No tags yet.
WINNERS
PAULO DYBALA
Juventus continued their impeccable start to the season with a 3-0 win over Swiss side, Young Boys on Tuesday night. The Bianconeri entered the match without star forward, Cristiano Ronaldo but fear not as Argentine sensation, Paulo Dybala was on hand to deliver all three goals. It was the forwards fourth ever treble in the black and white since his move from Palermo in 2015. He will be hoping it can catapult him into a run of good from following his indifferent start to the season.
NAPOLI
The "Partenopei" captured a much needed victory over Liverpool this past Wednesday in their group of death meeting. Many fans were perplexed by their appointment of ex Chelsea boss, Carlo Ancelotti last summer but he has won the fans over to date given their early league form. Save for the 3-0 humbling defeat to Sampdoria, Napoli have looked every bit like a team sure of their style and identity in a post Sarri world. Particularly impressive has been the tactical flexibility of Ancelotti's outfit with his constant rotation of personnel, a polar opposite of the approach Sarri took at his time in Naples.
BARCELONA
Ernesto Valverde's side hushed a lot of doubters with their battle hardened 4-2 victory over Tottenham, Wednesday night at Wembley. They were purposeful and aggressive from the start and quickly established their dominance with a second minute Coutinho opener. The midfield of Busquets, Rakitic and the Brazilian, Arthur had a stranglehold of the middle third throughout. In truth they never looked worried throughout and Tottenham never looked capable of drawing par. This was never more apparent by the presence of a certain Lionel Messi in the Barca ranks. Given the genius of the star's link up play with his teammates and sheer awesomeness what was most impressive about the Argentine's performance was the relative ease in which he got his two goals. He converted both from just six yards out, despite carrying the tag of the World's best he still managed to find himself free with three yards of space free either side. As Bruce Lee once said "Simplicity is brilliance".
AJAX
"De Godenzonen" picked up a credible draw midweek against Niko Kovac' Bayern with a display that was deservant of much more. The Ajax youngsters played with a carefree exuberance that should have seen them claim all three points at the Allianz Arena. From the off they did their best to settle a merry Oktoberfest crowd in the Bavarian capital and right back Noussair Mazraoui's goal was indicative of everything good about Total Football. They asserted control in the second half and Janne Van De Beek was particularly unlucky not to have converted from a some good link up play between Tadic and Daley Blind. Lasse Schone thumped the Bayern bar with an outstanding "knuckleball" of a free kick. Dusan Tadic of Southmapton past was the main protagonist up front allowing the likes of Hakim Ziech and Van De Beek to perform. Meanwhile at the back, 19 year old Matias De Ligt was imperious throughout. Such a performance was an ode to the Ajax of generations past. Their manager, Erik ten Hag will have every confidence they can get out of their group.
LOSERS
VIKTOR KLONARIDIS
This guy plays for AEK Athens just in case you never heard. Up until the 71st minute of Tuesday's clash at home to Benfica the Belgian forward's had a good night scoring both Athens goals as they surmounted a comeback. He was then played through for a one on one with Benfica's keeper with teammate, Giorgas Giakoumakis square for a simple tap in only for the forward to take on the shot and miss much to the disbelief of Athens players and fans. Ten man Benfica lived up to the old football cliche and when sub, Alfa Semedo made a late run from midfield unleashed a daisy cutter off the Athens post to seal a 3-2 win for the Lisbon side. Klonaridis will be wondering if he had squared for his teammate, would his Athens side be celebrating a first first Champions League group stage win since their 1-0 win over AC Milan in November 2006.
MANCHESTER UNITED
United in name, anything but in nature, the players have done nothing in the past few games to suggest they are a group playing for their manager nor anything resembling a group in solidarity. Tuesday saw a scoreless draw at home to Valenica. It was all the hallmarks of a Jose Mourinho team in turmoil; turgid, slow and uninspiring. The deployment of Marouane Fellaini as part of a midfield three against the ball playing Spanish outfit raised many eyebrows prior to kickoff. Surely the Brazilian, Fred with his box to box running and dynamic play would have been more of a natural fit in the United XI? United struggled to create any sort of patterns in their attacking play. the front trio of Lukaku, Rashford and Alexis looked very much one paced and accumulated in the Belgian striker nutmegging himself in the first half. While the Paul Pogba issue continues to dominate what will concern Mourinho now more in the short term will be his side's clash against the Georides this coming weekend. His old foe, Rafa Benitez will only be hoping to deliver another dagger into the heart of the Reds. Should the Reds fail to muster all three points, questions will continue to arise about the Special One's future. Coming into an international break with fixtures against Chelsea, Juventus and City to navigate on the horizon one can fear it is merely damage limitation at this point.
REAL MADRID
Los Blancos went down to an early Niko Vlasic goal in Moscow last Wednesday. How Vlasic was gifted the third minute goal from Toni Kroos lackadaisical crossfield ball underpinned just how indifferent and poor Madrid were throughout. Although coach Lopetegui's is unwavering in his approach to veer away from the 4-3-3 possession based style recent results point to some much needed changes. It is safe to suggest the honeymoon period is over for Lopetegui. His side have seem to have been caught up more in the process than the result itself, there is far more bark than bite in Madrid's play. Two goals in their last five outings say as much. At the start of the season their resolution to the departure of CR7 was to offer more responsibility to Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Marco Asensio to share around the goals as part of a more augmented team based setup. The whorish nature of Madrid fans parading you one minute, calling for your head the next will not be lost among Lopetegui. Mr.Perez will be looking down from the clouds overhead the Bernabeu dugout with interest as to how his first-team coach plans to replace the goals of CR7 and cure their recent downturn in form.