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Guardiola’s headache, USMNT stars align, Lewis-Skelly takes chance – Champions League Briefing

James BAOUCH

Gradually, then suddenly.

That was the theme of the night as slow burners sparked into life with clusters of goals across the board.

In an early kick-off, there were four goals in ten minutes either side of half-time as Lille beat Sturm Graz 3-2, while a scoreless first half between Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona served up five goals after the break as a Ferran Torres double sealed the win for Hansi Flick’s side.

Feyenoord served up some special long-range goals in their 4-2 win over Sparta Prague and Stuttgart ended an eight-game run without a home win in Europe by scoring five goals against Young Boys — more than they managed in that winless run combined.

Arsenal took a major step to automatic qualification with a 3-0 home win over Monaco and Tammy Abraham scored a late winner for Milan against Belgrade’s Crvena Zvezda, but there was more misery for Pep Guardiola…

City lose again, facing play-off headache

Guardiola has been scratching his head a lot lately. Another disappointing evening in Turin will have seen him dig those nails in even further.

Not only did his Manchester City side meekly succumb to a 2-0 defeat to Juventus, it means they have just one win in their last ten games in all competitions and are in danger of failing to make the knockouts.

Since being eliminated in the last 16 in his first season, City have reached at least the quarter-final stage in each of the last seven seasons.

They are five points off Lille, who occupy the eighth and final automatic qualifying spot. They face a pivotal clash with Paris Saint-Germain in January, who are also fighting for survival as they languish in 25th, outside the play-off spots. It is shaping up to be a do-or-die penultimate tie but, even if both make it through, they look most likely to do so via the play-off route as part of the cohort from ninth to 24th.


City face a crucial match against PSG (MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)

Those teams must come through a two-legged play-off in February to make the last 16. It would be a headache for big elite clubs competing on multiple fronts as they have become used to fairly calm four-team group stages in which they have qualification sewn up with a game or two to spare.

An additional two games would mean even more strain on Guardiola’s squad, who are already missing Rodri — a player who was vocal about the calendar being too much before he suffered an ACL injury.

It has been difficult to get a handle on the jeopardy of the new 32-team league format. The lists of fixtures looked more appealing at the start but in recent matchdays, it was difficult to know what constituted a good or bad result with so much football still to be played.

With just two games to go, however, the table has taken some shape and nearly all teams are still fighting to qualify for the play-offs or qualify for the automatic places. It has certainly shaken things up.

A good night for the USMNT

It did not look like a day to work from home and set the Champions League alarm for American fans hoping to see their compatriots make a dent in Europe’s premier competition.

PSV’s Malik Tillman is in the top tier for chance creation in the Champions League but he and Ricardo Pepi suffered a disappointing defeat to Brest on Tuesday. With Milan’s Christian Pulisic ruled out for the rest of the month with a calf injury and Monaco’s Folarin Balogun undergoing shoulder surgery, the flag was at half mast for the USMNT on matchday six.

But things changed when Gio Reyna was given a surprise start for Borussia Dortmund at home to Barcelona. The 22-year-old has been injured for the majority of the season, playing 63 minutes across all competitions, but he managed 73 minutes in the 3-2 defeat to Barcelona and will hope this is the start of a prolonged period of availability.

At Juventus, Weston McKennie and Timothy Weah both started on the bench but their nights coalesced in a massive 2-0 win over City.

Weah was set free down the right flank on the counter-attack and, after seeing his first cross blocked, he showed composure to wait for McKennie to burst into the penalty area from deep.

His cross was slightly behind the midfielder but McKennie showed great athleticism to acrobatically volley the ball home to seal the win for Juventus.

Earlier this week in an interview with The Athletic, Pulisic had spoken about how he believed the crop of players in Europe had helped change the perception of USMNT players.

“I think it’s in a better place now,” he said.

“I hope I’ve had a say in that and other people look around and say, ‘This guy’s American and he is doing it at the highest level, so we need to respect some of these guys’. Look how many Americans in the last five to 10 years have come over to Europe. We have players in the Champions League and some of the highest leagues in the world. It is not our biggest driver of wanting to prove them wrong. It’s just something that is out there.”

