Champions league groups review
This week in the Champions league has been one of real competition and big scorelines, such as Bayern beating Roma 7-1 in the Italian capital on Tuesday and Schalke beating Sporting Lisbon 4-3 in an epic encounter, as Roberto Di Matteo returned to the competition which he famously won the with Chelsea in 2012. Which goals and quality players stacked into all clubs across the Champions league groups, I run down the latest happenings in club football's top competition.
Group A
Group A is the only group that features all domestic champions and Atletico Madrid enjoyed a 5-0 home win over Swedish champions Malmo. Barcelona target Koke scored and provided three assists as Diego Simeone's men paved their way into second. The biggest shock of the week was Greek champions Olympiakos beating Juventus 1-0 in Greece. The atmosphere in Greece proved a key factor is moving Olympiakos top of Group A.
Group B
Group B features the current holders, Real Madrid, Bulgarian side Ludogorets, Basel and five time winners Liverpool. Real Madrid beat Liverpool for the first time in history with a 3-0 win at Anflied on Wednesday. Real probably should have had more but Liverpool were never a match for the ten time winners. Ludogorets left it late, until the 93rd minute, to beat Basel on Wednesday night as they became the first Bulgarian team in history to achieve points in the Champions league group stage. Real Madrid sit top with second place not yet decided at all.
Group C
Group C contains Bayer Leverkusen, Zenit, Benfica and big-money bags Monaco. Monaco and Benfica played out a goal-less draw with very little excitement and talking points. Bayer Leverkusen beat Zenit 2-0 to move top of the group. Bayer seem like the only top that reach any form in this group as Benfica, Zenit and Monaco don't look ready for the next round of this competition.
Group D
Group D is topped by Borussia Dortmund after they maintained their 100% record this season in the Champions league after beating Galatasaray 4-0 in Turkey. Dortmund aren't having such a fun time in the Bundesliga as they lost for the fourth game in a row today. Arsenal won 2-1 away to Anderlecht as Gibbs and Lukas Poldoski gave the gunners an unlikely win to gain some momentum in getting out of the group. Anderlecht and Galatasaray have a point each and look out of making a challenge to getting out the group.
Group E
Bayern Munich ripped apart Roma on Tuesday as the German champions won 7-1 in a purely excellent football. Roma are a good side but Bayern are going to be on a quest to win the Champions league after they were humiliated by winners Real Madrid at the Allianz Arena in last season's semis. Manchester City remain winless after drawing with CSKA Moscow in a closed door game. Having been cruising at 2-0 thanks to Aguero and Milner, Doumbia changed the game and scored and won a late penalty to leave the Etihad faithful shaking their heads.
Group F
PSG seem to on their way to potentially winning the group as they won 1-0 over Apoel Nicosia thanks to Cavani's late goal. Even without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, PSG look like a real threat and could go further than expected in this tournament. Barcelona have been slightly ropy lately (which showed in El Clasico on Saturday) but they did win 3-1 against Ajax, meaning they stay on PSG's tail.
Group G
Chelsea absolutely destroyed Maribor 6-0 with club legend Drogba scoring his first goal for Chelsea in the Champions league since he gave them the trophy in 2012. Schalke and Sporting faced off in an epic 4-3 battle, which Sporting have conversationally contacted UEFA over the game being replayed which involved the late penalty that Schalke received to win the game. Never the less, Schalke are two points behind Chelsea in top spot and Sporting and Maribor linger towards the bottom of the group.
Group H
Group H leaders Porto have scored the joint highest goals this season (10, along with Real Madrid) and beat bottom placed Atletico Bilbao 2-1 in remain top. Shakhtar Donetsk tied the highest away victory in Champions league history as they beat Bate Borisov 7-0. Luis Adriano also became the second player in history, behind Lionel Messi, to score five goals in a Champions league game.
For more Champions league news, go to BBC Sport Champions league
Follow me on Twitter @Weston1878
Group A
Group A is the only group that features all domestic champions and Atletico Madrid enjoyed a 5-0 home win over Swedish champions Malmo. Barcelona target Koke scored and provided three assists as Diego Simeone's men paved their way into second. The biggest shock of the week was Greek champions Olympiakos beating Juventus 1-0 in Greece. The atmosphere in Greece proved a key factor is moving Olympiakos top of Group A.
Group B
Group B features the current holders, Real Madrid, Bulgarian side Ludogorets, Basel and five time winners Liverpool. Real Madrid beat Liverpool for the first time in history with a 3-0 win at Anflied on Wednesday. Real probably should have had more but Liverpool were never a match for the ten time winners. Ludogorets left it late, until the 93rd minute, to beat Basel on Wednesday night as they became the first Bulgarian team in history to achieve points in the Champions league group stage. Real Madrid sit top with second place not yet decided at all.
Group C
Group C contains Bayer Leverkusen, Zenit, Benfica and big-money bags Monaco. Monaco and Benfica played out a goal-less draw with very little excitement and talking points. Bayer Leverkusen beat Zenit 2-0 to move top of the group. Bayer seem like the only top that reach any form in this group as Benfica, Zenit and Monaco don't look ready for the next round of this competition.
Group D
Group D is topped by Borussia Dortmund after they maintained their 100% record this season in the Champions league after beating Galatasaray 4-0 in Turkey. Dortmund aren't having such a fun time in the Bundesliga as they lost for the fourth game in a row today. Arsenal won 2-1 away to Anderlecht as Gibbs and Lukas Poldoski gave the gunners an unlikely win to gain some momentum in getting out of the group. Anderlecht and Galatasaray have a point each and look out of making a challenge to getting out the group.
Group E
Bayern Munich ripped apart Roma on Tuesday as the German champions won 7-1 in a purely excellent football. Roma are a good side but Bayern are going to be on a quest to win the Champions league after they were humiliated by winners Real Madrid at the Allianz Arena in last season's semis. Manchester City remain winless after drawing with CSKA Moscow in a closed door game. Having been cruising at 2-0 thanks to Aguero and Milner, Doumbia changed the game and scored and won a late penalty to leave the Etihad faithful shaking their heads.
Group F
PSG seem to on their way to potentially winning the group as they won 1-0 over Apoel Nicosia thanks to Cavani's late goal. Even without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, PSG look like a real threat and could go further than expected in this tournament. Barcelona have been slightly ropy lately (which showed in El Clasico on Saturday) but they did win 3-1 against Ajax, meaning they stay on PSG's tail.
Group G
Chelsea absolutely destroyed Maribor 6-0 with club legend Drogba scoring his first goal for Chelsea in the Champions league since he gave them the trophy in 2012. Schalke and Sporting faced off in an epic 4-3 battle, which Sporting have conversationally contacted UEFA over the game being replayed which involved the late penalty that Schalke received to win the game. Never the less, Schalke are two points behind Chelsea in top spot and Sporting and Maribor linger towards the bottom of the group.
Group H
Group H leaders Porto have scored the joint highest goals this season (10, along with Real Madrid) and beat bottom placed Atletico Bilbao 2-1 in remain top. Shakhtar Donetsk tied the highest away victory in Champions league history as they beat Bate Borisov 7-0. Luis Adriano also became the second player in history, behind Lionel Messi, to score five goals in a Champions league game.
For more Champions league news, go to BBC Sport Champions league
Follow me on Twitter @Weston1878
Cristiano Ronaldo opens the scoring for Real Madrid against Liverpool on Wednesday.
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