonspor

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Pravda.Ru

([email protected])