The Champions League group stage is over, and looking back it was interesting. Although most of the houses were decided before the final round, there were quite a few dramas along the way, the results were not always predictable, and the final tables in some houses produced sensations. This format is seen as quite outdated, and will be replaced in a year by UEFA trying to please the big clubs, but it has delivered the goods to a considerable extent. And it’s time for summaries.
The impressive groups
Naples
The surprising leader in Italy is also the official refresher of the Champions League. With Havica Cavracchia on the standard of the most fascinating player with his special dribbling on the wing, Piotr Zelinski and Andre-Frank Zambo Angisa in midfield and a variety of options on the edge, coach Luciano Spalletti’s team is an attraction for any neutral football fan.
The way they trampled Ajax 1:6 in Amsterdam was spectacular – and this is perhaps the best game of any team in the Champions League this season. She even dismantled Liverpool 1:4 and finished ahead of her at the top of Group 1, hoping to get a relatively comfortable draw in the round of 16 and go as far as possible. The sky is the limit right now.
in issue
Any way you look at it, few predicted that the Eagles from Lisbon would finish at the top of house 8 in the final table. One could assume that they would have an advantage over the dismal and dismal Juventus, but to eventually oust the rich Qatari squad of Paris Saint-Germain from first place – this is truly a most impressive achievement, and it is even sweeter when the turnaround was completed right at the end of the game in Haifa yesterday.
It was necessary to reach a six – so they gave a six. Benfica in its current version has no feelings of inferiority against any opponent, and there is no task that it does not believe in its ability to complete. In general, it has a loser image, dating back to Bela Guttman’s famous curse in the early 1960s, but the current squad under the guidance of German coach Roger Schmidt has a strong whiff of wienerness.
Bayern Munich
It’s natural for the eternal Bundesliga champions to finish at the top of Group 4, but maintaining a perfect record against Inter and Barcelona and achieving an overall goal difference of 2:18 is certainly extremely impressive. The departure of Robert Lewandowski was supposed to affect the Bavarians at least in the short term, but in the Champions League it was not felt, and it was ironic that the Pole was drawn against them and lost twice without scoring. Even Eric Chopo Moting, who is not exactly known as a virtuoso striker, suddenly started to score wonderful goals and he no longer feels like an outsider in the squad. If Sadio Mane shows stable ability in the spring as well, Bayern is one of the leading candidates to win.
The surprises
Club Bruges
It is truly a sensational success by any measure. Representatives from Belgium don’t usually qualify for the group stage, and really aren’t candidates to advance to the round of 16, but Brugge did it with smart and organized football, defeating Porto 0:4 at the Dragao Stadium, finishing ahead of Leverkusen and Atlético Madrid. They have done so while keeping a clean sheet in 5 games, and goalkeeper Simone Mignola has been one of the standouts in the group stage – so much so that he may evoke some nostalgia for Liverpool, even if they have no problems between the posts at the moment. Barcelona’s unwanted striker Fran Jutagala put in great performances and was mentioned as a candidate for the Spanish national team, and Norwegian prodigy Antonio Noosa became one of the youngest goalscorers in the club’s history at the age of 17.
Eintracht Frankfurt
It qualified for the Champions League for the first time in its history because it won the Europa League, and was not expected to make positive headlines – it was quite clear that it was the most convenient draw from the first tier for all rivals. So Tottenham, Sporting Lisbon and Marseille were happy to have her, but in the bottom line only the Roosters were ahead of Eintracht in the final table – and that too with great difficulty. The team of the talented Austrian coach Oliver Glasner started the campaign with a 3:0 defeat at home to the Portuguese, but took revenge on them in the last round and came at their expense. Mario was overjoyed that his bet to join Frankfurt succeeded beyond expectations, and the Frenchman Randal Kolo-Moani stands out as one of the promising up-and-coming strikers.
The disappointing teams
Athletico Madrid
With all due respect to the other failures, Atlético is the biggest disappointment of them all. For Diego Simeone’s fighting side, it is a great shame to finish last in a very comfortable home on paper with Porto, Leverkusen and Brugge. After the draw, in which Colchoneros avoided meetings with prestigious clubs, it was clear as day that their path was paved for the round of 16, but in practice they did not even qualify for the Europa League. For Chullo, conceding 9 goals in 6 rounds was unimaginable, and Atletico’s defense looks porous and radically disorganized this season on all fronts. At the same time, the team was unable to find the back of the net on its own in the two meetings against Bruges of Mignola.
Barcelona
Last season, the relegation in the group stages was accepted with understanding in light of the financial crisis that befell the club, and in light of the departure of Leo Messi. This season it is already much less bearable – both because coach Xavi has been given a squad with a very significant financial investment, including Robert Lewandowski, and because these expenses need to be covered not only through the club’s pledge against future revenues. The Barcelona management built on balancing the budget through the bonuses from UEFA in the Champions League, and that turned out to be an illusion. You can complain until next year about the controversial refereeing decisions in the matches against Inter, but the bottom line is that Barca only got one point against the Nerazzurri and Bayern, and that’s a fiasco on a very significant scale , which undermines even the trust the fans had in their revered coach.
Juventus
It is impossible to say that the old lady’s fiasco in the group stages was surprising, but to finish with only 3 points, and to lose on the road decisively and clearly to Maccabi Haifa in Israel, is an unimaginable disgrace even in the terms of the current crisis. It was enough to see the enthusiasm of Federico Caesa, who returned yesterday and entered as a substitute after a serious knee injury, to understand what the old lady had been missing so far. Most of the players in Massimiliano Allegri’s team didn’t even really try, and it seemed that they were trying to do their best to get their coach kicked out – this feeling was particularly strong in Carmel. They managed to lose 5 games, but the coach is still there, so the goal has not been achieved yet.
The exciting performance
Shakhtar Donetsk
The team, which was left with almost no foreigners due to the war, and had to play the home games in Poland, gave an excellent fight and felt that they were able to qualify for the round of 16 after an amazing 1:4 in Leipzig in the opening round. Bottom line, it was the lone victory for the Ukrainians, but they did their best to bring pride to the homeland, and were seconds away from getting a prestigious 3 points against Real Madrid. It now moves on to the Europa League, and the Ukrainian fans hope that the new star, Mykhailo Modric, will stay at the club until the end of the season at least. At the current rate, the wonderful left winger may be sold as early as January for a very handsome sum to one of Europe’s top leagues.
