Real Madrid Soar Above the Fray as Group Stage Takes Chunks out of the Rest
Sixteen teams were officially cut down to eight in the Champions League on Tuesday night—with the remaining eight to be determined on Wednesday—but only one of them struck fear into the hearts of the rest of the competition along the way.
If being the reigning champions was not enough, Real Madrid confirmed themselves as one team every other side in the competition will want to avoid, as they demolished poor Ludogorets 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu to ensure they won all six of their group games—scoring 16 goals (and conceding just two) as they took the path of least resistance to the last 16.
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Right now, "defeat" does not seem to be in Carlo Ancelotti's side's vocabulary, regardless of the competition they are playing in. History may be against them this season (no team has ever successfully defended the Champions League title in its current format), but at this point and in this form, you would take Los Blancos to beat history if it was over two legs.
"We finished the group stage with all victories, and we are happy," Isco, the midfielder, told UEFA.com after Ludogorets were dispatched. "We have 19 straight victories, and we want to keep doing better."
Against that standard, no other team involved on Tuesday can match up. While the group stage took chunks out of everyone else—as group stages are intended to do—Real soared above the fray without taking any damage. It was a procession, not a battle.
With Cristiano Ronaldo scoring at a historic rate (a record 72 goals), Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema supporting him, Toni Kroos slotting in seamlessly and Ancelotti keeping all the egos in check, they are a machine humming at maximum efficiency.
They are obvious contenders to go all the way once again this season, but the rest of the teams in that category—Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain—will all complete their group-stage campaigns on Wednesday.
Of the three group winners from Tuesday's games that Arsenal, runners-up in Group D, could face—Real, Atletico Madrid, AS Monaco—it is clear which one they would want to avoid.
Liverpool are already one team to have fallen foul of Real's brilliance. Whenever one side sweeps all before them in a short format like the Champions League group stages, it heightens the importance of the games involving the three other teams.
Liverpool failed to put Ludogorets to the sword, but it was their head-to-head failures against Basel that really cost them; the Swiss side have made a habit of beating Premier League opposition in recent times.
Last season, they beat Chelsea home and away, and it is not too long ago that they knocked Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United out of the competition at the same stage. That experience—along with a winning habit cultivated at domestic level—certainly seemed to give them an edge at Anfield in Tuesday's winner-takes-all meeting, a 1-1 draw, whereas the Reds seemed run down by the stresses of a competition they have not been in since 2009/10.
"We have to fight going forward to be in this competition next season," Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, trying to remain upbeat, told ITV (subscription required). "We are not too far off the top four, and if we get there, we will be better in it next season."
While their progress means they will have to be respected in the knockout stages, no one will be confusing them with genuine contenders (Real effectively treated them like something they had found on the bottom of their shoes in both meetings).
The same goes for Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen, who combined to deny Zenit St. Petersburg and Benfica in a Group C whose competitiveness should not be confused for elite quality.
Leverkusen are the same as in seasons past—a collection of intriguing young players (Hakan Calhanoglu, particularly) give them a threat, but they lack experience and discipline to stay with Europe's biggest sides. Monaco, meanwhile, are surely the group winners every runner-up will be hoping to get in next Friday's last-16 draw.
Arsenal, having had the uncanny knack of picking out one of the best sides in the competition for what feels like the last five years, might feel like a trip to the principality would be a case of the dice finally rolling their way.
That might be what is required for the Gunners to finally reach the quarter-finals again, as the start to the domestic season seems to have established that all the flaws that have held them back in recent seasons remain resolutely in place. Considering Borussia Dortmund's horrendous Bundesliga form, the fact they topped Group D at all might lead one to wonder if it was actually the weakest group of the lot.
Arguably, it is only the other Spanish team, Atletico Madrid, of the Tuesday collection that can have aspirations of going deep in this competition. Diego Simeone's squad may look markedly different from the one that went to the final last season, but it retains much of the grit and tactical organisation that proved so successful last term.
"[We're] very pleased to meet the first big goal of the year, which was to qualify for the last 16," Diego Godin, who scored in last season's final, told UEFA.com after the 0-0 draw with Juventus that confirmed Los Colchoneros topped Group A. "At the start, we stumbled [losing to Olympiakos], and it was very difficult because then we needed to win the next game. We are first and to keep a clean sheet here has more merit."
Even so, you suspect the draw will need to be kind on them if history is to repeat itself.
Having said that, outlasting Juventus over six games should not be sniffed out. Although the Old Lady failed to get out of the group stages last season—losing out to Galatasaray, a demise that only looks more embarrassing with the passing of time—on paper, they have quality in every area of the pitch: experience at the back, athleticism in midfield and now, with Carlos Tevez and Fernando Llorente settled, a genuine threat in front of goal.
"We produced a good group stage," Llorente noted, per UEFA.com. "It was a serious match against Atletico, but we know they are a tough team and can always complicate things. Atletico are capable of anything, like doing amazing things last year."
The only question marks surround the manager, Massimiliano Allegri—who does not have a great record in Europe—and the fact the more attritional nature of Italian football does not translate well against the rest of Europe, where there is more of a premium on athleticism.
For Juve, like Dortmund, Arsenal and Atletico, escaping the group stage was the minimum acceptable achievement. They will acknowledge that they are not favourites for overall victory but, with the luck of the draw thrown into the mix, will point out that there is no logical reason why they cannot forge a path to the semi-finals—and perhaps beyond.
Real, however, are the only team that can honestly expect to go deep in this competition regardless of whom they are drawn against. They are through unhurt, untouched, untroubled.
"I have an extraordinary group (of players), and I never tire of saying it," Ancelotti said, per Reuters (via the Daily Mail). "I have felt a lot of affection from the club, and everything is going well, and we have to fight to prolong the moment."
Real can sit back and watch on Wednesday and get a sense of which other teams can realistically challenge them. There are not many.
