Halfway through the group stage, we’ve seen just about everything; Blowouts, razor-thin upsets, and stars shining bright dot our UEFA Champions League landscape.
The full standings are at the bottom of this post, but those don’t tell the story of who’s looking dangerous and who’s barely scraping by the opposition.
For example, Leicester City may be in the least challenging group, so how should their 3-0 record stand up to Spurs 1-1-1 mark in a deep, deep group.
[ MORE: Champions League roundup ]
Man City is also 1-1-1, but a loss to Barcelona shouldn’t be the end of the world. Alas, should their draw at Celtic knock them down a peg or two more? And given the strength of City’s group, aren’t their four points a world better than Copenhagen’s quartet of points? The answer, of course, is yes.
So, let’s see how they stack up in terms of group stage performance thus far.
UEFA Champions League power rankings
* denotes club has clinched knockout round berth
- Legia Warsaw -- 0-3, and set for empty stadium vs Real Madrid
- Club Brugge -- minus-8 GD in the UCL’s shallowest group
- Ludogorets Razgrad -- Drew at Basel, but smoked by Arsenal
- Basel -- Blew any chance with home draw vs. Ludogorets
- Dinamo Zagreb -- 0-3, including two home losses
- Rostov -- Game effort in Weds. loss versus Atleti
- Celtic -- Couldn’t build off 3-3 draw vs. Man City
- PSV Eindhoven -- European hopes rest on Dec. visit from Rostov
- Dynamo Kyiv -- Home losses blow knockout roundchances
- CSKA Moscow -- Not dead, but wasted home opportunities.
- Lyon -- Needs unlikely win at Juventus on Nov. 2.
- Sporting CP -- Hoping for wins, another Real-BVB draw.
- Porto -- Have only been home once.
- Copenhagen -- Road draw at Porto could stand tall.
- Bayer Leverkusen -- Still in striking distance despite two home draws.
- Benfica -- Home match with Dynamo Kyiv on Nov. 2 is must win.
- Napoli -- Weds. home loss vs. Besiktas stings.
- Besiktas -- Vincent Aboubakar brace has Turkish side in good place.
- Borussia Monchengladbach -- Hosts wounded Man City on Nov. 23.
- Tottenham Hotspur -- Winnable home matches with Bayer, CSKA remain.
- Manchester City -- It’s not the Barca loss that hurts; It’s drawing at Celtic.
- Monaco -- Winning at Wembley Stadium cannot be overstated.
- Bayern Munich -- Loss at Atleti an acceptable blemish.
- Juventus -- Pair of home matches should tilt scales for The Old Lady.
- Sevilla -- Drawing at Juventus Stadium was a big result.
- Leicester City* -- Even without A-game vs Copenhagen, stayed unbeaten.
- Paris Saint-Germain -- Handling its business as usual.
- Borussia Dortmund -- Only below Real because 2-2 draw was at home.
- Real Madrid -- Primed to make another run at the title.
- Arsenal -- Focused, and feeding off confident manager’s words.
- Atletico Madrid* -- Trio of 1-0 wins, two on road; Simeone’s the man.
- Barcelona* -- Toughest group in Europe? How’s 13 GF, 1 GA for you?
Standings |
| Group A | ||||||||||
| Team | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Home | Away | PTS |
| Arsenal | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 2-0-0 | 0-1-0 | 7 |
| Paris SG | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 1-1-0 | 1-0-0 | 7 |
| Ludogorets | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 10 | -8 | 0-0-1 | 0-1-1 | 1 |
| FC Basel | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | -5 | 0-1-0 | 0-0-2 | 1 |
| Group B | ||||||||||
| Team | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Home | Away | PTS |
| Napoli | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 1-0-1 | 1-0-0 | 6 |
| Besiktas | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0-1-0 | 1-1-0 | 5 |
| Benfica | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0-1-0 | 1-0-1 | 4 |
| Dynamo Kiev | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | -3 | 0-0-2 | 0-1-0 | 1 |
| Group C | ||||||||||
| Team | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Home | Away | PTS |
| Barcelona | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 12 | 2-0-0 | 1-0-0 | 9 |
| Manchester City | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 1-0-0 | 0-1-1 | 4 |
| Mönchengladbach | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 0-0-1 | 1-0-1 | 3 |
| Celtic | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 12 | -9 | 0-1-1 | 0-0-1 | 1 |
| Group D | ||||||||||
| Team | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Home | Away | PTS |
| Atlético Madrid | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 9 |
| Bayern Munich | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 2-0-0 | 0-0-1 | 6 |
| PSV Eindhoven | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | -4 | 0-0-1 | 0-1-1 | 1 |
| FC Rostov | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 8 | -6 | 0-1-1 | 0-0-1 | 1 |
| Group E | ||||||||||
| Team | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Home | Away | PTS |
| Monaco | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0-1-0 | 1-1-0 | 5 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0-0-1 | 1-1-0 | 4 |
| Bayer Leverkusen | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0-2-0 | 0-1-0 | 3 |
| CSKA Moscow | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 0-1-1 | 0-1-0 | 2 |
| Group F | ||||||||||
| Team | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Home | Away | PTS |
| Real Madrid | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 2-0-0 | 0-1-0 | 7 |
| Borussia Dortmund | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 0-1-0 | 2-0-0 | 7 |
| Sporting CP | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1-0-1 | 0-0-1 | 3 |
| Legia Warsaw | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 13 | -12 | 0-0-1 | 0-0-2 | 0 |
| Group G | ||||||||||
| Team | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Home | Away | PTS |
| Leicester City | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 2-0-0 | 1-0-0 | 9 |
| FC Copenhagen | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1-0-0 | 0-1-1 | 4 |
| FC Porto | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0-1-0 | 1-0-1 | 4 |
| Club Brugge | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 9 | -8 | 0-0-2 | 0-0-1 | 0 |
| Group H | ||||||||||
| Team | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Home | Away | PTS |
| Juventus | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0-1-0 | 2-0-0 | 7 |
| Sevilla | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1-0-0 | 1-1-0 | 7 |
| Lyon | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1-0-1 | 0-0-1 | 3 |
| Dinamo Zagreb | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 | -8 | 0-0-2 | 0-0-1 | 0 |