5 Takeaways from the Champions League So Far
We are already at the halfway point of the group stages in this season's Champions League. With little time for recovery and reflection, each game now is vital. Whether it is going through to the next round or staying in Europe by qualifying for the Europa League, the next three Champions League games will determine the feat of all 32 teams involved. Here are five takeaways from the group stages so far.
BRUGGE ON THE BRINK
Club Brugge remains the only Belgian side to have played in a European Cup/Champions League Final. Losing to Liverpool in 1978. Since then, Belgian sides have been an afterthought in the Champions League, as no Belgian side has ever reached the Round of 16 in its current format as Brugge's close rivals Anderlecht reached the Second group stage of the Champions League in the 2000/2001 season. This makes Club Brugge's exploits in the Champions League this season, even more remarkable. Though they avoided any big hitters, they still got experienced sides Atletico Madrid and FC Porto, both of whom have reached the knockout stages regularly and Bayer Leverkusen, who have been in and out of both the Champions League and the Europa League. Strong European sides, not to mention Brugge's poor European record in recent years. Alongside four other teams, Club Brugge has won all three games so far and is yet to conclude a goal. They earned a hard-fought 1-0 win over Leverkusen at home before silencing the Dragao with a shocking 4-0 win. They beat Atletico Madrid 2-0 at home, putting them in a strong position to get through to the knockouts, whether they top the group or not. They only have one home game which will be against Porto while they will play away at Madrid and Leverkusen. Given everyone else in Brugge's group is on three points each, Brugge only needs at least four points to guarantee their place on top of the group but ten points would still be enough to get through. They are almost there and could make history if they can see it out.
FREE-SCORING NAPOLI
When Napoli let go of Kalidou Koulibaly, Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne, fears were raised on whether Napoli might suffer a drop-off this season, given how important these players have been, and how poor they finished last season. So far, they are top of their Champions League group, as well as Serie A. One key feature of them has been their free-scoring and ability to create chances at will. In both Serie A and the Champions League, they are the top scorers and are in the top three in expected goals, shot-creating actions and key passes. They also have won all their games, and have scored 14 goals in the Champions League. They beat Liverpool 4-1 in Naples, where they cut last year's finalist apart by a thousand cuts. They scored four goals again against Rangers FC at the Ibrox, winning the game 4-0. They scored goals again. This time against Ajax at the Johan Cruyff Arena, silencing the ground with a resounding 6-1 win in Amsterdam. Their first-ever win in the Netherlands. Luciano Spalletti has harnessed the most from his players, including Victor Osimhen, Piotr Zielinski and Giacomo Raspadori, who has come in from Sassuolo. Not to mention Korean defender Min-Jae Kim, who has come in and kept Napoli's defence stable. However, the man who has captured the hearts of Naples and the attention from outside is Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. The Georgian was literally an unknown outside of his native Georgia, which is rare in the internet age. Signed from Dinamo Batumi for about ten million euros, the wide playmaker has made Naples completely forget about Insigne, which is no mean feat and has been outstanding coming into Italy, scoring six in ten starts in all competitions. With nine points on the board, Napoli has qualification for the next round in their hands. They host Ajax and Rangers at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona before going to Anfield for their final group game. If they keep this up, who knows what they could achieve this season.
INTER HAVE THE EDGE OVER BARCA
Inter Milan has not had the best start to the season. They are currently ninth in Serie A, conceded 13 goals and are behind Atalanta, Udinese and Juventus, who have been poor themselves. Pressure is on manager Simone Inzaghi to turn things around at the Giuseppe Meazza, which he definitely got when Inter beat Barcelona 1-0 on Tuesday thanks to Hakan Calhanoglu's strike in the 45th minute. The Nerazzurri were placed in a tough group with Bayern Munich, FC Barcelona and Viktoria Plzen. So far, they had three points on the board facing Bayern at home and Plzen away. So the doubleheader against Barcelona, will the games they could the fate of who goes to the knockout stages between the two of them. Barcelona, on the other hand, has started well. They are top of La Liga and their new signings particularly Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha have hit the ground running. So when they faced off each other on Tuesday, it was no surprise that Barcelona was fancied to beat Inter. To the credit of the Nerazzurri, they held Barca at bay all match and got their reward via the goal from Calhanoglu. Barcelona was very flat against Inter, mustering just seven shots with 72% possession and had only one big chance. They did score from Pedri but the goal was ruled out for offside, much to Xavi's dismay. This continues Barcelona's poor record away from home in Europe, winning just three of their last ten European matches (both Champions League & Europa League), putting the Blaugrana at big risk of elimination. Inter, now has the advantage but Barcelona has another bite at the cherry when they face each other next week at Camp Nou. Both will face Bayern and Plzen again, so Barcelona needs to beat Inter while Inter only needs a point at Camp Nou to put more pressure on Xavi's team.
CHELSEA WON BUT GROUP E IS WIDE OPEN
JUVE WIN BUT MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE
Underwhelming start in Serie A and yet to get a point in the Champions League so far, Juventus have fluttered so much that questions have been raised about the club hierarchy and more specifically Massimiliano Allegri, who returned to Turin in August last year and has not delivered either results or performances. So far in the Champions League, they lost both games to Benfica and Paris Saint-Germain in conceiving fashion, which made their game against lowly Maccabi Haifa carry much importance to their season thus far. A shock result from the Israeli champions was a stretch anyway despite Juventus' patchy run. The Bianconeri eventually got the job done, beating Haifa 3-1, with Adrien Rabiot scoring a brace and Vlahovic getting on the scoresheet. The difference was Juventus got the job done but again not in a convincing manner as possession was pretty even with the Turin club just edged out with 51% while Haifa, had twenty shots and hit the woodwork three times during the game. Fortunately, Juventus have points on the board but they are behind both PSG and Benfica by four points after they played a 1-1 draw in Lisbon. Juventus will travel to Haifa next week before going to Benfica and hosting PSG in their final group game. Juventus need to get up to seven points to get out of the group, preferably beat either PSG or Benfica to have a strong chance. They also need to be dominant in games where they still take the initiative. Despite Chiesa and Pogba still, on the sidelines, Kostic and Di Maria are two great wide creators that can generate chances, especially for Dusan Vlahovic, who just scored his first Champions League goal of the season last night. Juve have another chance, it's best they take it.
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