The first round of UEFA Champions League has been finalised without any major upsets or surprises. Now, the teams have been lined up for knockout stages of the Champions League which would start from the next month. There are some interesting encounters
shaping up for the next round, as a few big teams are likely to go up against each other.
English Premier League has once again shown the perfect record in the first, as all the four teams have moved into the knockout stages. Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham topped their groups while Arsenal came in second place to make their way into
the next round. Among these teams, Tottenham Hotspurs were the best performers of the Group stage as they faced some tough teams on their way to the top of the Group A.
Tottenham Hotspurs had Inter Milan, Werder Bremen and Twente Enschede in their group. The current holders of the crown, Inter Milan, started their campaign on a high note continuing their winning streak from last campaign. The Italian champions defeated
Tottenham in their first encounter, but Gareth Bale scored an amazing hat-trick in the match. This truly exposed Inter Milan’s weak points this season, which was not visible when Jose Mourinho was in charge last season.
Tottenham not only beat Inter on their return fixture, but they also went on winning the group. Now, Inter Milan can face a possible elimination in the next round as they can face one of the teams from Manchester United, Chelsea, Barcelona, Real Madrid,
Schalke, Bayern Munich or Shakhtar Donetsk.
Manchester United also had to face a tough group in order to qualify for next round. United had to beat Valencia and Rangers in their group in order to finish on top of the table. Real Madrid also faced a tough battle for the top position in their group
as they were placed alongside AC Milan. In the end, Real Madrid came out on top with the best performance of the group stages. Madrid finished with sixteen points, winning five of their matches and drawing one match, coming out as unbeaten after a round of
six matches. Apart from Madrid, their archrivals Barcelona and the English Premier League giants, Manchester United emerged as the unbeaten teams from the first round.
As the big teams acquired their qualification in an easy fashion, Arsenal were the most disappointing in the first round. Arsenal had a relatively easy group, with Shakhtar Donetsk, Braga and Partizan Belgrade as their opponents. Arsenal had a bright start,
as they won their three opening fixtures. However, the Gunners lost two matches in a row which put their qualification in danger. In the end, Arsenal won the last match against Belgrade and came in second place in their group, behind Shakhtar Donetsk. Now,
Arsenal faces a real threat in the next round, with a possibility of facing Barcelona, Real Madrid, Schalke and Bayern Munich.
There were quite a few memorable performances in the first round, but the hat-trick of Gareth Bale, against Inter Milan, comes on top. Bale has been the best performer for Tottenham with four goals and two assists in the competition so far. Samuel Eto’o
is the top goal scorer after the first round, with seven goals for Inter Milan. However, most of the heroics came in the first few matches and even Eto’o could not stop the embarrassment of his team towards the closing moments of the first round.
Arsenal had the biggest home victory in the first round as they beat Braga by 6-0. However, the biggest victory was of Marseille against MSK Zilina. The visitors won the match by 0-7, in one of the most shocking defeats of this version of UEFA Champions
League. The Premier League teams also showed a great record in terms of attack and defence. Tottenham and Arsenal were the top scoring teams with 18 goals each, while Manchester United had the best defence conceding only one goal in six matches.
In short, the first round has been exceptional for football fans and there are some great matches coming up in the next round. At this point, there is not a single team favourite for winning the trophy while the picture will become a lot clearer as the tournament
goes on.
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