After an explosive kick-off to the group stages of this year's Champion's League tournament, there are a few things that we can all take from what we saw yesterday. First and foremost, it's going to be a thrilling affair, with a lot of goals scored and possibly a lot of upsets.
The new Barcelona duo, pictured above, got off to a rocky start yesterday versus Panithinaikos when Sidney Govou sent them one goal down in the first half. But Barcelona, not to be outdone, put five on to board to route the Greek side. Villa had a goal, while Messi put in two, missed a penalty and assisted the last two from Pedro and Dani Alves. They looked a much better side than the one seen against newly promoted Hercules. They have a relatively easy group ahead of them, and should dominate it with ease, while the second spot still seems open despite FC Copenhagen's win over Russian champions Rubin Kazan.
Manchester United have yet to hit their stride, and it showed with yesterday's frustrating draw with Scottish foes Rangers. Their neighbors to the north held the Red Devils scoreless, while the Brits saw Antonio Valencia rushed to the hospital. The Ecuadorian's season is in question at the moment, which would be a huge blow to Manchester United. Sticking with this group, the favorites look to be Spanish side Valencia, after their crushing 4-0 victory over Turkish champions Bursaspor. The Spaniards lost arguably their two best players to the transfer market, but have yet to lose this season and will look to continue their form when they play Rangers and Manchester United.
Maybe the most interesting group right now is group a, which saw eight goals amassed by its four teams, all evenly distributed with two goals per side. Tottenham kicked things off against their German foes with an own goal by Petri Pasanen, soon followed up by a goal by target man Peter Crouch. Werder Bremen were not to be outdone as Hugo Almeida sent his team into the locker room only one goal down. The Germans stormed out of the locker room with a goal in the first two minutes of the second half scored by the little spark-plug Marko Marin.
The other game in group a saw Dutch champions FC Twente go down a goal quick to last season's treble winning Inter Milan side, after Duth international Wesley Sneijder put one in for the Italians in the 13th minute. The Dutch boys struck back and quick scoring a free kick in the nineteenth minute and causing an Inter Milan own goal by Diego Milito in the 30th. Samuel Eto'o capped off the thrilling first half with a goal in the 41st minute that saw the champions gain a much needed point and two crucial away goals.
Probably the least talked about group of yesterday's affairs was group c, that looks to be headed by the Portuguese Benfica and France's Lyon. Schalke's 2010 woes have continued after they suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Lyon. What was first ruled an own goal by Howedes was later awarded to the Brazilian full-back Michel Bastos. The aforementioned Howedes was later sent off after a "professional tackle" on Lyon's Jimmy Briand. It remains to be seen whether Schalke's offseason spending spree will pay off or not, and yesterday's result is not a good indication for the boys from Gelsenkirchen after Lyon controlled them. Portuguese champions Benfica also took control of the group after two well placed goals by Luisao and Paraguayan Oscar Cardozo.
An interesting set of results indeed, and they make way for another exciting day of soccer today as the other four groups start their Champion's League campaigns.
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