Champions League Hangover: Welbeck's Treble Masks English Struggles
Welcome to Thursday's Champions League Hangover, where we round up the action from the latest slate of European fixtures...
There is something perfectly fitting about the fact that Danny Welbeck—a forward since he was about knee high to a grasshopper—would score his first professional hat-trick on Wednesday … and then forget to take the match ball with him.
“I forgot the match ball,” Welbeck said after the game, via The Guardian. “My last hat-trick was probably for Manchester United reserves.”
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Forgetting that ceremonial moment (the be-all and end-all for some strikers) somehow seems to speak to so much about what excites and infuriates fans about the England international—his obvious, sometimes painful desire to always put the team first, his occasional awkwardness on the ball, and his perceived lack of cutting edge in front of goal.
Against Galatasaray, however, even forgetting the match ball could not detract from what felt like a paradigm-shifting night for Welbeck. Galatasararay’s defence might have looked woeful all evening, but the striker still showed pace, power and brilliant movement as he linked up sweetly with his team-mates in a 4-1 triumph.
All three goals were well-taken. Arsene Wenger seemed delighted, telling reporters, per The Telegraph:
"I’ve learnt that Danny is a good finisher and technically he is very sound. That was a surprise, that he’s technically clean.
I also didn’t know he was so quick. I knew he was quick but he can be electric. When he starts [to accelerate], you feel he has great pace.
The potential is there and hopefully this hat-trick will help him to gain confidence. It helps always to know that you have a good chance to play the next game.
His link-up play is good and so is his work-rate and attitude. He’s a team player, not only a finisher.
"
“The manager has shown a lot of faith in me and I’m delighted to repay him tonight,” Welbeck added. “He has given me a chance to play football up front, in my preferred position and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure he is happy.”
For Arsenal, Welbeck’s intervention came at a timely moment, following the opening group stage loss to Borussia Dortmund. The Gunners now have back-to-back games against Anderlecht—if they can win both of those, qualification for the last-16 of the competition would surely be almost assured.
Chelsea excepted, that healthy situation is not shared by the other English clubs. The Blues remain on course after their hard-fought away win at Sporting Lisbon (although they are making it look tougher than some expected), but both Manchester City and Liverpool find themselves in difficult spots after the opening two group games.
Liverpool’s away loss to Basel—their obvious rivals for second in Group B—on Wednesday gives the Swiss side a huge advantage going into the rest of the group. Liverpool now face Real Madrid twice in succession; If they lose both, it is not impossible they enter the final two games of the campaign six points adrift of Marco Streller’s side.
More worryingly for Brendan Rodgers, his side's woes from set-pieces seem to be getting worse, with Mario Balotelli also earning a savaging in some sections of the media for his perceived lack of effort.
Manchester City, too, face an uphill battle after they were held to a 1-1 draw with Roma. The Premier League champions seemed to get their tactics wrong from the start, with the pressure surely now rising slightly on Manuel Pellegrini.
For Welbeck it was a landmark night, one that seemed to answer many questions about his long-term potential at Arsenal. For the rest of the English teams, however, the task seems to have got noticeably harder.
Champions League Matchday 2 Results
No Zlatan, no problem for PSG
One of the biggest games of Matchday 2 took place at the Stade de France, as Paris Saint-Germain hosted Barcelona. It was a landmark result for the French club, who won 3-2 despite being without their talisman (and ex-Barca player) Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
In the Swede’s noticeable absence, a three-man attacking lineup of Javier Pastore, Lucas Moura and Edinson Cavani ripped apart a previously impenetrable Barcelona back line, exposing their weaknesses (especially from set-pieces) on the way to a statement victory.
Belief seems to have been the one thing preventing PSG from making a deeper impression on this competition in recent years—they should have beaten Chelsea in the quarter-finals last year, for example, but capitulated at crunch time.
This result should convince the expensively-assembled squad that they can compete with anyone at this level. If they continue to fall short, then perhaps it is coach Laurent Blanc who should face the majority of the questions.
| CSKA 0-1 Bayern Munich | BATE 2-1 Athletic | Sporting 0-1 Chelsea | PSG 3-2 Barcelona | |
| Man City 1-1 Roma | Porto 2-2 Shakhtar | Schalke 1-1 Maribor | APOEL 1-1 Ajax | |
| Zenit 0-0 Monaco | Basel 1-0 Liverpool | Anderlecht 0-3 Dortmund | Atletico Madrid 1-0 Juventus | |
| Leverkusen 3-1 Benfica | Ludogorets 1-2 Real Madrid | Arsenal 4-1 Galatasaray | Malmo 2-0 Olympiakos |
Ludogorets nearly cause a seismic shock
It’s the hope that kills you. Before the game it is almost certain that Ludogorets Razgrad would have accepted a 2-1 defeat to European champions Real Madrid, but by the final whistle they were bemoaning their luck as the game finished by exactly that scoreline.