Tonight’s cameos will have helped push the boulder up the hill that little bit more.

Lewis-Skelly & Duranville take their chance

Lamine Yamal being just 17 has forced the football world to reconsider what qualifies as young, but two 18-year-olds made their first starts in the competition — and they both showed why it will be the first of many for both.

Myles Lewis-Skelly came through the ranks at Arsenal as a midfielder but he has been remoulded by Mikel Arteta as a left-back who can invert into midfield.

In the 35th minute against Monaco, he showed why he is perfect for that role as he was the catalyst for the opening goal in Arsenal’s 3-0 home win.

Martin Odegaard played a square pass and Lewis-Skelly baited the defender towards him before showing sharp footwork to feign and step inside. He then slid the ball through to Gabriel Jesus, who teed up Bukayo Saka for a tap-in at the back post.

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The entire team ran to Lewis-Skelly — the youngest player to start for Arsenal in the Champions League since Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain in 2011 — as recognition of his part in the goal.

“I just told him that this is his level and he should have no doubts,” said Saka after the game.

Another 18-year-old who showed no sign of stage fright was Dortmund’s Julien Duranville. A left-footed winger who plays on the right, his direct dribbling caused Alejandro Balde problems in the first half. Having missed the majority of last season through a thigh injury, Duranville has not been able to showcase his talents since signing from Anderlecht in January 2023. He has only appeared in the Bundesliga twice this season, both off the bench, but in his 73 minutes against Barcelona, he displayed flashes of his incredible agility when running at full speed.

It is 20-year-old England prospect Jamie Gittens who has been getting all the attention on the other wing so far this season. As is so often the case with the Dortmund pipeline, it may not be long before Duranville is the name hogging the headlines.

Raphinha’s remarkable turnaround

Raphinha did not score in any of his first ten Champions League games for Barcelona.

After netting against Dortmund, the Brazilian forward has nine in his last eight appearances in the competition.

The last Barcelona player to score eight Champions League goals in a single year was… Lionel Messi in 2019. 

It underlines the remarkable turnaround in fortunes he has experienced since joining from Leeds in 2022. A player who showed glimpses of his talent but struggled to find a role within the system is fast becoming a numbers machine.

He has more goal contributions than any other player in the competition after six games (six goals and two assists) and has joined a select group of five players with 25 goal involvements across Europe’s top five leagues and UEFA competitions this season.

Raphinha’s 28 goals and assists have come in just 27 games and have included a hat-trick against Bayern Munich, a goal and an assist away to Real Madrid and another at Dortmund.

Wednesday’s results

  • Atletico Madrid 3-1 Slovan Bratislava
  • Lille 3-2 Sturm Graz
  • Dortmund 2-3 Barcelona
  • Juventus 2-0 Manchester City
  • Benfica 0-0 Bologna
  • Arsenal 3-0 Monaco
  • Milan 2-1 Crvena Zvezda
  • Feyenoord 4-2 Sparta Prague
  • Stuttgart 5-1 Young Boys

What’s next?

The fixtures for matchweek seven of the eight-round league phase take place in January (kick-offs 8pm BST/3pm ET unless stated).

Tuesday, January 21

  • Atalanta vs Sturm Graz (5.45pm BST/12.45pm ET)
  • Monaco vs Aston Villa (5.45pm BST/12.45pm ET)
  • Slovan Bratislava vs Stuttgart
  • Club Brugge vs Juventus
  • Atletico Madrid vs Bayer Leverkusen
  • Benfica vs Barcelona
  • Liverpool vs Lille
  • Bologna vs Borussia Dortmund
  • Crvena Zvezda vs PSV

Wednesday, January 22

  • RB Leipzig vs Sporting CP (5.45pm BST/12.45pm ET)
  • Shakhtar Donetsk vs Brest (5.45pm BST/12.45pm ET)
  • Real Madrid vs Red Bull Salzburg
  • Paris Saint-Germain vs Manchester City
  • Sparta Prague vs Inter
  • Arsenal vs Dinamo Zagreb
  • Celtic vs Young Boys
  • Feyenoord vs Bayern Munich
  • Milan vs Girona

(Top photo: ISABELLA BONOTTO/AFP via Getty Images)



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