Yesterday's games were typically as close as anticipated. City scraped their way through a 2-1 win over Villarreal for their first ever Champions League win. CSKA's win over Trabzonspor throws Group B back into the balance, with Inter somehow putting their domestic form aside to top the group. The best game from yesterday was between Napoli and Bayern, where chances were few and Bayern's defense was finally breached, albeit through an own goal. If Napoli can gain another draw in Germany, or City fail to win in Spain, they would still be in great shape to go through, as City must visit Naples on Matchday 5.
Today's games look much less clear-cut than yesterday. Milan, Barcelona, and Chelsea should all be comfortable winners at home, but the other five games look as if they could go either way. Group F gets the spotlight today, with Marseille hosting Arsenal and Dortmund traveling to Greece to take on Olympiakos. Marseille, like Inter, is struggling mightily domestically, winning just one of their opening ten games. However, Arsenal has not looked right this season either, so the game will feature lots of talent trying to form itself into respective teams. Meanwhile, Dortmund travels to Greece needing a win after their 3-0 loss to Marseille, while Olympiakos have failed to gain a point in their first to games, despite being in both games to the end. Both teams need a win here to kickstart the campaign, but I don't think either will get it. Two draws look on the cards here, and despite the talent in the group, there most likely won't be too much scoring today.
My upset pick yesterday was a miserable failure as Basel lost to Benfica, and as much as I would like to see the Cypriots APOEL keep up their great run of form, I think Porto will take them down today. It should be a good game though, with the Portuguese in control and APOEL trying to hit them on the counter, much like APOEL's game against Shakhtar. Here's my picks for today:
AC Milan - BATE Borisov: HOME WIN
Barcelona - Viktoria Plzen: HOME WIN (no Rubin Kazan repeat)
Bayer Leverkusen - Valencia: HOME WIN
Chelsea - Racing Genk: HOME WIN
FC Porto - APOEL: HOME WIN
Marseille - Arsenal: DRAW
Olympiakos - Dortmund: DRAW
Shakhtar Donetsk - Zenit St. Petersburg: HOME WIN
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