December 8, 2009

Champions League: Wolfsburg v Manchester United and Chelsea v Apoel Nicosia

The best images as Manchester United look to finish top of Group B and Chelsea aim to round off their group campaign in style

utd v chelsea: A Petr Cech fan — A young Petr Cech fan looks surprised not to see his hero between the Chelsea sticks Photograph: Tony O'Brien/Action Images

United & Chelsea: Apoel Nicosia fans are in good voice at Stamford Bridge ahead of kick off — The Apoel Nicosia fans are in good voice in the stands at Stamford Bridge ahead of kick off Photograph: Tony Marshall/guardian.co.uk

United & Chelsea: Marcin Zewlakow opens the scoring and gives Apoel the lead — And the support from the stands has the desired effect as the visiting side take the lead in the sixth minute after Constantinos Charalambides clips a ball over from the left and the officials ignore Chelsea's appeals for offside and Marcin Zewlakow slips the ball past the onrushing Ross Turnbull Photograph: Ian Kington/guardian.co.uk

utd v chelsea: Essien celebrates equalising for Chelsea — But the Cypriot's lead didn't last long as 13 minutes later, Florent Malouda slips the ball to Michael Essien and the Ghanaian lets fly with a swerving shot from 25 yards that leaves keeper Dionisis Chiotis with no chance Photograph: Jamie McDonald/Getty Images

utd v chelsea: Essien pulls his hamstring — However just a couple of minutes after scoring, Essien pulls his hamstring and has to be substituted Photograph: Ian Kington/AFP/Getty Images

utd v chelsea: Drogba goes past Mihail — Didier Drogba skips past the challenge of Hrysis Mihail. The Chelsea forward doubled Chelsea's lead after twenty six minutes. Kakuta slipped Zhirkov into some space down the left and his ball to the penalty spot was clinically driven into the corner by Drogba Photograph: Jamie McDonald/guardian.co.uk

Man Utd & Chelsea: Dejected Joe Cole after Chelsea concede a late equaliser — With just three minutes left on the clock, Jon Mikel Obi gives the ball away to Nenad Mirosavljevic who stabs the ball past Ross Turnbull to equalise, much to the disappointment of Joe Cole Photograph: Toby Melville/guardian.co.uk

Man Utd & Chelsea: The Apoel players celebrate the draw with their overjoyed fans — The Apoel players celebrate the draw with their overjoyed fans Photograph: Tony O'Brien/Action Images

United & Chelsea: Welbeck of Manchester United and Josue of VfL Wolfsburg — In Wolfsburg, United's Daniel Welbeck takes the ball away from Josue as Michael Owen goes on a run infront of them Photograph: Wolfgang Rattay/guardian.co.uk

United & Chelsea: Makoto Hasebe of Wolfsburg is brought down by United's Michael Carrick — Wolfsburg's Makoto Hasebe of Wolfsburg runs in a straight line through the United "defence" into the penalty area and is brought down from behind by United's Michael Carrick for an almost certain penalty. However, the refereee doesn't see it and gives a corner Photograph: Lars Baron/guardian.co.uk

utd v chelsea: Zvjezdan Misimovic bundles Paul Scholes off the ball — Zvjezdan Misimovic bundles Paul Scholes off the ball Photograph: Carmen Jaspersen/guardian.co.uk

utd v chelsea: Owen of Manchester United scores a goal against VfL Wolfsburg's Schaefer — Michael Owen opens the scoring just before half time. A good cross from Nani into the box and Owen escapes from his marker and heads down and into the corner the give United the lead Photograph: Wolfgang Rattay/guardian.co.uk

Man Utd & Chelsea: Michael Owen celebrates after scoring his second goal against Wolfsburg — With just seven minutes remaining, United regained the lead. Following some nifty footwork by Obertan which took out a couple of defenders and gave him sapce to slide a low ball across the goal where Michael Owen was waiting at the far post to knock the ball into the net Photograph: Lars Baron/guardian.co.uk

Man Utd & Chelsea: Michael Owen scores his, and United's, third — With Wolfsburg throwing men forward to try and score the goal that they need to go through, Riether misses from four yards and United quickly break. The ball gets fed to Michael Owen just inside the Wolfsburg half on the left and it's England v Argentina at World Cup 1998 all over again as Owen sprints towards the penalty area with a trail of defenders in his wake and as he enters the penalty area, he clips the ball over the advancing keeper. That makes it 3-1 and Owen's first hat-trick for United Photograph: Lars Baron/guardian.co.uk

Man Utd & Chelsea: A disgruntled Wolfsburg fan lets the players know his feelings — Upset at going 3-1 down a Wolfsburg fan makes his way to the centre circle to let the players know what he thinks of the performance. Eventually stewards came over and removed him from the pitch Photograph: John Macdougall/AFP/Getty Images

Man Utd & Chelsea: Dzeko of Vfl Wolfsburg covers his face after his team's defeat — After the final whistle goes a dejected Edin Dzeko can't face the fact that Wolfsburg are out of the Champions League and covers his face with his shirt Photograph: Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters

Man Utd & Chelsea: Hat-trick hero Michael Owen with the matchball — Whereas hat-trick hero Owen puts the matchball under his Photograph: Matthew Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images

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