Anderlecht and Spartak Moscow show Good Spirit : 

Despite Moscow’s 2-3 defeat against Barca, they can lift their heads high and can aim to finish in the top 2 if they play the same ways against the other two teams in the group. Having gone 2-1 up, it required magic from Lionel Messi to deny Spartak from getting a point from the game.

Romulu scores against Barcelona

Anderlecht were resilient against a new Milan side and they can aim for at least a 3rd place and Europa Legue entry if not a top two after pundits had written them off and tipped them to finish last. The other two teams in the group are Malaga and Zenit.

4. Group D has lived up to its hype and name as the Group of Death

 

Four league winners in one group was always bound to be the hardest of all groups. But with all respect to Ajax, this group is mostly going to be a 3 horse race. Dortmund narrowly squeezed past Ajax and those 3 points will be critical in the end. This is because I feel that all these 3 teams must aim for a 6points out of 6 from Ajax if they want to progress.

In the other game,Real Madrid won 3-2 against Manchester City; a game in which Joe Hart Made some amazing first half saves and Madrid had to score two equalizers and a late winner to finally get the 3 points.But the win for Madrid does not prove or guarantee them anything but they will be favorites to go through.

  3. Oscar has arrived but Chelsea still complacent 

Oscar, Chelsea’s new wonder kid!!

A Debut to remember! Oscar’s second goal has not only made him a likely regular starter for the Blues just like Hazard but it also could be the goal of the Champion’s League. What a player!! What beautiful goals. The free flowing, attacking football is back at Chelsea after a one year break. What’s better is that it has that Samba touch along with it.  

In contrast, Chelsea have developed this very bad habit of winning games in which they are underdogs and when people have written them off but under performing in the games which they should be winning.  Chelsea were slight favorites to win against Juventus in their home fixture and when they got that two goal cushion, they as usual sat back and allowed Juventus space and the pressing by their defenders was just not the same. 

The Blues would love to retain their “prized possession” and would want to do it in a more entertaining way. They will go to the next round for sure but if they are to win the competition again, they will not only need heroics from their keeper but the same rigidity from their defence and similar performances from Oscar, Hazard and Mata are needed. 

2. The Arrival of P.S.G

 

They were on the receiving end of a lot of criticism from fans, other clubs as well as the governing bodies. People said buying too many stars in a single window will back fire and effect the team chemistry. It was a perfect reply to all those who doubted them and P.S.G have made just the start which will most likely enable them to finish the group in first place. They scored 4 goals one each from Pastore, Alex, Ibra and Thiago Silva. One could say these are their best players(apart from Lavvezzi). So the point here is that their best players are combining well and they could go far in this tournament provided they get an easier draw in the knockouts.

1. Early favorites show good signs :

Real Madrid’s late win and celebrations by a “concerned” Mourinho and an “unhappy” Ronaldo showed the world that winning football matches will always overshadow the back room talk. The Spanish giants will love to go 2 steps further than their last year’s Semi-Finals finish. They are already 8 points adrift of Barcelona with just 4 games played and Jose would not mind at all if they fail to win the La Liga and instead win the Champion’s League.

Bayern Munich’s 2-0 victory against a strong Valencia side showed that the Germans are determined to win the Champion’s League which they narrowly lost on penalties last year. 

This could be the beginning of the end of the “tiki taka” generation as Xavi is getting older and the likes of Song and Fabregas like to play a more aggressive game and take long shots but Barcelona and their hitman Messi showed the world that as long as he is in form, they will be right up there this season too and scoring even 2 goals against the Catalans might not be good enough.