UEFA Champions League play began last week, and the groups are shaken up after Manchester United failed to qualify after a dismal 7th place finish in Premier League Play. It is the first time in 19 years that the Red Devils have not qualified. Never the less, there are still plenty of exciting games that have gone on in week one.
Wednesday’s scoreline from Group A shocked many as the Greek side Olympiakos upset Liga BBVA champs Atletico Madrid 3-2. Olympiakos, a Greek Team from the Hellas Liga, were clear and heavy underdogs against the champions of quite possibly the toughest league, Liga BBVA, Atletico Madrid. Madrid thought they could replace the firepower of David Villa and Diego Costa with new recruits Antoine Griezmann and Mario Mandzukic, but clearly, that didn’t work although both Griezmann and Mandzukic did score. Another glaring problem for Atletico is the lack of a solid keeper, after World Cup star Thibaut Courtois left for Chelsea, Jan Oblak will just not do the trick. This was a big boost for Olympiakos, who may be able to sneak out of the group stages now, but face a big task against Juventus.
Speaking of Juve, the Italian League champs came away with a solid 2-0 victory against Swedish side Malmo. Carlos Tevez broke his goal scoring drought and secured the win for Juventus. This is a good start for the Serie A champs, but as Olympiakos has shown, there are 3 good teams in this group (sorry Malmo). Juventus needs to get more from its defense, as goalie Gianluigi Buffon was tested a few times by the Swedes. For Malmo, being in the Champions League itself is a huge deal, but they honestly stand no chance against far superior sides in Olympiakos and Atletico Madrid.
Defending Champions League Title champs Real Madrid took on the Swiss side FC Basel on Tuesday, and an own goal from Basel got the scoring going in a 5-1 rout. Along with Marek Suchy’s unfortunate own goal, Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, James Rodriguez, and Karim Benzema all scored goals to cruise Madrid to an easy victory. However, Basel’s Gonzalez ensured that the Swiss wouldn’t go away empty handed. Real seem to be the clear favorites in Group B with Liverpool expected to take second.
Liverpool are no longer taking that second spot place for granted after they were tested in a match that was decided late against Ludogrets Razgrad. New signee Mario Balotelli scored his first goal for the club in the 82 minute, with Ludogrets responding with a 91st minute equalizer from Dani Abalo. Liverpool were tested, but were led from the top as club captain Steven Gerrard stayed cool from the spot to score a penalty deep into stoppage time. Liverpool is much more grateful for that win than they would have thought before the match as the Bulgarian side managed to keep the score 0-0 for the first half and most of the second, when both teams got desperate for goals. Liverpool were clearly caught off guard and should take their next two games against Basel and Real Madrid seriously unless they want to get left in the group stages.
Honestly, there’s not much to see in Group C. Out of all the groups, this one’s the dud of them all. Prior to the transfer season, this one would have been filled with stars like Radamel Falcao and James Rodriguez, but this group has seen a relatively ordinary transfer market, with the lone bright spots being Javi Garcia, Andreas Samaris, and Julio Cesar. Anyway, AS Monaco’s pathetic transfer season showed, as all they could muster was a measly 1-0 victory over a decent Bayer Leverkusen. Dimitar Berbatov connected with Joao Moutinho for the sole goal of the game. Bayer had some chances, and goalie Jay, I mean Bernd Leno played well, but last year’s surprise team of the Bundesliga couldn’t find an equalizer.
In the other snooze match of the group, Zenit St. Petersburg defeated SL Benfica 2-0. First half goals from Hulk and Axel Witsel, and the removal of Benfica keeper Artur, meant that this game was in the bag after 45 minutes. It’s anyone’s game to make it beyond the group stage along with Monaco, but the odds are against Benfica in this one, with the Leverkusen and Zenit game likely going to decide who advances.
Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund faced off in a clash between the likely top two in Group D, with Dortmund coming away with a clean 2-0 victory with goals from Ciro Immobile and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Dortmund has gotten their revenge after a heartbreaking 1-0 loss last year in the group stages at the hands of the gunners. It seems that once again Arsenal has disappointed when facing big opponents, evident in their big losses to the Premier League elite. Much of the criticism is focused on Mesut Ozil, who looked sloppy and lazy, which was bad news for Arsenal, who needed their midfield to step up and control the ball after injuries to all of Arsenal’s starting fullbacks. For Dortmund, this is a big win, showing that even after losing star striker Robert Lewandowski, and World Cup Hero Mario Gotze, that they can still take on top teams in Europe.
