They still play their attractive passing football, but have scored more goals that have won them more matches. For that strength of character that they have exhibited this season, i would love to see them win something. But i am afraid this is almost impossible now.

In the premier league that Chelsea and Manchester United are displacing each other at the top of the table, Arsenal will find it hard to remain consistent with about 5 matches to go.

The big one that is the Champions League is proving even harder. If they are to make anything of a somewhat better season, they have to beat Barcelona at the Camp Nou tonight, no mean feat.

In the first leg in London Arsenal were outplayed for an hour by a much better team, at least technically in terms of passing, possession and chances to score, so much that their 39-year-old former French international Emmanuel Petit said. “I’ve never seen them outplayed like that before.

The second leg could be a more even affair with Barcelona missing key defenders. Barca are without captain Carles Puyol, who is suspended after conceding the penalty from which Fabregas equalised last week.

It is a big blow for Barca, who are also without Puyol’s regular central defensive partner Gerard Pique. He is also banned after picking up a second booking at the Emirates. Puyol and Piquet missing the game is good for Arsenal. “Pep Guardiola has had less than a week to put a new centre-back pairing together and that could be the biggest chance for Arsenal. Rafael Marquez and Gabriel Milito will probably play in central defence, and that could allow Arsenal to do something because those two don’t play together often. “Those positions are very important for Barca. It’s the spine. They may not have the automatism.”

That is for Barca, what about Arsenal, they will be without their captain Cesc Fabregas, who would have been suspended for Tuesday’s game even before picking up a season-ending injury in the first leg. In all,i think it will a good contest, but i stillthink Barcelona have enough in reserve to win the tie. Let’s enjoy the footall.

Chelsea is one club side that has joined the league of  real ball players. They are now so far from the dull long balls type  of football they were used to not so long ago. But is it everyday you have to play so well to win a match? I don’t think so.    The most important thing for me at times is having a clinical finisher. Chelsea are very fortunate, they have Didier Drogba.

If you watched the Blues play Athletico Madrid on Tuesday, you will agree that they are very fortunate.

Coming back from the 3 match ban imposed by UEFA for his outburst in last season’s semi-final match against Barcelona, he scored their 2 goals as the drew 2-2 in Madrid. In a match that also saw 2 goals from Sergio Aguerro, Chelsea did enough to get themselves into the next round of the CPL

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti had rested regular first-team players Nicolas Anelka and Deco as well as Michael Ballack with a game against Manchester United coming upon Sunday.

But he was forced to bring the trio on as he tried to get his team back into the game.

Deco sent a volley narrowly wide before the substitutions worked as Drogba nodded in from six yards.

The Ivory Coast international striker then left two defenders in his wake to break clean through on goal and, despite his first shot being saved, he made no mistake from the follow-up to take his tally to 12 goals for the season.

On a rainy night across Europe, English heavyweights Manchester United and Chelsea maintained their perfect records in the group phase of the UEFA Champions League to move closer to the last 16. Elsewhere, AC Milan staged a thrilling comeback to inflict a first defeat of the season on Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu, the venue for this season’s final.

The results

Group A
Bordeaux 2-1 Bayern Munich
Juventus 1-0 Maccabi Haifa

Group B
CSKA Moscow 0-1 Manchester United
Wolfsburg 0-0 Besiktas

Group C
Zurich 0-1 Marseille
Real Madrid 2-3 AC Milan

Group D
Chelsea 4-0 Atletico Madrid
Porto 2-1 APOEL Nicosia

The big game
Real Madrid 2-3 AC Milan
Goals: Raul 19, Royston Drenthe 76 (Real Madrid); Andrea Pirlo 63, Alexandre Pato 66 and 88 (Milan)

This classic match-up did not disappoint. On an evening when Real’s star signing Kaka was reunited with his former team-mates, the Spaniards struck first, Raul seizing on an error by Milan keeper Dida to roll the ball into an empty net. With an hour on the clock and the hosts seemingly in control, the match took an unexpected turn. Trying his luck from fully 35 metres out, Andrea Pirlo saw his dipping shot surprise Iker Casillas at the near post to pull the Italians level.

