Champions League Results 2015: Wednesday's Group-Stage Scores, Updated Tables
Chelsea recovered from a terrible start to their Premier League title defence by making a winning start to their UEFA Champions League campaign. By contrast, Chelsea's next Premier League opponents, Arsenal, were shocked in Croatia by Dinamo Zagreb on a night when Gunners striker Olivier Giroud was sent off.
To compound Arsenal's misery, tournament heavyweights Bayern Munich also flexed their muscles in Group F. Meanwhile, the rest of the competition will have noticed the stuttering way Barcelona began their title defence in Italy.
Here are the results from Wednesday's group matches:
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| Group | Home | vs. | Away | Score |
| E | Bayer Leverkusen | vs. | BATE Borisov | 4-1 |
| G | Chelsea | vs. | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 4-0 |
| F | Dinamo Zagreb | vs. | Arsenal | 2-1 |
| G | Dynamo Kiev | vs. | FC Porto | 2-2 |
| H | AA Gent | vs. | Lyon | 1-1 |
| F | Olympiakos | vs. | Bayern Munich | 0-3 |
| E | Roma | vs. | Barcelona | 1-1 |
| H | Valencia | vs. | Zenit St. Petersburg | 2-3 |
Here's how those scores affect the group tables:
| Group | Team | Played | Goals For | Goals Against | Goal Difference | Points |
| E | Bayer 04 Leverkusen | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| E | Barcelona | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| E | Roma | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| E | Bate Borisov | 1 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 0 |
| F | Bayern Munich | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| F | Dinamo Zagreb | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| F | Arsenal | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 0 |
| F | Olympiakos | 1 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 0 |
| G | Chelsea | 1 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 3 |
| G | Porto | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| G | Dyanmo Kiev | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| G | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 1 | 0 | 4 | -4 | 0 |
| H | Zenit St. Petersburg | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| H | Lyon | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| H | AA Gent | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| H | Valencia | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 0 |
For the full group standings, follow this link.
Mixed Fortunes for Chelsea and Arsenal
Before they could see off Maccabi Tel Aviv, Chelsea had to rebound from Eden Hazard ballooning a penalty inside the first 10 minutes. It was a terrible miss from the mercurial Belgian winger.
Simon Johnson of the London Evening Standard certainly didn't pull his punches:
Fortunately, Willian did better from a set piece. The Brazilian's whipped free-kick didn't need a touch to creep into the corner of the Maccabi goal.
As Squawka noted, it was a rare decisive contribution from Willian:
But that was as good as it got for the Brazilian. He limped off injured to be replaced by striker Diego Costa.
Chelsea earned another penalty in first-half stoppage time. This time, it was Oscar who stepped forward. He didn't waste his chance to seal a comfortable night's work ahead of schedule.
Costa added to the tally for a long overdue Champions League goal in Chelsea blue:
Cesc Fabregas completed the rout as Chelsea produced a major confidence boost ahead of entertaining Arsenal.
Arsenal were sucker punched by Dinamo's smart counter-attacking plan. Left-back Josip Pivaric got behind a sleeping right flank of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Mathieu Debuchy to fire the hosts in front, courtesy of a deflection off Chamberlain, per the tournament's official Twitter feed:
Gunners woes were compounded when misfiring striker Olivier Giroud was dismissed for a second yellow card. The petulant attacker had been booked for dissent. Then a needless challenge drew red.
The indiscretion is hardly an isolated incident in Giroud's career, according to WhoScored.com:
Bayern on Song, Barca Held
Barcelona did what they always do. Namely, they relied on their terrific trio of strikers, Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr. and Luis Suarez.
The latter opened the scoring in Roma to continue a prolific calendar year for last season's treble winners:
Alessandro Florenzi answered with a true wonder strike. Footspace Twitter provided a highlight of the audacious finish:
"What a goal! https://t.co/12nMgUnzFf
— Footspace (@Footspace1) September 16, 2015"
That proved enough for Rudi Garcia's men to earn a priceless point and frustrate the holders. Afterwards, described what he saw as typical Italian footballing defiance and miserly defending:
Meanwhile, Bayern dominated the entire opening half against Olympiakos. The one problem was their failure to score, but Thomas Muller finally served justice for the Bundesliga outfit seven minutes into the second half.
The goal was merely an extension of Muller's exceptional current form:
Substitute Mario Gotze and a Muller penalty capped things for an assured Munich team.
Bayern and Chelsea did what was expected of them. Meanwhile, Barca won't mind too much leaving the Italian capital with a point.
But Arsenal, typically sloppy on the big stage, were once again caught cold.
