Winners & Losers of UEFA Champions League Matchday 2
By: Anthony Tazbaz
Image Credit: Janosch Diggelmann
It is time to take out the pens and start grading!
UEFA Champions League Matchday 2 is officially in the books, and there are many matches to cover, several of which included impressive performances, from the first minute until the last second of stoppage time.
Tuesday's matches included several high-scoring performances, including a couple of upsets against Premier League clubs Manchester United and Arsenal. Only one match out of a total of 8 consisted of less than two goals between both teams.
Wednesday's matches comprised several highly entertaining matches amongst lower-level clubs, whereas the higher-level clubs played to rather cagey games, with the exception of PSG and Newcastle, which ended in a 4-1 thumping in favour of The Magpies.
A Deep Dive
In addition to Newcastle's massive victory in the first Champions League match played at St. James' Park since 2003, Julian Alvarez and Manchester City also put Premier League clubs on the map as they defeated RB Leipzig 3-1. A highly reminiscent performance from last year's duel between both clubs in last year's Round of 16 edition.
Jude Bellingham also continued his marvellous form with an assist and a goal against Napoli at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in Naples. Real Madrid asserted themselves as the top club in the group, having won both matches thus far.
Similar to Manchester City defeating foes from last year's knockout stage, Inter Milan extended its series of strong performances with a 1-0 victory against Portuguese giants SL Benfica, who they defeated 5-3 on aggregate in last year's quarterfinals.
Winners
Now let's determine the top three winners, shall we? Despite consistent performances from Matchday 1 winners such as Jude Bellingham and Julian Alvarez, these evaluations aim to shine light on new candidates — for both winners and losers.
Galatasaray: The Turkish club once again rallied in a Champions League match, this time coming from behind twice and winning 3-2 at Old Trafford against Manchester United. Their determination to once again come back against tough adversity led the Turkish club to claim its first victory on English soil. Galatasaray is undoubtedly living up to its label of being a potential UCL darkhorse in Group A. History was truly made on Tuesday night!
RC Lens: Speaking of history, RC Lens took the title of the biggest upset in Champions League! Going down 1-0 early in the first half thanks to a strike by Arsenal forward Gabriel Jesus, the French club came back by scoring two brilliant goals, a culmination of excellent teamwork. While goalscorers Adrien Thomasson and Elye Wahi deserve much praise, the entire Lens club deserves the reward of being a Matchday 2 winner!
Lazio: The Italian club certainly shines in the final minutes! First, Provodel's equalizer at the Stadio Olimpico against Atlético Madrid, and now on Wednesday against Scottish powerhouse Celtic. Facing the possibility of losing the club's first Champions League match of the season after going down 1-0 at the 12th minute, Vecino's equalizer gave the Italian club the confidence to press the opponent and snatch another stoppage time goal. This time, the hero was former FC Barcelona winger Pedro Rodriguez. Lazio now claimed three points from an away match and climb to second place in Group E with only one less goal scored than Madrid.
Losers
And now the (new) losers.
Union Berlin: While Braga could (and should) be a winner from Matchday 2, it is important to note the fashion in which Union Berlin suffered its defeat to the Portuguese club. Squandering a 2-0 lead — with the go-ahead goal (sound familiar?) scored in stoppage time — at home against arguably the weakest club on paper in Group C is nothing short of a humiliation. This poor performance compounds onto their previous UCL defeat in stoppage time and their poor Bundesliga campaign, where they currently sit in 13th place (six points from seven matches).
Kylian Mbappé: While the entire PSG squad could be here (and Newcastle amongst the winners), Mbappé needs to be mentioned here due to barely being mentioned by commentators during the match. Barely touching the ball, the French forward failed to complete a single take-on — beating an opponent when having possession of the ball. His invisibility evidently was a large factor for PSG's lack of opportunities on target. Newcastle deserves much credit for their lockdown defence and high-press up front, which burnt the PSG defence.
André Onana: Taking on the burden of replacing longtime goalkeeper David De Gea (and playing on par to his €52.5m transfer fee), Onana once again failed miserably. This time, however, the main victim was Casemiro, rather than himself or the team as a whole. Attempting to make an ill-advised pass down the middle to Casemiro — standing just outside of the 18-yard box — the pass was easily intercepted by Galatasaray striker Mauro Icardi, leading to a tackle by Casemiro on Icardi. This resulted in a red card due to denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity (DOGSO) and a penalty shot. Although Icardi missed the penalty shot, being down a player ultimately made The Red Devils vulnerable and prone to conceding another goal, which happened… at the hands of Icardi.
At the End of the Day
In addition to Union Berlin continuing their sluggish start to the season, PSG and Manchester United's losses demonstrate that both clubs still have a lot of work to do. However, PSG fans do not need to panic just yet, given club President Nasser Al-Khelaifi's statement earlier this season emphasizing the club's change of direction and priorities with respect to the Champions League.
For the first time in the Qatari Sports Investment (QSI) era, PSG are focusing on building a sustainable identity, one far more inclusive towards academy players and further catering to overall French talent.
As for Manchester United, the club may need to start considering throwing in the towel concerning manager Erik Ten Haag's future. Unlike Luis Enrique and Les Parisiens, The Red Devils already completed a full season under Ten Haag, which means expectations are higher than last year's third place finish in the Premier League (plus the EFL Cup title and being FA Cup finalists). It remains to be seen whether Ten Haag can survive until the New Year, let alone the full season.
On a bright note, RC Lens have this rare opportunity to play in the Champions League to get back to their winning ways of last season. Although they drew 1-1 against Sevilla FC in their Champions League opener, the Northern French club managed to garner two consecutive wins in Ligue 1, effectively escaping relegation zone. This excellent run of form undoubtedly armed the players and staff with enough confidence to play a more active style of football (i.e., not park the bus) against a Premier League giant.
Such a strong run at this stage of the season poses as a perfect benchmark for a club to excel in both domestic and continental competitions for the remainder of the calendar year. Should this materialize, it would set the club and players up for success ahead of the second half of the season.
Stay tuned for the third matchday in two weeks from now, and the following evaluation in three weeks from today!