And when Casillas misjudged Massimo Ambrosini’s superb flighted ball over the top of the Merengue defence, livewire Brazilian forward Alexandre Pato was on hand to slide the ball into the unguarded net and give Leonardo’s men the lead. Their pride stung, Real surged forward in search of an equaliser, which duly came when Rosyton Drenthe thumped a low drive past Dida from Raul’s precise corner-kick.

Chances came at both ends as the pace continued to quicken, and after the two sides each had goals disallowed, that man Pato popped up with a late winner, side-footing Clarence Seedorf’s delicious chipped pass into the roof of the net.

The other games
Bordeaux took a two-point lead at the top of Group A by edging an injury-ravaged Bayern Munich side 2-1. After inadvertently putting the Germans ahead with a misplaced header, Girondins defender Mickael Ciani promptly redemeed himself by levelling the score with a nonchalant back-heeled flick from a corner. Ciani’s central-defensive partner Marc Planus then stole in ahead of the Bayern defence at a set-piece to stab the French champions in front. And had Hans-Jorg Butt not saved two second-half penalties, the final scoreline could have been even worse for the visitors, who had two men sent off.

Juventus moved into second place after earning a narrow 1-0 win over a bold Maccabi Haifa side. Giorgio Chiellini scored the only goal of the game with far-post header, though I Bianconeri needed a typically classy save from Gianluigi Buffon late on to cling on to the points.

Shorn of the services of several first-teamers, Manchester United drew on their vast European experience to chisel out their third straight win in Group B. Their victims on this occasion were CSKA Moscow, the only goal of the evening coming when Ecuador international Antonio Valencia fired home Dimitar Berbatov’s fine flicked header four minutes from time. In the other game in the section, Wolfsburg and Besiktas cancelled each other out in a goalless draw.

While Real Madrid were tripping up at home, Marseille were doing their Group C chances a power of good by earning a valuable 1-0 win away to Zurich. Argentinian defender Gabriel Heinze’s superb volley proved the difference between the sides. Despite the defeat, the fourth-placed Swiss are still in contention in a surprisingly open section.

Meanwhile, Chelsea would seem to have Group D all wrapped up after extending their 100 per cent record with a typically ruthless 4-0 win at home to struggling Atletico Madrid. Salomon Kalou set the Blues on their way with his first European double, before Frank Lampard and a Luis Perea own goal underlined their superiority on the night.

Porto weathered torrential rain and a battling performance by APOEL Nicosia to tighten their grip on second place. After falling behind early on the Portuguese hit back to secure a 2-1 victory, both goals coming from Brazilian striker Hulk, the first of them the result of a fine team move.

The stat
66 - Legendary Real Madrid forward Raul won his duel with fellow veteran gunslinger Filippo Inzaghi by scoring his 66th goal in Europe’s premier club tournament. The scorer of 226 goals in La Liga, 44 for Spain and 27 in other official competitions, the No7 now has 363 career strikes to his name.

Goal of the night
Chelsea 1-0 Atletico Madrid (Salomon Kalou 40)

Chelsea’s passing game finally clicked five minutes from half-time when Ashley Cole scampered in behind the Atletico defence and latched on to a blind pass by Frank Lampard. The England left-back surged towards the by-line before cutting the ball into the path of the unmarked Salomon Kalou, who side-footed home to complete a textbook move.

Key Matchday 4 encounters
Group A: Bayern Munich have no option but to go for the win when they entertain Bordeaux in a fortnight’s time. The French side, on the other hand, will be happy with a draw.

Group C: The return match between continental heavyweights AC Milan and Real Madrid should prove one of the highlights of the season so far.

I bet a lot, and i make a lot of money in it, but i don’t like cup games for the obvious reasons. Pitting big teams against so-called-minows, whose only time for fame and fortune is when they play the big boys.

Before this season’s CPL, did  you know a certain Kazan, Rubin Kazan actually. I bet you did not.I certainly never heard of them until they made it to the league stage of Europe’s elite cup affair.

Well, whether you heard of them or not, they have come to the party in style. And the big boys better sit up because they will bite you in the ass. And that is exactly what they did to Barcelona yesterday at none other place than the Camp Nou. Not an easy task you would say, but they did it.

That game was not the only game in match-day 3. Infact, yesterday was war. Inter could not beat Dynamo Kyiv. For a full load-down of all group games yesterday, read on.

Fiorentina moved above Liverpool and into second place in Group E following a dramatic 4-3 win against Debrecen as the Reds went down 2-1 against Lyon at Anfield.

