Champions league review: psg bruise barcelona and ludogorets lack luck

PSG KICKSTART THEIR SEASON Paris-Saint Germain's preparations for their match against Barcelona were hardly helped by reports of infighting in the dressing room and rumours that Laurent

Blanc could soon be on his way out after an underwhelming start to the season – yes, they remain unbeaten but the money spent on this squad means that those whose opinions matter most do

not like seeing PSG five points off the pace in Ligue 1, nor will they have appreciated them being held to a draw by Ajax in their Champions League opener. Yet no one was complaining after

PSG, who were without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, had stormed to an impressive 3-2 victory over Barcelona thanks to goals from David Luiz, Marco Verratti and Blaise Matuidi. PSG have been knocking

on the door in the past two seasons, unfortunate to lose tight quarter-finals against Barcelona and Chelsea, but there has never been a sense that they quite possessed the necessary belief

in the crucial moments against the best sides. While beating Barcelona at this stage does not change that yet, it should do wonders for PSG's confidence. JS NANI FLATTERS TO DECEIVE.

WHAT'S NEW? It was a puzzling performance from Nani in Sporting Lisbon's 1-0 defeat against Chelsea. At times, he was a genuine menace and went as close as anyone to scoring an

equaliser with a late drive that flew inches wide but on the whole he was as wonderfully exasperating as ever, at one point ruining a promising Sporting attack by mistaking the referee for a

team-mate and trying to set him up for a goal with a backheel that would have been the finest assist of the week if anyone had been making an overlapping run alongside Nani. It was a moment

that summed up his career: his imagination and skill undone by his inability to make the right choice. His is a virtuoso talent and there is a feeling that Manchester United did not use him

properly (as Rob Smyth wrote in this excellent piece last month) but Nani seems destined to frustrate more often than he thrills. JS LUDOGORETS LACKING A BIT OF LUCK "In comparison to

Real Madrid we are a tiny club, almost nothing, and many people didn't know us until today," declared Ludogorets midfielder Marcelinho, who opened the scoring in his side's

2-1 defeat at the hands of reigning champions Real Madrid at the Vasil Levski stadium last night. Real's eventual come-from-behind victory was laboured and the Bulgarian champions can

probably feel aggrieved that, despite spirited and classy performances against Liverpool and Real, they are still living up to their pre-tournament tag as Group B whipping boys. They may

well sit bottom of the table with no points from two games, but on the evidence of what we've seen thus far, it is inexperience and bad luck rather than any lack of ability that has

consigned them there. With four games to go, they may yet have a big say in who advances to the knockout stages. "We are probably not the best team in our group but we'll keep on

giving our all to stay in Europe as long as possible," said Ludogorets midfielder Mihail Alexandrov in the wake of last night's heart-breaking defeat. It is abundantly clear that

Ludogorets are not the best team in their group, but on current form and the evidence of what we've seen thus far, the identity of the worst is not so obvious. BG BAYERN FANS IMPROVISE

AND HULK GETS ANGRY Despite a group of 70 Bayern Munich fans having booked their travel to Russia for their match against CSKA Moscow before it was announced the game would be played behind

closed doors as punishment for racist chanting by CSKA fans last season, Uefa stood firm and refused to admit the fans to the Arena Khimki. Determined to see the match, the travelling party

hired the entire floor of an adjacent skyscraper, from where the photo below was taken. Bayern Munich have since announced they will reimburse them and foot the tab for the rental of the

impromptu viewing gallery. A post on the Football Supporters Europe Facebook page suggests people clearly visible in attendance at a match Uefa were so determined to have played in an empty

stadium are among 300 folk invited by sponsors, who European football's governing body seem rather less willing to inconvenience or upset. Of course no footballer should ever have to

endure racist abuse and elsewhere in Russia, Hulk was understandably furious at being subjected to monkey chants by visiting Spartak Moscow fans during a Russian league match at the

Petrovsky Stadium last weekend. "It was coming from a large group of people...I take this as a personal insult for me and my club," the Brazil international said in the build-up to

a dreary Champions League encounter in which his fine performance was one of very few highlights. While Hulk has every right to be upset by the racism of knucklehead Russian football fans,

it is rather more difficult to sympathise with his club in this or any other instance. Zenit St Petersburg supporters are arguably the worst in Europe when it comes to racially abusing

opposition players and as recently as 2012, their largest supporters' club, Landscrona published a manifesto demanding the club field an all-white, heterosexual team. At the time,

