Champions League Matchday Three round-up

Events are beginning to take shape in the UEFA Champions League after an entertaining round of matches that began to give an indication of which teams can go far in the competition, and which are desperately looking to simply make it out of the groups.

On Tuesday, one of the more entertaining European matchdays in the last few years took place, as neutrals were left spoilt for choice in what they could choose to watch. From a British perspective, it was Liverpool’s topsy-turvy tie with Atletico Madrid that caught the eye, as they squandered a two goal lead, before coming back to beat the Spanish side with a 78th minute penalty from Mohamed Salah. Despite lacking the squad depth of many teams in this year’s competition, the sheer presence of Jurgen Klopp is enough to make Liverpool contenders.

The same can be said for Pep Guardiola and Manchester City who routed Club Brugge 5-1 in a surprisingly comfortable game, considering the fantastic start Brugge had made in the competition, with a draw against PSG and a win over RB Leipzig. The match between those teams also finished as expected, with a 3-2 victory for the Parisians, as Lionel Messi scored twice to pull his team away from the jaws of defeat. Despite this however, the nature of the victory, and of PSG’s performances more generally this season, are a matter for concern, and you feel that they will need to become more cohesive, especially in defence, if they are to have any sort of impact on the latter stages of the tournament.

Perhaps the biggest upset of the night, therefore, was Ajax’s resounding victory over Borussia Dortmund, 4-0. Many had expected a close game between two entertaining sides, but in reality it was the Amsterdammers who played Dortmund off the park, with their passing and movement too much for the beleaguered Black and Yellows to handle. Ajax, with the brilliant Erik ten Hag at the helm, are a force to be reckoned with this year, and we could well see a repeat of the 2018/19 season as they upset the odds and go far in the competition. Dortmund will still qualify from the group, but you cannot expect them to go much farther than the last 16 on the basis of this performance.

On Wednesday, the action was more muted, barring a remarkable turn of events at Old Trafford. Having led 2-0 at half-time, and put Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s head very firmly on the chopping block in the process, Atalanta contrived to throw away that two goal lead and lose 3-2, with, as expected, Cristiano Ronaldo the man to score the winner. Despite the jubilant scenes at the end of the match, however, the nature of United’s first half display was worrying, and you have to feel as if it is a matter of when, not if, Solksjaer will be sacked.

Elsewhere, Chelsea and Juventus consolidated their positions at the top of Group H with resounding victories over Malmo and Zenit respectively, whilst Barcelona scraped over the line with a 1-0 victory over Dynamo Kiev. Gerard Pique scored the winner, becoming the top scoring defender in Champions League history in the process, but the nature of Barca’s triumph did nothing to assuage doubts over Ronald Koeman’s suitability for the job – they still have some world-class players at their disposal, but look a shadow of their former selves.

The group stages of the Champions League are often bemoaned as a foregone conclusion, a formality as lesser sides are knocked out routinely by the regulars of the tournament’s latter stages. This year, however, is proving the relative falsity of that claim, as teams like Sherriff, Ajax and Brugge prove that teams with lesser budgets can go far: lets hope that trend continues.

Full results

Tuesday:

Besiktas 1-4 Sporting Lisbon

Club Brugge 1-5 Manchester City

Ajax 4-0 Borussia Dortmund

Atletico Madrid 2-3 Liverpool

FC Porto 1-0 AC Milan

Inter Milan 3-1 Sherriff Tiraspol

Paris Saint-Germain 3-2 RB Leipzig

Shakhtar Donetsk 0-5 Real Madrid

Wednesday:

Barcelona 1-0 Dynamo Kiev

Red Bull Salzburg 3-1 Wolfsburg

BSC Young Boys Bern 1-4 Villarreal

Benfica 0-4 Bayern Munich

Chelsea 4-0 Malmo FF

Lille 0-0 Sevilla

Manchester United 3-2 Atalanta

Zenit St. Petersburg 0-1 Juventus