Champions League: Arsenal cruise past Twente; Poor Liverpool eek past Liege; Atletico Madrid thrash Schalke; Galatasaray & Olympiakos are dumped out

Arsenal 4 - FC Twente 0 (Agg. 6-0) (Champions League, August 27, 2008) Samir Nasri continued his impressive start at the Gunners by giving them the lead at half time against FC Twente. Arsenal doubled their advantage after the break, William Gallas was in the right place to score after Bendtner’s shot had been initially saved. Theo Walcott scored a lovely third goal, showing his pace to burst through the Dutch defense before curling home a right foot shot. Bendtner wrapped up the win in the dying stages.

Liverpool 1 - Standard Liege 0 AET (Agg. 1-0) (Champions League, August 27, 2008) Liverpool played out a frustrating first half with Standard Liege (highlights here) heading into the break in deadlock. The second half wasn’t much better, Robbie Keane was replaced by Nabil El Zhar as the Reds still looked toothless up front. The game headed into extra time, but just as it looked like penalties were imminent, Dirk Kuyt relieved the anxiety at Anfield by getting on the end of Ryan Babel’s cross to direct the ball into the net from three yards. It wasn’t pretty but Liverpool are through. (Analysis of Liverpool’s performance can be seen here.)

Atletico Madrid 4 - Schalke 0 (Agg. 4-1) (Champions League, August 27, 2008) Trailing 1-0 to Schalke, Atletico Madrid drew level on aggregate after 19 minutes, Kun Aguero heading home a cross for the Spaniards. After the break Atletico got the crucial second goal, Diego Forlan scored a wonderful solo goal to send the home crowd wild. Luis Garcia added the third to ease any tensions, and after Cristain Pander was sent off, Maxi Rodriguez scored the fourth from the penalty spot.

Dynamo Kiev 4 - Spartak Moscow 1 (Agg. 8-2) (Champions League, August 27, 2008) Leading 4-1, Dynamo Kiev went about embarrassing Spartak Moscow by pulling further ahead in the tie with goals from Alexandr Aliyev and Ismael Bangoura in the first half. The Russians looked to restore some pride immediately after the restart as Dzuba pulled a goal back. But any fleeting hopes from Spartak were instantly quashed by Kiev, Milevsky turned home a free-kick just one minute later. And Milevsky added a beautiful fourth goal to humiliate their former Soviet brothers.

BATE Borisov 1 - Levski Sofia 1 (Agg. 2-1) (Champions League, August 27, 2008) BATE become the first Belarusian side to qualify for to the Champions League.

Basel 2 - Vitoria Guimaraes 1 (Agg. 2-1) (Champions League, August 27, 2008) After a goalless first leg, Basel moved ahead against Guimaraes when Stocker found himself unmarked around the penalty spot, the beneficiary of a miss-hit shot, and the striker rolled the ball home. But the Portuguese side soon scored the crucial away goal, Fajardo scoring a penalty just three minutes later. Derdiyok put Basel in front for the second time on the night in the 57th minute, firing a low shot across the keeper. The Portuguese side thought they had equalised through Roberto Calmin Felix with three minutes to go, but it was wrongly ruled out for offside.

Fenerbahce 2 - Partizan Belgrade 1 (Agg. 4-3) (Champions League, August 27, 2008) Fener’s striker Semih Senturk put the Turks ahead against Partizan with a back post header that squeezed in past the post and keeper. After the break the Turks scored almost an identical goal to their first, this time Alex nodded home the header. But Partizan put the cat amongst the pigeons when Tosic scored a wonderful free-kick with 15 minutes remaining, but the Turks held on to progress.

Steaua Bucharest 1 - Galatasaray 0 (Agg. 3-2) (Champions League, August 27, 2008) Steua dumped Galatasaray out of the Champions League with a hugely controversial goal, Nicolita was offside when he was put clear to score the only goal of the game.