Jonathan Wilson explained that, for all its flaws, the open letter Landscrona sent to their club was "a much more nuanced and interesting document than anybody reading only the British

press would have realised". Despite Zenit officials rejecting the fans' demands out of hand, it seems rather odd that the big money signing who unwittingly prompted Zenit fans to

metaphorically nail their theses to the door of the Petrovsky Stadium is the same one who earlier this week complained about racist followers of another team insulting his club. BG FURTHER

READING * Arsenal 4-1 Galatasaray: match report * Welbeck pleased to repay Wenger's faith with hat-trick * Amy Lawrence: Welbeck, Sánchez and Özil excel * Galatasaray fans hurl flares

on to pitch * Basel 1-0 Liverpool: match report * Gerrard: Liverpool were far 'too soft' * Ludogorets 1-2 Real Madrid: match report * Manchester City 1-1 Roma: match report * Cole

and co show it is a not-so-young man's game * City playing Champions League catch-up * Sporting 0-1 Chelsea: match report * Mourinho: Maribor ties key for Chelsea * PSG 3-2 Barcelona:

match report WINNERS AND LOSERS WINNERS ... PAULO SOUSA: In describing his side's win over Liverpool as "glorious, historic, for me, the players, the fans and the club", Paulo

Sousa may have been over-egging the pudding slightly. Even by recent standards, Liverpool were something of a shambles last night and their baffling inability to defend routine set pieces

inevitably gifted the points to a Basel side that should really have won by more. The Swiss champions have no shortage of previous in the field of upsetting English opposition, having beaten

Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United at St. Jakob-Park in the past three years. Considering Liverpool's recent poor form, this was nowhere near as big an upset as some

would have us believe. Indeed, the home side's pre-match odds of 5-2 looked exceptionally generous. For all that, Sousa has endured problems of his own this season. Despite leading his

side to the top of the Swiss top flight and winning eight out of 12 matches in Swiss League and Champions League, an online petition calling for the managers head has been set up by fans

frustrated by what they see as his incessant tinkering. They were also angered by his eagerness to get Cristiano Ronaldo's shirt in the wake of Basel's 5-1 thrashing at the hands

of Real Madrid two weeks ago. "I have my ideas of football and I'm working to develop these characteristics of my players," said Sousa before last night's game. His

team's performance against surprisingly obliging opposition should earn him breathing space. BG LOSERS ... ATHLETIC BILBAO: Like Real Sociedad last season, Athletic Bilbao are not

finding it easy to acclimatise to the Champions League after finishing fourth in La Liga. Ernesto Valverde's side excelled by beating Rafael Benitez's Napoli in their qualifier but

it has been difficult for them since then. They are 16th in La Liga after picking up four points in their first six matches and although a 0-0 home draw with Shakhtar Donetsk in their

opening group match was an acceptable result for Athletic, Tuesday night's 2-1 defeat at BATE Borisov, the supposed whipping boys of Group H, was a disastrous result. It leaves them in

a complicated position at the bottom of the group and Valverde admitted he was concerned by the performance; Athletic were 2-0 down before they got going and gave themselves too much to do.

"We had the wrong approach to the game," Valverde said. "They were much better than us and deserved the win. We showed more intensity after the restart but our performance in

the opening half leaves me with a bad taste. We have taken a big step back, without a doubt." They need to rediscover their spark quickly. JS IT'S STAT TIME AGAIN … BEST IMAGES AND

FINALLY ... Surely whichever genius runs Manchester City's Twitter feed knew that they were tempting fate when they engaged in "banter" with their Roma counterparts and

pointed out that Francesco Totti had never scored in England? Everyone knew what was coming next and, sure enough, Totti was running through on goal a few hours later to become the latest

Italian veteran to dink a ball over Joe Hart. "City's tweet? It really brought me luck," Totti said. "It was a beautiful goal and a good performance." And you'd

have thought Roma would have learned from this episode too. But no … JS