Champions League trend watch: French clubs surge as Celtic and Atlético stumble

Go upstairs

Aston Villa – There were not a dry eye in the house – at least among the home fans – as Aston Villa celebrated their victory over the mighty Bayern Munich. For the German giants, who suffered their first group stage defeat since 2017, Vincent Kompany’s coaching experience at this level could be questioned. But credit Villa’s manager. Just like last season in the Premier League at Burnley, Unai Emery did a number on Kompany, and of the two World Cup-winning goalkeepers it was Emi Martínez who left Manuel Neuer behind on Wednesday evening. Just like in the 1982 European Cup final, Villa defeated Bayern 1-0. The goal came from a player who (sort of) shares his surname with Birmingham’s most famous pop group. Jhon Durán’s stunning first finish left Neuer wandering. “I never saw where the goalkeeper was,” Durán admitted. He was almost sold in the summer, but has scored six times this season, five of them as a substitute. The Colombian, once of Chicago Fire, is a brilliant finisher, a real wildcard to throw into what was already a dangerous attacking line-up of talented Englishmen with Ollie Watkins, Jaden Philogene, Morgan Rogers and Jacob Ramsey. Villa Park swelled with pride and emotion in England’s second city.

Lille – Ligue 1 on the rise? Only PSG let the team down, overpowered by Arsenal on Tuesday evening, even though it took a late goal for Monaco to salvage a soggy draw against Dinamo Zagreb. The French league, beset by financial problems and difficulty selling foreign TV rights, has had a fine start to the group stages, with Lille posting perhaps the club’s best result in European football. Their winning goal against Real Madrid came via Jonathan David’s ice-cold penalty. Rémy Cabella, who Newcastle fans may remember from his time on Tyneside, was in control in midfield and Lille were a worthy winner over the defending champions. Kylian Mbappé was brought on for Endrick in the 57th minute, but to little avail against the club his brother Ethan plays for. Jude Bellingham and Vinícius Júnior were reduced to scrap by Bruno Génésio’s team.

Brest – The club’s first season in European football remains a dream: this week they won 4-0 at Red Bull Salzburg. Abdallah Sima, a forward on loan from Brighton, scored twice in a devastating counter-attack. The fact that Brest played the first two matches against Austrian teams – they defeated Sturm Graz in their first match – is a knot in the draw system. But Leverkusen, their next opponent, must be on their guard.

Sliding down

Celtic – The Glaswegians were second in the table after the first matchday, but are starting to worry whether they can reach the top 24 after the second week. Question marks over Celtic and Brendan Rodgers’ record at the top of Europe returned against Borussia Dortmund. To use an appropriate Scottish term, they were “licked” by Dortmund 7-1. It could have been more. “After the first two goals it was quite easy to get through,” Dortmund’s newest England star, Jamie Gittens, said with understatement. Karim Adeyemi scored a first-half hat-trick as Dortmund became the third team to get past Rodgers’ Celtic team seven times in the Champions League, after Barcelona in 2016 and PSG in 2017. Lessons learned? Rodgers was undeterred: ‘Should we camp and just wait? No, we are not going to do that.”

Young boys – The group stage renewed Swiss system has had the unfortunate result of exposing Swiss football’s top club. Barcelona 5-0 Young Boys was, with apologies, a case of men against boys, similar to their opening defeat to Aston Villa. Their presence at the bottom of the table, along with that of Slovan Bratislava, poses an existential question about the new format. What happens to teams that become the whipping boys? With no access to the Europa League these days, what are the prospects for the lesser lights as the table takes shape and the no-hopers converge at the bottom? There is already a danger that the final weeks will not be particularly competitive.

Atletico Madrid – Perhaps the credit for Benfica’s 4-0 win in Lisbon belongs to Bruno Lage’s team: Kerem Aktürkoğlu’s beautiful goal secured a famous victory, and Ángel di María turned back the years. Despite Atléti’s problems on the road – they have now won just one of their last 10 Champions League games – the manner of their loss was striking. Diego Simeone’s men have conceded as many goals as in their entire La Liga season to date. The lack of important summer signing Robin Le Normand due to a “traumatic brain injury” ago during the Madrid derby last weekend yielded one explanation; he was excellent.

A good week for that

Jérémy Doku (Manchester City) – Tuesday’s visit to Slovan Bratislava gave Pep Guardiola the chance to experiment with his Manchester City squad and rest some sore legs. Matheus Nunes played as a central midfielder as a possible solution to Rodri’s absence. James McAtee, another local youth product, scored his first European goal. Most notably, Guardiola unraveled the trend of inverted wingers, deploying Savinho on the left and Doku on the right. It resulted in a record performance from the Belgian, with 26 ball touches in the penalty area against Slovan Bratislava. According to Opta, this was the highest number since registration began in 2008.

Mehdi Taremi (Inter) – The source of Inter’s continued success in Serie A is strong recruitment, including a willingness to sign experienced players with something to prove. Beppe Marotta was CEO during Juventus’ golden decade. He also serves as head of recruitment at Inter, and Taremi, the Iranian who joined on a free transfer from Benfica at the age of 32, appears to be the latest hit. Two assists and a late penalty, his first Inter goal, sealed a move from a player who played a starring role in Portugal and is now providing good assistance to Lautaro Martínez and Marcus Thuram. Martínez, the Inter captain, gave Taremi the chance to take the penalty against Red Star Belgrade as a reward for his overall performance in the 4-0 win.

Francisco Conceição (Juventus) – Something is stirring at Juventus under Thiago Motta. The club has returned to the days of smart signings rather than vanity projects, with Conceição loaned out by Porto after his father was sacked as coach. He wears the same Juve No 7 shirt as Federico Chiesa and Cristiano Ronaldo before him. Conceição replaced the injured Nicolás González after 12 minutes in Leipzig and made good use of his opportunity, confirming a talent evident during his cameos at Euro 2024. He eventually scored the winner in a dramatic 3-2 comeback against a team that had to do with goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio’s red card in the 59th minute. Dušan Vlahović’s brilliant equalizer was followed by Conceição’s weaving, darting run that ended with his second goal in five days.