Notes from Matchday 5 of the UEFA Champions League: Upsets for Barcelona and Chelsea

We are done with matchday 5 of the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League; a matchday that saw some upsets along with routine wins for some of the big teams. The one thing that it did throw up is that qualification scenarios in many of the groups is still undecided and the action will go into the last round of games.

Poring over the games and the results, here’s a list of the stories that stood out:

Shinji Kagawa finally plays in his most-favoured role at Manchester United

Shinji Kagawa finally played in his preferred position under David Moyes

A combination of injuries and paucity of options eventually forced United manager David Moyes to finally field Japanese midfielder Kagawa in the hole behind the main striker, something that the player himself and sections of the United fans have been calling out for.

And the result? A 5-0 win away at the Bay Arena, home of Bayer Leverkusen, currently the second best team in the Bundesliga and a team that had not lost at home this season in nine matches.

United’s win by such a huge margin was all the more startling considering their rather indifferent from away from home previously, both in their domestic league and in Europe.

Kagawa enjoyed a splendid night in his preferred position and along with Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney was the star attacker for the English champions. Every time he attacked the Leverkusen half with the ball at his feet, he looked threatening. He was deservedly voted the man-of-the-match – the energy on the ball along with the quick distribution and smart flicks and passes were a joy to watch.

It was a good call on Moyes’ part too as he chose to not go in with the somewhat leggy Marouane Fellaini in midfield, instead opting for the very impressive Phil Jones. The midfield pairing of Jones and Giggs worked like a gem with Jones breaking up the play and acting as a defensive screen to allow Giggs plenty of time on the ball to wield his influence. It also meant that Kagawa had less tracking back to do and focus fully on his play in the attacking third.

United fans will be hoping that the Red Devils’ latest victory is finally enough to convince Moyes to give the Japanese more playing time.

The growing influence of Bale and the class of Isco

Isco

In the last round of notes after Matchday 4, I had jotted down how the Ronaldo and Gareth Bale partnership was beginning to develop a good understanding. With the Portuguese captain sidelined on Wednesday night, Bale was the centre of attraction.

And he kick-started proceedings with a sumptuous free-kick that got past Uruguay international keeper Fernando Muslera in the Galatasaray goal. Real Madrid didn’t have any problems whatsoever even with Ronaldo missing; even after they lost Sergio Ramos to a very, very soft red card that saw Gala equalize and take the game into half time at 1-1, they came out in the second half and put Roberto Mancini’s side to the sword.

But one player who really stood out is 21-year-old Spain midfielder Isco. There’s something incredibly fascinating about Isco’s talents – great touch, excellent passing vision and a great final shot. He scored for the second game in succession, but more importantly ran the show sitting behind the main forward with Bale and Angel Di Maria either side of him. He was the man-of-the-match in the weekend mauling of Almeria too and was just as instrumental last night as well.

The Spaniard had a blistering start to his Madrid career before being laid low by injury. Back to full fitness and his playing best, Isco’s return marks a huge shot in the arm for Carlo Ancelotti.

Tata Martino’s first loss with Barcelona

Martino suffered his first loss as Barcelona manager

It had to come sometime, but nobody did expect it to happen against Ajax Amsterdam. Ajax beat Barca at their own game (or atleast their game under Pep Guardiola and Tito Vilanova) based around neat interplays and quick ball-movement.

Martino said after the match that the intensity was severely lacking from his players in the first half.

“Ajax began with more intensity than us and we paid the price, the second half was a different story and we played in a way more in tune with what Barca represents,” Martino said.

“The problems in the first half came more when we had the ball than when we didn’t.”

“We lacked mobility and precision. In a Champions League match against a rival who is fighting to qualify for the next round you need intensity for the full 90 minutes.”

It’s a shortcoming that cropped up a few times under both Pep and Vilanova, where even while hoarding all the possession, Barca sometimes ran out of ideas as to what to do with it.

The directness that has been infused into the side with Martino’s arrival was missing from the pitch with an air of lethargy prevailing over the men in claret and blue.

said Martino, who took over from the ailing Tito Vilanova in the close season, said at a news conference.

Jose Mourinho and his sleepwalkers

Mourinho walks off after the defeat by FC Basel

If Martino complained of lethargy, then ‘the Special One’ blamed his Chelsea side’s loss to Basel on fatigue. FC Basel did the double over Chelsea thanks to a late goal by Egyptian starlet Mohamad Salah. And Mourinho had a perfectly logical, acute analysis of why exactly his side succumbed to a second consecutive loss to the Swiss side.

“I’m disappointed, not upset with the players. I understand.”

“The only positive thing is that we go through, but we don’t go through because we got the result, we go through because Schalke didn’t get the result. That, for me, is not the same.”

“Today I want to praise Basel. They won because we were sleeping in the last minutes, but they won also because they were the best team and they deserved to win.”

