1) The “Tinker Man” still lives on
Dial R for Ranieri seems to be the advice for teams that experiencing a serious wobble and if you want proof of his “miracles”, you can ask Valencia, Chelsea, Juventus and Parma and it seems someone told this to Massimo Moratti who believed it and employed Ranieri after Giampiero Gasperini was shown the exit last week. True to his nature, Ranieri quickly went to work with a win away to Bologna in the Serie A before getting a tough 3-2 away win in cold Moscow against CSKA. It may have not been classic but Inter showed more courage and bite for the first time this season and I bet we all know why. As to whether Ranieri can lead Inter for the long haul, we’ll have to wait and see but he’s certainly put his mark on the Nerrazzurri.
2) Star-crossed Manchester
This season, Manchester’s finest have been going at it hammer and tongs. They challenge each other for the “I can score more than you can” title each weekend in the EPL. You will not be wrong to think they even share an unseen bond and how right they proved it this week by giving us two horrible performances. Man United were harassed by Basel at Old Trafford to a 3-3 draw that felt like a defeat to the Red Devil family while Roberto Mancini’s side were put away with ease by Bayern Munich. To cap their woeful evening, Dimitar Berbatov came off the bench with 10 minutes left on the clock to no effect while his former team-mate, Carlos Tevez “refused” to come on at all. It was as if the two teams were Siamese twins using the same brain and were operating on the same wavelength. Maybe the two managers might want their sides to be independent next time but that will only happen when they both improve greatly.
3) First goal galore
Fate, destiny, luck or technical brilliance might be an explanation but matchday 2 has seen a number of players score their first Champions League goals for their various clubs.
Ashley Young’s goal was his first in the UEFA Champions League but it was a massive goal for Manchester United as it pulled them level to Basel at Old Trafford in a 3-3 draw. In London, two boys new to the big time, Andre Santos and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, scored for Arsenal in their 2-1 win over Olympiakos.
Quite impressive for these newcomers and you can be assured they will seek to swell their goal accounts for as long as their teams stay in the competition.
4) Heavy African influence
Since the European Cup was rechristened the Champions League, players from Africa have always had a say in the on-the-field workings of the competition and this season, the story has not been different.
Moussa Sow (Senegal) scored again for Lille away to Trabzonspor on Tuesday and Jacques Zoua (Cameroon) acquitted himself well at Old Trafford for Basel. On Wednesday, John Obi Mikel (Nigeria) was on duty for Chelsea while Andre Dede Ayew (Ghana) scored twice for Marseille in their 3-0 home win over Dortmund giving Didier Deschamps something to smile about at least until the weekend because the French Ligue 1 has been akin to a never-ending horror movie for the 2009/10 league winners.
However, since the sweet always comes with the bitter, there were a few Africans who gave critics a meal to munch on and digest and it seems they were both waiting on their team’s bench like ticking time bombs. Salomon Kalou (Cote d’Ivoire) appeared in Chelsea’s away game at the Mestalla and clearly, he was to aid the team in keeping their lead. However, he handed (both literally and denotatively) the point to Valencia as he touched the ball in the penalty area from a corner. Soldado was so grateful he scored the ensuing penalty.
In France, Jordan Ayew also caught the cameras but not for goals as his elder brother had done during the game, but for two needless yellow cards that earned him an expulsion. The first was for a tackle and the second for simulation. However, his “sin” went unpunished as Dortmund had looked bereft of some of the title-winning ideas from last season throughout the game.
A clear case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, isn’t it?
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