Six of the seven goals came in the first half in Hungary.

Peter Czvitkovics gave the hosts an early lead after converting a Jozsef Varga cross, but a fine finish from former Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu soon levelled the game.

Mutu then turned provider for Alberto Gilardino who calmly slotted home after 10 minutes, with Gilardino returning the favour by setting up Mutu to drill home from outside the box shortly after.

Gergely Rudolf curled into the top corner to bring Debrecen back to 3-2 but a powerful left-footed shot from Mario Santana restored the Italians’ two-goal cushion just before the break to cap an incredible first half.

Adamo Coulibaly headed home for the hosts late on to set up a grandstand finish, but Fiorentina held on for the points.

In an incredible night of action, Barcelona suffered an amazing 2-1 home defeat to Rubin Kazan, while Inter Milan were held to a surprising 2-2 draw by Dynamo Kiev.

There is now a three-way tie for top spot in the group table, with Kazan, Barcelona and Kiev all on four points. Jose Mourinho’s Inter are rock bottom with only three points from their three games.

But the result at the Nou Camp will send shockwaves around the footballing world after Kazan pulled off one of the greatest upsets in club football history.

Aleksandr Ryazantsev gave the visitors a shock lead after just two minutes, picking up the ball and letting fly from 25 yards with a stunning drive that flew into the top corner – the fastest ever Champions League goal scored by an away team at the Nou Camp.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic equalised with his first Champions League goal for his new club early in the second half after being set up by Xavi.

But Gokdeniz Karadeniz finished off a superb breakaway move following a mistake in the Barcelona midfield late on to stun the reigning European champions.

At the San Siro, Taras Mykhalyk gave Kiev the lead after five minutes before Dejan Stankovic smashed home an equaliser for Inter on the half-hour.

An own goal from Lucio restored the visitors’ lead but a Walter Samuel header secured a deserved draw for the Italian side just after the break.

Sevilla eased past Stuttgart 3-1 and qualified from the group stages in record time following Rangers’ 4-1 defeat against Unirea Urziceni .

The Spanish side only needed Rangers to draw to go through after just three games, providing they were victorious in Germany.

Sebastien Squillaci headed the visitors into the lead after a fine cross from Adriano after 23 minutes – the defender’s first Champions league goal in more than five years.

Jesus Navas made it two with a right-footed shot after 55 minutes before Squillaci (72) headed home his second to restore the cushion.

Brazilian Elson pulled one back for the hosts only a minute later but it was never going to be enough to stop a rampant Sevilla securing their passage to the next round.

Arsenal have had their lead at the top of Group H reduced to just one point after their 1-1 draw against AZ Alkmaar and Olympiakos’ late 2-1 win against Standard Liege.

The Greek side looked in trouble when Liege took something of a surprise lead in the first half – Igor de Camargo slipping the ball past home goalkeeper Antonios Nikopolis after being put through by Milan Jovanovic.

But a free-kick from Luciano Galleti was headed in by Kostantinos Mitroglou to bring the hosts back on terms and a late winner by Ieroklis Stoltidis sealed the victory, and prompted some wild celebrations from the home crowd.

The Greek side are now just one point behind the Gunners in the group table.

From Russia with pain, Inter Milan just managed to salvage a point from Rubin Kazan who were on their neck from start to finish in that match. So after losing to Sampdoria in the Serie A in the weekend, they nearly lost to one of the so-called minows to the Champions League.Oh! Inter also finished with a man less with Mario Barotelli sent off.

Spare a thought for Liverpool, i just wander if their European fuel is drying up. Remember how they treat everybody in the C. League? well they could not do that to Fiorentina as the Italians beat them by 2-0.

The above aside, it was business as usual for Barcelona who beat Dynamo Kyiv by 2-0, Arsenal who beat Olypiakos by 2-0, Lyon who thumped Debrecen 4-0 away, and Sevilla who also put 4 pass Rangers in Scotland. AZ Alkmaar drew 1-1 with Standard Liege, and Stuttgart who were forced to 1-1 by home team Unirea Urziceni.

So, if were excited by today’s matches, why not wait for the real deal tomorrow, when all the big boys take to the pitch.

Check out the fixtures for tomorrow:

Apoel Nicosia v Chelsea, Gp D, 19:45