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0 The Champions League keeps delivering intriguing performances and drama on every matchday.
Matchday six saw Real Madrid, Barcelona and Liverpool secure crucial wins as the bid to make it into the knockout stages persists.
3Sports takes a look at some talking points from
matchday six.
Raphinha’s star power all Barcelona need
Barcelona always seem to have that go-to man when things get tough in games. Once again, the Catalans have a real bonafide star in Raphinha.
The Brazilian’s star power is rubbing off his teammates. Not only has Raphinha taken to life as captain with relative ease.
On and off the pitch, his leadership is glaring.
Despite struggling under previous manager Xavi, the winger is repaying the trust of current manager Hansi Flick, showing up in crunch ties and leaving his imprint.
Against Real Madrid in La Liga’s Classico, he was ever present. An ubiquitous performance against Flick’s former side, Bayern, further skyrocketed his star power at the beginning of the Champions League season.
It’s almost undeniable the Brazilian has a goal in him every weekend. His six Champions league goals is the second most this term – one behind teammate Lewandowski, who is in a class of his own.
However, Raphinha’s impact goes beyond the goals and assist as shown in Wednesday’s 3-2 win against Dortmund. His leadership, charisma, tenacity and agility help Barcelona on and off the ball.
Porous Manchester City pay penalty
Manchester City’s defending this season has been somewhat comical, with the last 10 games painting a perfect picture of how catastrophic things have gotten for the Cityzens.
Uncharacteristically of Pep Guardiola’s side, it is so easy to play against them. Against Juventus on Wednesday, Weston Mc Kennie had the freedom of Turin to run into as he made his way from midfield to add gloss to a commanding performance for the hosts.
In the last 10 games, City have conceded a whopping 23 goals, scoring 12 in that time.
The defensive structure of Manchester City is almost broken, with too many individual errors predominantly becoming a constant feature. What started off as a fanciful blip, with City struggling for wins, is more or less becoming a norm.
Pep Guardiola was in the headlines after revealing City would be his last club he coaches, but the Spaniard, per how things are looking, may have to decide to step away earlier than expected.
The pressure is mounting on City, who are 22nd, a point away from safety.
Magic Mo keeps inspiring Liverpool
Mo Salah, Mo Salah, running down the wing. Salah ! lah, lah, the Egyptian King! This was refrained by traveling supporters who made their way to watch Slot’s perfect Reds as they eased their way to a 1-0 win over Girona.
At the end of the game, their perfect record this term was kept intact, making it six wins out of six. Defensively, Girona were kept at arms length, making it one goal conceded all season in the Champions league for the Reds.
But one man has been at the heart of the on-slaught, Mohamed Salah. Since signing in 2017 for Liverpool, Salah has been an embodiment of consistency and dependency.
He was a core part of Klopp’s team, forming a formidable partnership with Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, aiding Liverpool end their 30-year Premier League trophy wait.
In six Champions league games, Salah has six goal involvements (two goals, four assists), building on his fine form this term.
In the Premier League, the Egyptian has scored 13 times in 14 Premier league games, while providing eight assists.
After 14 league games, he is five goals shy of equaling his tally for last season and six goals shy from equaling that of two seasons ago.
In his last seven league games, he has found the back of the net, seamlessly translating his league form into the Champions League.
Simply put, this is Salah’s world and we are living in it.
Real world-class trio breathe life into qualification hopes
The galacticos popped up with all the swag and verve in Bergamo on Tuesday. Mbappe, Vinicius and Bellingham were all on the scoresheet in a game for the very first time.
Prior to the game against Atalanta, the world class trio were yet to score in the same game but with Real’s qualification hopes hanging in the balance, their big names delivered.
It’s been that kind of season for Real Madrid so far, where the emphasis is on individual brilliance and spark to get them over the line rather than a functioning team unit.
The team as a whole has huge gaps and even the signing of Mbappe, who scored his 50th goal against Atalanta on Tuesday, is yet to curb that problem.
Vinicius’ absence due to injury was felt in their last Champions League outing as they lost 2-0 at Anfield but the Brazilian got back among the goals instantly.
Bellingham has scored in his last five successive La liga games, and was on hand to open his account this term in the Champions League.
Essentially, it was a great night for Real Madrid who faced the prospect of being axed from the Champions League but are now well positioned in 20th to nick a playoff spot.
The post Major talking points from Champions League matchday 6 first appeared on 3News.