Dinamo Zagreb 1 - Shakhtar Donetsk 3 (Agg. 1-5) (Champions League, August 27, 2008) Shocking defending from Dinamo Zagreb gifted the ball to Shakhtar Donetsk’s Adriano who had the simple job firing home the opener. Bosko Balaban levelled the score on the night after the break, but it took just 60 seconds for Shakhtar to pull ahead through Brandao, and Willian wrapped up the win the 70th minute.

Olympiakos 1 - Anorthosis Famagusta 0 (Agg. 1-3) (Champions League, August 27, 2008) Olympiakos managed to pulled one goal back against Famagusta when Belluschi diverted an incoming shot past the keeper. But the Greeks failed to score the other two goals they needed, leaving their Cypriot opponents with a famous victory in the tie.

Marseille 2 - Brann 1 (Agg. 3-1) (Champions League, August 27, 2008) Horrible indecision in the Norwegian backline allowed Mamadou Niang to nip in and put Marseille ahead. Sigurdsson’s header from a free-kick gave Brann hope, but the hosts sealed their passage into the Champions league when more shocking defending allowed Niang to steal his second goal on the night.

Slavia Prague 0 - Fiorentina 0 (Agg. 0-2) (Champions League, August 27, 2008)

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Middlesbrough 5 - Yeovil 1 (League Cup, August 26, 2008) Mido grabbed his third goal in successive outings, while Digard, Jeremie Aliadiere, Emnes and Johnson also found the net.

Wigan 4 - Notts County 0 (League Cup, August 26, 2008) Amr Zaki scored the second for Steve Bruce’s side.

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Real Madrid 5 - Sporting Lisbon 3 (Santiago Bernabeu Trophy, August 27, 2008) Madrid raced into a 5-1 first-half lead through goals from Higuain (2), Robben, Raul and van der Vaart. Izmailov pulled one back in the first period and the Portuguese side added goals from Djalo and Veloso in the second half to make the score somewhat respectable.

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Cruz Azul 6 - Hankook Verdes 0 (CONCACAF Champions League, August 27, 2008) Gerardo Torrado opened the scoring in the 17th minute. Edgar Andrade scored two minutes later, and Orozco scored his first goal just before the end of the first half. In the second period, Orozco knocked in a rebound, and Andrade headed his second goal after 72 minutes. Orozco rounded off his hat-trick with five minutes left to play.

JOE Public 2 - New England 1 (CONCACAF Champions League, August 27, 2008) Gregory Richardson opened the scoring for the Trinidadians in the 50th minute and substitute Jamal Gay scored with his first touch to make it 2-0. New England got an important away goal in the 73rd minute, with Honduran midfielder Pipo Castro converting a penalty to leave the tie evenly poised going into the second leg next week.

Tauro 2 - Chivas 0 (CONCACAF Champions League, August 27, 2008) Edwin Aguilar scored in the 6th and 67th minutes and Tauro kept a clean sheet to put the Panama City club on the brink of a place in the group stage.

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ABC 1 - Avai 1 (Campeonato Brasileiro, August 26, 2008)

Criciuma 0 - Juventude 1 (Campeonato Brasileiro, August 26, 2008)

Bahia 3 - America-RN 0 (Campeonato Brasileiro, August 26, 2008)

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Boca Juniors 2 - Arsenal 2 (Recopa Sudamericana, August 27, 2008)

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Santos 2 - U.A.G. (Tecos) 0 (Mexican Apertura, August 27, 2008)

Atlas 1 - CF America 1 (Mexican Apertura, August 27, 2008)

Tigres 1 - Atlante 0 (Mexican Apertura, August 27, 2008)

Pachuca 2 - Puebla 0 (Mexican Apertura, August 27, 2008)

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Colo Colo 2 - Union Espanola 1 (Chilean Clausura, August 27, 2008)

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Juan Aurich 1 - Universitario Peru 1 (Peruvian Clausura, August 27, 2008)

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Iran 1 - Azerbaijan 0 (International friendly, August 27, 2008)