Print

Mail

wiki links

Henry finally scores as Barcelona take charge

Barcelona's Thierry Henry of France reacts after scoring during the Champions League Group E soccer match between Barcelona and Lyon at Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain, on Wednesday. PHOTO: AP

Barcelona striker Thierry Henry would be forgiven for having a sly look at results elsewhere in Europe despite the Catalans' convincing 3-0 Champions League Group E win over Lyon on Wednesday.

After one of the biggest transfer deals of the summer, and a subsequent long wait to find his scoring boots, Henry finally ended his Spanish goal drought with an injury-time goal that moved Barcelona top of their group.

Henry has now scored 43 goals in the Champions League and sits fourth in the competition's all-time list behind Raul (57), Ruud van Nistelrooy (50), and Andrei Shevchenko (47).

But loyal fans would be quick to point out that most of Henry's goals were scored with Arsenal, who at Emirates stadium continued to impress in his absence with a 3-0 win over Sevilla in Group H.

Buoyed by manager Arsene Wenger's further two-year commitment to the club in spite of Henry's departure in the summer, the Gunners were fully deserving of the win over the two-time defending UEFA Cup champions.

Premiership rivals Manchester United were not to be outdone, securing a 1-0 away win at Sporting Lisbon, the first for an English club at Sporting, courtesy of their former starlet Cristiano Ronaldo.

Rangers were celebrating with a deserved 2-1 win over German champions VfB Stuttgart.

The blue half of Glasgow will undoubtedly awake with a smile on its face following arch rivals Celtic's 2-0 humbling at Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday.

One of the biggest shocks of the night came in Istanbul, were Fenerbahce found delight in a 1-0 victory over Italian champions Inter Milan.

Inter coach Roberto Mancini said: "They were better throughout the 90 minutes and deserved to win. We didn't really play well and should have done better."

PSV Eindhoven's 2-0 win over CSKA Moscow at home moved them top of Group G ahead of the Turks, who had striker Deivid to thank for their 43rd minute winner for which Inter had no response.

Elsewhere Serie A leaders Roma continued their impressive form, moving top of Group F ahead of Manchester United thanks to a 2-0 win over Dynamo Kiev.

Slavia Prague made a positive start to their first appearance in the group stages, the Czechs' 2-1 win over Steaua Bucharest moving them to second in Group H behind Arsenal.

Barcelona, meanwhile, were given a boost by Lyon, who have slowly begun to find their rhythm on the domestic front but just couldn't muster an attacking formation against the Spanish league giants.
This story has been viewed 1112 times.