It was a remarkable night for the Bulgarian minnows, who actually took the lead in the sixth minute thanks to Marcelinho’s close-range header (Cosmin Moti, the cult hero of the play-off, provided the assist).
After that it was goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov’s moment to shine. Sent off in the game that famously made Moti’s name, Stoyanov was suspended for the group opener against Liverpool but returned for this meeting. And he celebrated his return with a moment every goalkeeper dreams of, as he saved a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty. It was a moment he surely will not soon forget.
Admittedly Ronaldo would score a second penalty soon after, but that still left striker and stopper deadlocked at one apiece. Unfortunately, the final scoreline would not remain that way, as Karim Benzema volleyed in late on after appearing to push his marker out of the way.
The referee—who did not have the best of games—did not see anything wrong with the incident, however, and the goal stood. Ludogorets walked off feeling aggrieved, but they should be proud of their efforts.
Goals of the night
Featuring Danny Welbeck (inevitably).
"That moment when FIFA15 becomes reality http://t.co/aOfWYE7ZjM [via @BarcaSource] #messi #iniesta
— MESSISTATS (@MessiStats) September 30, 2014"
"Welbeck completes his Hatrick http://t.co/oKBGhQK9zR
— Football Vines (@FootballVines) October 1, 2014"
Random asides
BATE and Bilbao flip the script
One of the surprise results of Matchday 2 saw Belarus’s favourites, BATE Borisov, defeat Athletic Club—leaving the Basque side bottom of Group H with just one point from their opening two games.
The Liga side were expected to be strong contenders to qualify from the group against Shakhtar Donetsk and Porto, but their start already makes that somewhat unlikely. BATE, meanwhile, continue to punch above their weight at this level—currently second in the standings, can they make home form the cornerstone of an unlikely knockout stage push?
"Immobile after a wonderful Kagawa assist. https://t.co/i2ygEIC7aJ
— 433 (@by433) October 2, 2014"
New boys struggle
Athletic Club are not the only ones struggling to adjust to their return to Europe's top competition, as Basel continued their remarkable recent run against Liverpool with a Marco Streller-inspired win. The problems do seem to be mounting for the Reds, judging by Steven Gerrard's post-match comments.
"We didn't deserve anything out of this game," Gerrard told Sky Sports. "I thought we were too soft all over the pitch. I thought they wanted it more, which is very disappointing."
Atletico resolve remains
Few teams have started the season as well as Juventus, but Diego Simeone cultivated another brilliant team performance as Atletico Madrid defeated the Italian champions at the Vicente Calderon on Wednesday. Will the Argentine’s Midas Touch ever end?
UEFA get their wish
Much had been made before and after the group stage draw about the perceived weakening of the group stages, with qualification seemingly assured for some of the big sides. Yet, even at this early stage, UEFA has been vindicated in its format—BATE, Malmo and Basel among those who have already contributed surprise results.
The final qualifiers might end up being the usual suspects, but the route to that point looks unlikely to be as straightforward as many warned.
Bayern’s unlucky fans
Spare a thought for Bayern Munich fans, some of whom travelled to Moscow to see their side’s game against CSKA Moscow on Tuesday only to discover they were subject to the same stadium ban as the home supporters—who had been found guilty of racist chanting during last season’s competitions.
That meant the travelling fans could not watch the game inside the ground, with some resorting to paying for access to a nearby block of flats in order to at least get an aerial view of the action.
To make matters worse, the game was not even any good, with Thomas Muller’s early penalty deciding the result. Still, a 1-0 win is a 1-0 win…
Swedish delight
A quick nod to Malmo, who beat Olympiakos 2-0 at home on Wednesday. Sweden is perhaps not considered a footballing backwater in the same way Belarus or Bulgaria might be, but it is worth noting that it has been 14 years since a Swedish team was last in the group stages of the Champions League.
In the first home game back for a Swedish side, Malmo delighted their country with a 2-0 win over Olympiakos. With Atletico Madrid and Juventus also in their group, qualification might be a stretch—but what is to say a Europa League berth would not be a creditable consolation from a landmark return?