The other match in Group D contained Belgian champs Anderlecht and Turkish powerhouse Galatasaray. The match started off well for the Belgian champs with a goal, but Galatasaray managed to eke out a goal in the final minutes to end it 1-1. Unless one of these teams can pull off an upset against Arsenal or Borussia Dortmund, then the chances that these two teams advance is highly unlikely. However, Galatasaray is not a team that either Dortmund or Arsenal should just gloss over. Maybe gloss over Anderlecht, but not over a solid Galatasaray team.
Bundesliga champs Bayern Munich took on the defending Premier League champs Manchester City in a back and forth game. It seemed as if both teams were going to walk away with a point after a spectacular game from City keeper Joe Hart. However, former Man City midfielder Jerome Boateng haunted his former team with a 90th minute goal to lead Bayern to a 1-0 win. Neither team was a heavy favorite after injuries to key players on both sides, but this game was still competitive. Man City will need to bounce back against Serie A runner-ups AS Roma, and Russian Premier League champs CSKA Moscow to fight to advance out of Group E.
Roma took on the Russian Premier League champs CSKA Moscow, and just blew them away with a 5-1 demolition. Gervinho scored twice, and Maicon, Iturbe, and Sergey Ignashevich helped Roma annihilate the Russians chances. Ahmed Musa scored a consolation goal for Moscow, but clearly, there are some flaws that need to be addressed, such as the alarming lack of scoring from striker Seydou Doumbia. For Roma, they got started with a goal from Juan Manuel Iturbe in the 6th minute, and they didn’t stop after that. The Ivorian Gervinho looked spectacular as he bagged 2 goals and an assist. Roma will need to be this competitive against Bayern and Man City if they want to escape this Group.
Former Ajax and Current PSG super star Zlatan Ibrahimovic received a warm Dutch welcome as his former squad faced his team playing on his old stomping grounds. Despite a barrage of shots, all Paris Saint-Germain could muster was an underwhelming 1-1 draw. The French were ahead after a rebounded shot from Ibrahimovic was finished by Edinson Cavani. In the 74th minute, Ajax Amsterdam’s Lasse Schone scored off a beautiful free kick to equalize the match. A difficult start for PSG here means that they must play tough against Barcelona, and win against APOEL. For Ajax, a draw means that their chances of advancing are pretty good, but they must fight hard against Barca and APOEL.
Who knew that Barcelona could be pushed to the limit by a team from Cyprus? The Cyprians played tough, but Barcelona won via a first half header from Gerard Pique. I doubt that a 1-0 victory has done much to make PSG and Ajax shake in their little boots, but Barca is always dangerous, and can’t be taken for granted despite a poor showing. Give credit to APOEL, they did make it into the Champions League, which isn’t easy, especially when you come from the little town of Nicosia. I doubt that many of you even know where Cyprus is, let alone that it existed, so this is an expansion victory, which should allow APOEL to expand their brand. Barcelona needs to step up because facing PSG won’t be easy and Ajax will fight hard to advance out of Group F.
Manager Jose Mourinho had high hopes for his Chelsea squad to come away with a win against an always solid Schalke 04 side. Cesc Fabregas put the Blues up early, but Klaas-Jan Huntelaar leveled for the Germans in the second half. Chelsea has been on a tear by winning every one of their games except for a draw against Man City, and new addition Diego Costa looked dangerous, but couldn’t make an impact in this match as Chelsea disappointingly were held to a draw off of a beautiful equalizer from Schalke’s Dutchman. Both teams are poised to take the top spots in Group G.
The Slovenian Side Maribor managed to sneak away with a draw against Sporting Lisbon, after a spectacular strike from Nani saw the Portugese side go up. However, Luka Zahovic scored for Maribor to level the game up. Zahovic originates from Portugal and his team were the underdogs in this match-up, but keeper Jasmin Handanovic kept this game 1-0 until Maribor eked out a goal. Like what I said about APOEL, this team’s odds of advancing are near zero, but this is good for their brand expansion. Sporting Lisbon has a tough task up against them to take on Chelsea and Schalke, and the odds are against them.
Thank you Bilbao and Shakhtar, for proving to people who hate soccer that soccer is boring. You know what, I was wrong, Zenit vs Benfica wasn’t a snooze match, this one was a snooze match. It doesn’t get much duller than 0-0. Ukranian side Shakhtar and Spanish side Bilbao are essentially in a three horse race for Group H with Porto.
However, Porto knows how to play a match of Champions League Football, as they crush BATE Barisov 6-0. Yacine Brahimi scored a hat trick, Jackson Martinez hit the back of the net, as well as Adrian Lopez and Vincent Aboubakar. Porto looks to be in good shape to Win Group H, as Shakhtar and Bilbao hopelessly ran around in their match.
All in all, these matches have mostly been exciting and competitive (ahem, Bilbao and Shakhtar), and in the next two matches we will see who will advance and who will be stuck in the group stages.
by Omkar Pratapwar