Before going on to add:

“If they weren’t sleeping, how could that ball go in? When you are tired you sleep. When you are tired you think slow. When you are tired you react late.”

“We had in the last 20, 25 minutes situations in Basel’s box where even there we thought slow, we react slow. We had situations to score, bad control, not the immediate shot, no sharpness. The team was tired.”

“So when the team was tired it can happen that you make defensive mistakes, the attacking mistakes, the goal that normally never goes in.”

“It was a bonus for Basel and Basel deserve the bonus.”

Sure, it’s a simple solution – get the Chelsea players to sleep well.

That was Jose being smart with the PR as he had nothing really to defend his players with, who were way below their best to say the least.

Celtic go out with a whimper

Celtic manager Neil Lennon

Neil Lennon and his brave Celts made the Round of 16 last year with by finishing a very impressive second behind Barcelona in the group phase. And even though they were comprehensively beaten by Juventus over two legs, it was a wonderful achievement for one of Europe’s historic clubs that was operating at budgets much, much lower than its European counterparts.

With the memory of that fresh, a lot was expected of the Scottish club this year. There was Barcelona again to rekindle an element of nostalgia, there was Fraser Forster still displaying the same kind of stonewallness in between the goal posts. And there was hope amongst Celtic fans even with AC Milan in the group, due to the Italian club’s struggles.

Sadly, the ending was to be different, as with the 3-0 loss at home to Milan, Celtic will not progress further this year. The loss of Gary Hooper, midfield general Victor Wanyama and Kelvin Wilson was not made up for with adequate replacements.

And that is the harsh lesson that Celtic have learnt this year, that matching your performances, forget surpassing it, mandates that the loss of key players be addressed with utmost priority.

Juventus – What a difference a matchday can make

Arturo Vidal and the other Juve players wave to the crowds after their last home game of the group phase

Juventus beat FC Copenhagen at home 3-1 thanks to a hat-trick from Chilean midfielder Arturo Vidal. After the last round, everybody was predicting doom and gloom for Juve after they only mustered a draw at home against Real Madrid and they sat third in the group.

But short-term bickering is something that a lot are good at. Conveniently forgotten was the fact that Gala had to travel to Madrid on the next matchday, an opponent against whom they’ve not gotten the slightest change in recent years. Plus the fact that they have a certain Roberto Mancini in charge, whose European record is rather pockmarked.

All this sets up a straightforward do-or-die battle between the two contenders for second spot – Gala and Juve – on the final matchday. Juve did it last year, when they won their last two games to book their place in the last 16 after being in a similar spot of bother.

Istanbul isn’t the easiest place to go and play with its intimidating atmosphere, but Juventus have the character and the caliber to come through such a stern examination. Real Madrid went there and came back after silencing the boisterous crowd, there’s no reason why Juve can’t do the same.

FC Porto’s European dream in the balance

Porto’s Argentinian midfielder Lucho Gonzalez reacts at the end of the UEFA Champions League group G football match FC Porto vs FK Austria Wien at the Dragao stadium in Porto

Porto are European royalty. They may no longer be in the running to compete for the ultimate prize as in years past, but they have been a traditional powerhouse in the Champions League.

But this season has been a patchy one for Porto, as they have won just one of their five games so far, losing two and drawing the other two. That elusive victory was a 1-0 win on opening night against Austria Wien.

Atletico Madrid have swept all past them and were amongst the first teams to qualify for the next stage, leaving Porto to do battle with Zenit St. Petersburg, a side featuring one of their former top men in Hulk.

The last time they failed to get out of the group stage in the 2011-12 season, they had the same opponents in their group in Zenit, and it was their loss to the Russian side that condemned them to the Europa League.

It doesn’t get any easier for them , as on the final day, they travel to group toppers Atletico, while Zenit have the somewhat easier task of travelling to Austria Wien, even taking into consideration that Diego Simeone is likely to rest some of his regular starters.

The champions go chugging along

Thomas Mueller had an impressive game against CSKA Moscow

Sometimes the price for being consistently good is that people forget you exist. Reigning champions Bayern Munich continued to chug along, no problems faced, after their 3-1 win away in chilly Moscow over CSKA.

The Group of Death, Arsenal, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Jose Mourinho have regularly hogged the headlines, sometimes even when there has been no merit.

Bayern yesterday made history as they became the first club in the Champions League era to register 10 consecutive victories, breaking the tie that they had with the FC Barcelona side of 2002/03.

CSKA started brightly, but they were eventually overwhelmed, ever so smoothly, by Bayern with some really well-taken goals from Arjen Robben and Mario Götze, before Thomas Müller’s penalty put the game to bed.

Götze’s goal in particular was a beauty!

A change in coach, two new midfielders added in and a reshuffle that has seen Philip Lahm shift from right-back to defensive midfield seems to have had absolutely no effect on the champions.

They are still the team to beat and continue to look impressive with very few weaknesses.