As we wrap up Matchday 5 of Champions League action — the penultimate week of the year — the battle for the top eight places in the League Phase table remains extremely tight. But after this week, only one team remains perfect and it’s Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal. The Gunners put on another impressive display and this time, Vincent Kompany’s Bayern Munich was the latest victim as the North London club won 3-1. It was a commanding performance.
In Greece, Kylian Mbappé’s four goals helped Real Madrid beat Olympiacos 4-3, giving Los Blancos their first win on Greek land, something they had never done until Wednesday. At Anfield, Liverpool’s woes continued as Arne Slot’s side lost 4-1 to PSV making the situation in Merseyside an extremely fragile one.
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Wednesday alone was a magnificent evening of Champions League action with so many big hitters on display delivering some very entertaining matches. From PSG’s 5-3 win over Tottenham Hotspur (prompting the French side to jump to second place) to Atlético de Madrid’s stoppage-time winner over Inter, it was an evening that showed why this is a royal example of excellence in European club competition. Forty-two goals were scored on Wednesday alone.
Here are my winners and losers from a festive week of action in the biggest club competition in European football.
Arsenal
There is no denying it. Arsenal right now is the best team in Europe. After beating Bayern Munich on Wednesday evening, coupled with Inter’s loss to Atlético de Madrid, Arteta’s side is now the sole, perfect leader of the League Phase table. There are obviously examples of individual brilliance, from Declan Rice to Bukayo Saka, but what makes this deep side click is its complete understanding of the task at hand. Arsenal is almost perfect with and without the ball right now and after 20 years of not winning the Premier League or ever winning the Champions League, both objectives are currently more than attainable.
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Kylian Mbappé
Wednesday night clearly belonged to the Real Madrid star as Mbappé scored a seven-minute hat-trick in the first half, followed by a fourth goal in the second to make it 4-3 against Olympiacos, helping Los Blancos win in Greece for the first time in club history. The French striker now has 22 goals in all competitions for Xabi Alonso’s side and since we’re still in November, at this rate he is well on course to surpass his 42 goals from the last campaign. Is he the best player in the world right now? In my opinion? Absolutely.
Chelsea and Estêvão
On Tuesday night at Stamford Bridge, Enzo Maresca’s team delivered a magnificent performance against Barcelona, winning 3-0 on the night and, to be perfectly honest, it could have been more. Hansi Flick’s side were completely overwhelmed by Chelsea’s collective and individual brilliance and the fact that Barcelona played with 10 men after Ronald Araújo’s sending off just before the break was not the reason for the Catalan’s club demise in the game. Ten men, 11 men. It didn’t matter. Chelsea totally dominated.
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Then there was Estêvão, the 18-year-old Brazilian attacker who entered the pitch and gave us a performance worthy of a standing ovation. Reminiscent of a young Neymar Jr., he scored a magnificent goal, converting Alejandro Balde into spaghetti before placing it past Joan García. But it was more than his goal as he played a complete match of total awareness and maturity.
In a game that also included another teenage phenom Lamine Yamal (both currently the two most valuable teenagers in world football) it was the teenager from São Paolo who stole the evening.
Losers
Liverpool and Arne Slot
Liverpool’s disastrous loss to PSV was the club’s third straight in all competitions and the second time in a row where it lost by three goals. It’s also the ninth loss in 12 matches. There’s no denying it, the alarm bells are ringing in Merseyside. Slot is absolutely responsible but there has to be a focal point on the players too because there were some awful individual mistakes. It’s crazy what’s happening to the defending champions right now and even though I don’t think it will happen, I am sure there are pockets of the fanbase who are probably for Slot’s dismissal.
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Barcelona
If I placed Chelsea in my “winners” column then it’s only justifiable for me to include Barça on the other side. After the game, Flick praised his opponent, saying that Chelsea is exactly how he wants Barcelona to play and how from a tactical and philosophical perspective, both sides are indeed very similar.
But the difference is that when Chelsea pushed the ball, Maresca at least learns from his high line whereas Barcelona, no matter the situation, continues to implement such a high-line that is almost conical. “I’ve seen some offside traps in my time, but this is absolutely crazy, it really is,” said Alan Shearer, speaking on Amazon Prime.
“It’s as if there’s four dummies, just stood there and saying ‘how do you want to do it guys?’ It’s hard to believe at times, I’m lost for words at how easy it’s been for Chelsea to get through and how crazy at times they’re playing it.’”
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We have seen this story before with Flick’s Barcelona and the issue is that he continues to deliver the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Overall, it was an obvious off night for Los Blaugrana — from Yamal to Pau Cubarsí — and it is also apparent to see just how much Barça depend on Pedri, who did play last night.
But, the biggest lesson here is that as long as Barcelona continues to press so high up the pitch, it will continue to struggle against quality opposition.
Pep Guardiola
Tuesday evening at Etihad Stadium should have been an evening of celebrations as Guardiola marked his 100th Champions League game in charge with the club, joining Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger as a head coach who has led that many matches in the competition with an English side but in the end, it was Bayer Leverkusen who ended the evening in rejoice with a historic 2-0 victory for the Bundesliga club.
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This loss though was fully on Guardiola as he heavily rotated his team from Saturday’s loss to Newcastle United, making 10 changes. Pep got cute as they say and Kasper Hjulmand’s side took full advantage.
“I have to accept it,” Guardiola said to TNT Sport. “If we win it wouldn’t be a problem so I have to accept it that maybe it’s a lot.”
“I always had the belief of the long season and everyone had to be involved but maybe it was too much. They played not to make mistakes instead of doing what we had to do.”
