Messi strikes again but Milan take point
AC Milan
Barcelona up to seven points, with unbeaten Milan in second spot on five, two ahead of Celtic who beat Ajax 2-1 in Glasgow.
Milan came racing out of the blocks, putting pressure on barca’s backline and a defensive error led to Robinho’s goal.
the brazilian former Real Madrid and Manchester City forward beat the away side’s dithering defenders to a high ball, and after exchanging passes with countryman Kaka, slid a simple finish past Victor Valdes.
the home side rarely looked troubled in the opening period, but found themselves back to square one 14 minutes later after giving the ball away sloppily to Andres Iniesta. the Spain midfielder slipped in Messi on the right, who after cutting inside drilled low to level the scores just as he looked to have lost his footing.
Remarkably it was Messi’s 26th goal in his last 23 Champions League appearances.
barcelona dominated the second half against a tired Milan, but despite a couple of good chances couldn’t make the most of their possession and had to settle for a point that will please the Italians. AC Milan: Amelia, Abate, Zapata, Mexes, Constant, Montolivo, De Jong, Muntari, Birsa (Poli 80), Robinho (Balotelli 64), Kaka (Emanuelson 71). Subs Not Used: Coppola, Matri, Nocerino, Silvestre. Barcelona: Valdes, Dani Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Adriano, Iniesta, Busquets, Xavi, Alexis (Fabregas 74), Messi, Neymar (Pedro 81). Subs Not Used: Pinto, Montoya, Bartra, Song, Tello. Referee: Felix Brych (Germany) Attendance: 85,000 A FeRNANDo torres double gave Chelsea control of Champions League Group e with a 3-0 victory over Schalke at the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen.
Chelsea were playing on German turf for the first time since winning the 2012 competition in Munich and, as then, for large parts of the game had to absorb the pressure applied by their German opponents.
on his 100th Chelsea start, torres netted his 38th and 39th goals for the blues – hitting the bar in between – to take his tally for the season to four.
eden Hazard scored a breakaway third three minutes from time as Jose Mourinho’s men joined Schalke on six points, moving ahead of their rivals on head-to-head record ahead of the 6 November clash at Stamford bridge.
torres put Chelsea in front with a fifth-minute header, but the visitors were firmly on the back foot during the rest of the first half.
only some marginal offside calls and a spectacular save by Petr Cech to deny Roman Neu- Schalke 04: Hildebrand, Uchida, Howedes, Matip, Aogo, Jones (Kolasinac 70), Neustadter, Clemens, Meyer (Goretzka 78), Draxler, Boateng (Szalai 70). Subs Not Used: Fahrmann, Hoogland, Felipe Santana, Fuchs. Chelsea: Cech, Azpilicueta, Terry, Cahill, Ivanovic, Oscar (Luiz 83), Ramires, Lampard, Schurrle (Mikel 72), Torres, Hazard (Eto’o 88). Subs Not Used: Schwarzer, Mata, Willian, Bertrand.