The UEFA Champions League round of 16 first halves has been concluded and five facts stood out in the supposed toughest football competition in the world. There were 27 goals scored across the eight matches with three home wins, two away wins and three draws. All matches saw goals except Sevilla versus Manchester United. Liverpool and Bayern Munich with 5-0 victories over Porto and Besiktas respectively, achieved the greatest margin of victory. Here are the seven facts gleaned from these eight matches:
England is back
The English Premier League suffered ignominy in the seasons past because her representatives did not go far in the competition. But this season, all five representatives made it to the round of 16 with just two defeats in the group stages; Chelsea lost 3-0 to Roma in Rome and Manchester United surprisingly lost 1-0 to FC Basle in Switzerland. In the first legs of their round of 16 matches, none of the five lost whilst they conceded just three goals across the board. The most serious facts would be that La Liga leaders, Barcelona, could not beat a supposedly weak Chelsea team while perennial Serie A champions, Juventus were forced to a 2-2 draw despite scoring twice in the first 10 minutes in Turin.
Minnows still abound
When you hear score lines of 5-0 in Europe, you expect it would against teams from Luxembourg, San Marino, etc. but when it is against countries like Portugal, Turkey, and Switzerland, alarm bells go off. UEFA, under Michel Platini, tried to engender a level playing ground for this competition but results in this round have shown that the Super five of EPL, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A, and Ligue 1 will continue to have their way in producing the winners of this tournament.
Barcelona is now Messi
More and more, solely Lionel Messi is rescuing Ernesto Valverde’s Barcelona. The template looks the same as they have been in the past – lots of possession but creating chances are coming at a premium. In their last five matches, the Catalan club has scored just six goals and despite 79% of possession on Tuesday against Chelsea, they produced just one shot on target. Many have said Barcelona is a one-man team, that claim is looking true at the moment.
Bayern watering down the Bundesliga
Bayern thumped Besiktas 5-0 but the result could have been very different if Besiktas had not lost Domagoj Vida as early as the 16th minute. Bayern still play very lucid and compelling football but the tempo and urgency in the first 40 minutes showed they are not being severely tested in the Bundesliga, which undercooks them for this elite competition. All may be plain sailing at the moment but they will, surely, be found out in the quarterfinals.
No surprises on winner
There have been 22 winners of this competition – from the old to the revamped format but the last time a ‘minnow’ won was 2004 when Jose Mourinho led Porto to the title. That will not happen again as the top five leagues in Europe have gotten stronger and richer. This has led to the perpetual weaning of talent from the other countries. When other countries cannot afford to hold on to talented players beyond the age of 18, the result is what we are seeing today.
PSG need more than Neymar
PSG will win Ligue 1 at a canter but if they intend to do well in Europe – win the Champions League, then they need more than Neymar. The Brazilian left a vacuum in Barcelona, which is going to be very hard to fill but the team he joined is collectively naïve on how to win the big-eared trophy. They had the game in Madrid under reasonable control but showed inexperience and ineptitude in holding out for a better result. They may still qualify for the quarters but Unai Emery has to show more game management against the savviest coaches and sides in Europe to achieve their goal.
Refereeing has to improve
UEFA has to look at improving the standard of officiating because so much is at stake. PSG complained about the referee that officiated the match against Real Madrid but the referee that officiated the Sevilla against Manchester United match was not up to standard. The major criteria for refereeing at the highest level are consistency in decisions – that is not happening at the moment with some teams feeling the centre referee is biased and interpreting the laws of the game incorrectly at every point. Immediately that begins to happen, then the tournament will lose some of its prestige. It must not be said that UEFA is ‘cooking its own results’.
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