Champions League match week three and forgive me for struggling to get too excited.
Pretty much all the clubs who were tipped to win on Wednesday night did just that and there were few genuine results that upset the SBOTOP Champions League betting odds.
With all respect to the victors, did anyone expect anything other than a comfortable victory for Manchester City against the minnows of Sparta Prague?
It was men against boys and arguably, over inside three minutes – the time it took Phil Foden to open the scoring in a 5-0 rout.
In their defence, it is worth pointing out that the champions of England were responsible for delivering one of the Champions League highlights of the season so far when hotshot Erling Haaland produced a moment of brilliance.
After being denied a couple of times by visiting goalkeeper Peter Vindahl, Haaland struck midway through the second half when he cleverly turned in Savinho’s cross with an acrobatic backheel volley – well worth a watch!
The difference between the ‘haves and have nots’ was crystal clear again in Switzerland where Young Boys battled valiantly but Italian champs Inter Milan were too strong as Marcus Thuram finally broke their resistance in the third minute of stoppage time.
That Celtic, who were hit for seven last time out at Borussia Dortmund, were able to restore some pride after such a chastening defeat deserves some kudos.
Against the Europa League winners, a determined defensive display brought them an important point in Bergamo.
Having lost all previous seven matches on Italian soil in this competition, Celtic resisted periods of immense pressure from the hosts with goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel leading the defiance.
To give you an indication of how rare this was, it was the first clean sheet Celtic had kept in the Champions League since September 2017 (a 3-0 win over Anderlecht), ending a run of 18 games without one in which they shipped 51 goals.
In Germany, they may be joint leaders of the Bundesliga, but RB Leipzig didn’t have their shooting boots on.
Defeat at home by Liverpool again showed they are not the force they were – hardly surprising when you consider the amount of talent they have struggled to hold onto in recent seasons (two of those wearing an opponent shirt tonight).
Just imagine how strong they would be had they held onto such names.
Along with Celtic, Ligue 1 outfit Brest deserve credit as they held German champions Bayer Leverkusen to a 1-1 draw to continue their unbeaten start to their maiden season in the competition.
Again though, because of the nature of the new-look competition, would you realistically expect Celtic or Brest to quality for the last 16 automatically when this group stage appears geared towards ensuring the established heavyweights make the knockout stages.
And so I am left with two teams who made the night lift itself above the ‘norm’.
Lille’s 3-1 victory in Madrid against Atletico was a fine win and even better given it came hot on the heels of seeing off European champions Real.
Trailing to an early goal from Julain Alvarez, Lille levelled just past the hour mark through Edon Zhegrova.
A controversial penalty, converted by substitute Jonathan David, allowed them to take the lead and it was the Canadian marksman, whose goal saw off Real, that struck again in the closing moments to secure a 3-1 victory and leave Atletico needing a positive result when they travel to fellow French side Paris St Germain on November 6.
Staying in Spain, the big match of the week was rather one-sided, but not how I expected it to be.
What a night it proved to be for manager Hansi Flick against his former club and the Catalans it what was probably their best European match for four years.
They got off to a dream start, opening the scoring inside the first minute as Fermin Lopez’s through ball reached Raphinha and the Brazilian winger showed great composure to finish past Manuel Neuer.
England captain Harry Kane had a goal chalked off by VAR soon after, but on 18 minutes, Bayern did have their equaliser through the English striker. However, parity did not last long as Barca re-took the lead courtesy of another ex-Bayern man, Robert Lewandowski (the man Kane effectively replaced in Bavaria).
Raphinha managed to complete his hat-trick either side of half time, following up a fine finish just before the interval with another clinical effort from a Lamine Yamal assist as the La Liga leaders ran out 4-1 winners.
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