European football always finds a way to excite its loyal fans. The new season of the Champions League started a couple of weeks ago with some surprising results. However, that is nothing compared to this matchday. We had the chance to see giants fall, late drama and generally great football was played. There were major key takeaways from this week, so it is worth looking them over.
The highlights of this week of Champions League action have to start in Madrid. Sheriff Tiraspol won against 13-time Champions League winners Real Madrid at the Bernabeu. That was a shocking result and possibly the best story in the making this season in the UCL. On other fields, PSG won comfortably against Manchester City and Juventus beat Chelsea in the two derbies of this week.
Other than these three games, there were 13 other games being played. Here are the two key takeaways from this matchday in the Champions League!
Champions League key takeaways
The fall of Spanish (and world) football giants
In the 2013-2018 period of football, two teams dominated. Barcelona, who had one Champions League and all the domestic titles they could have possibly won, and Real Madrid, with their four Champions Leagues in five years. If someone told us then that these teams, just three years after the last Real Madrid title in the competition, would lose in a single matchday of the Champions League, the person would be labeled as someone who should not speak about football.
Yet, here we are. Madrid lost to Sheriff Tiraspol on Tuesday and Barca lost to Benfica away on Wednesday. Real Madrid, to be realistic, did not deserve the loss. However, their inability to break down the lines of a compact Sheriff team spoke volumes about the possible struggles they will have this season. Simply said, a lack of a proper finisher will hurt and the calls for Kylian Mbappe will be stronger and stronger by the end of the year. Karim Benzema cannot do it alone and while this is an excess and an exception since Madrid did have 28 shots to Sheriff's four, alarm bells are ringing in Madrid, especially since the Champions League means that much to the team.
Barcelona has had the alarm bells on for quite a while now. A weekend win against Levante with a comfortable 3-0 scoreline is now long gone. Now, the calls for manager Ronald Koeman's head are very loud. His side lost to Benfica, which is not even the worst thing since this is a solid team. But to lose without a single shot on target, for the second Champions League game in a row, and without any sense of direction, and to concede three goals in the process, that is simply embarrassing. The absolute worst aspect of all of this is that Koeman will likely stay on as manager. It would be surprising if the team so cash-strapped decides to pay him €12 million, which would be his severance package.
Chelsea is in a crisis…so much so that even this Juventus team beat them
Let's get one thing out of the way – this Chelsea team is still super strong. They have about two full-quality squads and manager Thomas Tuchel can rotate without any problems. However, there is something rotten in that locker room, since the team is not performing up to their standards. Winning against Zenit in the first matchday of the Champions League possibly calmed the spirits down a bit, but this is two losses in a row now for Chelsea.
The issue is that the squad has been underperforming against big teams. They barely kept their point against Liverpool, albeit they were a man down. They lost, at home, to Manchester City and fell without a single big chance all game. In the Champions League, they lost against a depleted Juventus team, with Paulo Dybala and Alvaro Morata out of the squad.
Tuchel has a lot of quality at his disposal and he should not hesitate to use it. He did try in this game, with some non-regulars like Hakim Ziyetch and Mateo Kovacic starting. However, it was not enough and the team needs to do better. The aim is to win both the Premier League and the Champions League, so they will need to step their game up for the future.
The Champions League will provide us with a lot more action in the coming weeks. The next fixtures are scheduled for the 19th of October, and the footballing world is eagerly waiting. Some groups are getting very interesting and there might be major surprises for February and the first knock-out matches.
Follow Us
Subscribe