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Lots of goals, lots of drama and some pretty marquee games that gave us good football – that was Matchday 3. Lionel Messi got a goal, Cristiano Ronaldo bagged two, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic bagged twice that. There were also some great team efforts from Borussia Dortmund and Atletico Madrid making it a very eventful round of matches. Here’s 10 things that rankled the memory.
1. Dortmund remain a potent force even with the loss of Mario Goetze
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Bayern Munich paid out the release clause to purchase Mario Goetze from their rivals Borussia Dortmund. As is customary, it was a move aimed at strengthening their own squad while weakening a major rival.
Nobody told Dortmund that!
The cash from the Gotze sale, plus a little bit more, was used to get Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and Juergen Klopp’s team have continued their winning ways and show no signs of missing their young starlet from yesteryear.
They can still press the life out of the opposition, as Arsenal found out. And barring their opening round loss to Napoli where they looked a little out of sorts, they have been in good touch and are poised for another deep run in this year’s tournament as well.
They’ve made a blistering start to their Bundesliga campaign too and look to give Bayern a real run for their money.
2. Manchester United are struggling to score goals
It’s been a worry line that has been growing over the weeks on the brows of David Moyes and the Manchester United fans for some time now.
The goal ticker has been barely moved by United in their last few games – since their 4-2 win against Bayer Leverkusen on Matchday 1, Moyes’ side have scored only 1 goal in each of their games bar one.
And the problem has not been down to any brilliant defending or insane goalkeeping, but primarily down to a lack of rhythm and drive on offense.
They needed an own goal from Inigo Martinez to get over the line against Sociedad. Despite playing at home and owning possession of the ball for long periods, the threat of scoring was evident only in spurts.
Moyes needs to find some answers and find them fast.
3. You don’t mess with the Zlatan
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will be bandied about as the two best players on the planet currently, but for sheer genius, innovation, skill level and just downright audaciousness, Zlatan Ibrahimovic deserves to be up there as well.
The Zlatan of course comes with the massive-sized ego and swagger to boot along with the above mentioned qualities and it is these components that make Zlatan a must watch.
After lacing Anderlecht with 4 goals last night, including one delightful finish for his second and a thunderbolt third, Zlatan received a rousing round of applause from the Anderlecht fans who realized that they had been treated to something special.
If there were votes for magnetism and spellbinding electric moments on the football field, the Zlatan would win hands down.
4. Russia continues to be home to some of the most racist and incandescent fans
The ugly head of racism reared up yet again when Manchester City’s Yaya Toure was subjected to monkey chants by a section of the CSKA Moscow fans.
There seems to be no end to this vicious menace of racism, especially in Russia, as there have been plenty of such instances across Europe in the recent past.
Petty fines and matches behind closed doors seem to hardly be having any effect in trying to stem the rot and its about time that the authorities looked at sterner action in the form of bans and point deductions.
5. Fresh life in Kaka
Maybe, just maybe, the move back to his beloved Milan may result in a fresh lease of life for Kaka. The Brazilian’s performance against Barcelona at the San Siro was in no way stupendous. But, he set up the goal for Robinho and showed flashes of his old form during the game.
Kaka’s career has gone south ever since his record-breaking transfer to Real Madrid and he has struggled with both form and fitness during his time at the Bernabeu. The move back to Italy may just be the road to redemption.
6. Karim Benzema goes MIA (again!)
11 players started the game against Juventus, but only 10 were visible. For about a good quarter of the game, Karim Benzema was missing on the pitch and did not so much as even touch the ball after the initial kick-off.
The Real faithful have been on his back for a long time now as they have not been impressed with the standard of the Frenchman’s performances and they have been calling for his head. Benzema did not help his cause either by missing an absolute sitter to enrage the fans even more.
Arsene Wenger may be weighing up his options.
7. Robben’s temper tantrums
He has a Champions League winner’s medal now in his kitty and has become a mainstay in Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich side, when many predicted he would get the sack, but you can’t take the petulance out of Arjen Robben.
Against Viktoria Plzen, the whipping boys of the group, Robben refused to step up to take the penalty when ordered to do so by Guardiola. That was twice in two matches that the pair have had a clash of egos, as against Mainz at the weekend, Guardiola had told Robben not to take a penalty which he was keen on doing.
Seemingly still upset at that move, the Dutchman stood his ground this time around even as ‘Pep’ screamed instructions out from the sidelines.
It will be interesting to see if there are consequences, if any.
8. Arsenal will miss Flamini more than Ozil
Mesut Ozil may have lifted everybody’s spirit at Arsenal Football Club and helped them raise their games, but Mathieu Flamini’s resigning was the move that complemented it. Flamini has provided some much needed steel and combativeness to that Arsenal midfield, in turn enabling the creativity to flow from the likes of Ozil, Wilshere and Ramsey.
He was sorely missed against Dortmund where Sven Bender and Nuri Sahin made the centre of the pitch their own and bossed the game for the German club.
9. Pellegrini the messiah for Manchester City in Europe
Manchester City have never made it out of the group phase so far in the competition. Manuel Pellegrini could be the man to break that jinx.
The Chilean has the experience of leading comparatively weaker teams into the knockout stages of the competition (Villareal and Malaga) and that is sure to serve City well as they try and qualify for the round of 16.
A big advantage over their previous manager Roberto Mancini.
10. Atletico Madrid quietly gathering momentum
No one saw them coming; not in La Liga, not in the Champions League.
Diego Simeone’s men have been making steady progress in both competitions; they lost their first league match of the season this past weekend against Espanyol to slip to second place. Meanwhile, in Europe, it was business as usual for Atletico as they made it three wins out of three, all but guaranteeing themselves a place in the next round.
Diego Costa returned from suspension to knock in two goals as they won 3-0 on the night and their midfield comprising Koke, Tiago and Raul Garcia continues to function like a dream. They have a superb defensive line marshaled by the excellent Diego Godin and backed up in goal by the brilliant Thibaut Courtois. Arda Turan provides the creativity and the assists and David Villa tags along as an added threat to support Costa.
These guys mean business this season.
