The second matchday of the 2021-22 UEFA Champions League featured plenty of goals, twists, turns and shock results to keep fans on tenterhooks.
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The second gameweek of the 2021-22 UEFA Champions League is in the books; and what a week it was. It is still too early to call who finishes in the top 2 positions of the group. However, the week saw some shocking results as well as some not so shocking results. Underdogs triumphed, new legends were made and a few old ones continued to shine on. All in all, it is safe to say there was something in this week for football fans of all kind. But what were the major talking points from the second week’s fixtures? That is something we will now try to answer.
So without further ado, here are our major talking points from this week’s games.
Has there ever been a rivalry like that of Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo? Messi made headlines on Tuesday when he scored a wonderful goal that put the sword to Manchester City’s chances of beating PSG. Ronaldo then scored a late winner one night later to ensure Manchester United took three points against Villareal, who did well to hold on till that point.
The two have not been in the same domestic league for years but continue to inspire their new teams in the Champions League. Which side of the Messi-Ronaldo debate you stands on matters little at this point. Enjoy them as long as they are around, because their levels of super-human football will be hard to attain in the future.
It was Real Madrid president Florentino Perez who pushed hardest for the formation of the European Super League. It was also Perez who said that no one cares about the UCL’s group stages due to one-sided games. How fitting then, that it was Real of all teams who suffered a 2-1 loss to Sheriff Tiraspol in the second week of the group stages.
Sheriff weren’t fluky winners either, as they showed plenty of desire and footballing smarts to win the game. Shockingly, as things stand, it is the Moldovan side who sit atop Group D ahead of Real, Inter Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk. With four games to go, they might just spring a shock and make it to the knockouts.
If you think Real Madrid have it bad, Barcelona fans will probably be scoffing at you. The team under Ronald Koeman have gone backwards this season. And somehow, they followed their 3-0 loss to Bayern Munich with another 3-0 loss away to Benfica. Oops.
It was yet another poor performance from Barcelona, who look several levels away from being even a Top 4 side at this point. It also puts their chances of making it to the next round at risk. That’s not even going into the topic of Koeman’s job security. Whether or not they fire him is a different story, but this marriage of inconvenience bears all the tell-tale signs of having run its course.
There are far worse fates to suffer than a 1-0 loss to Juventus at Turin. As such, Chelsea can take the loss in their stride and move forward. Having won their opening game, they currently have three points – same as Zenit St. Petersburg and Juventus. Given there’s two matches against Malmo FF still remaining, the Blues have every reason to be optimistic.
However, this was their second straight 1-0 loss to a big side. Last season, Thomas Tuchel made Chelsea a side that could fashion out such results against top teams. Now they are struggling to impose themselves. Tuchel will doubtless hope to inspire a qucik turnaround as the spotlight is really on Chelsea this season, and hopes are high.
Both Bayern Munich and Liverpool scored five times in their respective group games. Bayern handed out a 5-0 thrashing to Dynamo Kyiv, whereas Liverpool stunned Porto 5-1 away from home. It was a massive signal of intent from both sides.
And yes, you don’t need to be a genius to figure out that these teams are title contenders. But most of the pre-tournament hype focused on Manchester City, Chelsea, PSG, Inter Milan and even Manchester United to an extent. Yet Liverpool and Bayern showed clearly there are no reasons to write them off just yet,
