Wednesday's UCL Recap: Matchday 2

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The UEFA Champions League on Wednesday saw Group A to D take action. Barcelona returned to Wembley, where they have had fond memories winning 2 of their 5 UCL titles there, to face Tottenham and continued their fine start beating the lilywhites 4-2. Paris Saint-Germain were just too good for Red Star Belgrade beating them in a 6-1 rout. Liverpool continue the trend of English struggling to get something in Italy losing their game to Napoli 1-0 at Naples while Inter came from behind to beat PSV Eindhoven 2-1. Dortmund came out 3-0 winners against Monaco, Atletico Madrid continue their 100 percent UCL record beating Club Brugge 3-1 while Schalke and Porto both got three points from their games. Here are the three things from last night’s action.

Messi loves the English


Lionel Messi has started off the season with a bang in the UCL from his hat-trick against PSV to his performance against Tottenham at Wembley. Wembley is a ground that Messi has great memories, playing and scoring there in the UCL Final in 2011. Messi and Barcelona in general were just too good for Spurs. In fairness to Spurs, they were Vertonghen, Alli, Dembélé and Eriksen and it reflected given that Spurs couldn’t handle Barcelona’s midfielders but Hugo Lloris and Toby Alderweireld really struggled making two errors which led to goals. They were bangers from Coutinho and Rakitić with Messi scoring a brace. The Argentine has now scored 22 goals against Premier League sides in the Champions League. The most from any league and has scored against 5 of the top 6. He clearly loves playing in Wembley and playing against English sides. However, could he do it in the Premier League?

Abject Reds


Liverpool against Napoli was highly talked about given the similarities of both cities, Liverpool’s high pressing up against the experience of Carlo Ancelotti. Napoli managed to seize all three points thanks to a late goal from Lorenzo Insigne but Liverpool were clearly second-best from beginning to end. Liverpool managing to lose 1-0 would falter them thanks to the performances of Alisson, Van Dijk and Gomez but the midfield and especially their attack were just awful. Liverpool were void of any creativity or goal threat from midfield with Naby Këita forced to come off due to injury creating just one chance and the attack misfiring with no shot in target for the Reds. This is the first time that Liverpool have in the group stage under Klopp and leaves Group C open with Napoli currently topping the group with four points with both Liverpool and PSG on three points. The balance needs to be right for Klopp and Liverpool.

Neymar shines over Red Star


PSG and Neymar are in need of a strong campaign in the Champions League this season to be considered as part of Europe's elite. Losing to Liverpool 3-2, they were in need to get their season on track which they did against Red Star Belgrade. The Parisians hammered the Eastern European opponents 6-1 with the Brazilian on top form. Neymar scored a hat trick scoring his first two goals within the space of just two minutes. His partners in crime Kylian Mbappé and Edinson Cavani were also on the act as well scoring a goal each while Ángel Di María was the other goal-scorer. Making 108 touches, taking 9 shots with 7 of them going on target, it was Neymar’s night. He is now on level with Kaká as the highest Brazilian goal-scorer in the Champions League with 30 goals but with Neymar doing it in just 49 appearances. Can he lead PSG to that elusive Champions League’s title? Time will tell.

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