Champions League Wednesday a few quick thoughts
Dan Tracey
November 24, 2016
1,739 Views
- The headline clash of last night’s Champions League Matchday 5 was undoubtedly Arsenal vs PSG and Arsenal will no doubt rue the fact that they missed the opportunity to secure the Group A top spot.
- Once again they had to make do with a share of the points with PSG but this time around they ended up conceding twice to Unai Emery’s side and as it stands now sit second in the group
- With both sides having easy Matchday 6 fixtures you would imagine that it would go to type and that PSG will end up being group winners
- Arsenal came from behind to go 2-1 in front thanks to a slightly fortunate Penalty award and an incredibly fortunate own goal but they would concede an own goal of their own to allow PSG back in the game
- Alex Iwobi was trusted with the big game spotlight but again he failed to live up to the expectation
- A miserable night was compounded when he flicked Silva’s header past David Ospina and into the net to level matters at 2-2
- Straight after that Iwobi was subbed off, not as a direct consequence of the Own Goal but it certainly wouldn’t have helped matters
- Minutes later PSG could and should have been 3-2 up. Silva’s fantastic tackle on the break gave Edinson Cavani’s the freedom of Arsenal’s half but as he bore down on David Ospina his decision to chip was a terrible one as the ball landed in the Colombian ‘keepers hands much to the delight of Arsenal and the disgust of Unai Emery
- Cavani who scored the game’s opener would have further opportunities late on to snatch a late winner but he was once again at his frustrating best. He may score plenty of goals but he requires plenty of chances in which to do so
- So honours even at The Emirates and Arsene Wenger will now have to hope that PSG slip up on the final matchday
- Manchester City have secured their place in the Round of 16 but they will have to make do with second group after a draw against Borussia Monchengladbach last night
- After going behind through a Raffael strike half way through the first half they had David Silva to thank for levelling the score just before half time
- Questions will once again be levelled at John Stones who should have been stronger in the build up to Monchengladbach’s goal
- That goal means that City have kept just 1 clean sheet in their last 12 matches
- Barcelona secured top spot in their group with a relatively comfortable win over Celtic in Glasgow
- Lionel Messi’s double was the difference and although Celtic put up more of a fight than compared to when these two sides met previously they were still outclassed
- It could have been more what with Luis Suarez hitting the woodwork twice but on the whole it was a job well done for Barcelona after slipping up at home to Malaga at the weekend
- For Celtic they are out of Europe and Brendan Rodgers will now have to focus on next season’s efforts what with the Scottish Premiership all but wrapped up
- Carlo Ancelotti’s Bayern Munich presented us with the surprise result of the night as they lost 3-2 to competition debutants FC Rostov
- It was a much changed side but you would have still imagined that they would have more than enough to quality to win in Russia
- But it wasn’t the case and that defeat means that Bayern have to make do with second in the group this time around
- That defeat coupled with Atletico’s 2-0 win at home to PSV means that Diego Simeone’s men secure top spot but also keep their 100% record intact
- It was the French connection who were on hand last night as Kevin Gamiero and Antoine Griezmann were on hand to give the Spanish side all three points
- Comeback of the night undoubtedly has to go to Besiktas. 3-0 down at half time they managed to pull off an unlikely comeback of sorts as they scored three second half goals to earn a point at home to Benfica
- That draw has now blown Group B wide open and Napoli spurned another opportunity to qualify last night as they could only manage a 0-0 draw at home to Dynamo Kiev
- And finally Ludogorets and Basel played out a 0-0 draw in Bulgaria and it’s one that all but likely sees Basle not participate in Europe after the new year for the first time since 2012.
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