LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 24: Alexis Sanchez of Arsenal is tackled by Goncalo Santos of Dinamo Zagreb during the UEFA Champions League match between Arsenal FC and GNK Dinamo Zagreb at Emirates Stadium on November 24, 2015 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

2015-16 UEFA Champions League Roundup: Matchday 5, Pt. 1

With just two games left, it’s getting down to crunch time as to where teams will head after the UEFA Champions League group stage. Will your team go to the knockout stage, head to the Europa League or back to focusing on their respective league? Many teams figured that out today.

 

Biggest Win: Arsenal

Before today, Arsenal looked like they were nowhere near advancing to the knockout stage. Arsenal needed to beat Dinamo Zagreb, who they lost to earlier this year and Olympiacos needed to lose to Bayern Munich. With a 3-0 Arsenal win and a 4-0 Olympiakos loss, Arsenal is now back into it and go into the final game needing to win in Greece by a better than 3-2 score to get a knockout stage spot.

 

Biggest Loss: Bayer Leverkusen

In a game in which Bayer Leverkusen needed to win to have a shot at advancing to the knockout stage, went to Belarus and drew to BATE Borisov. Even though Leverkusen is still tied with Roma, Roma has the tiebreaker and Leverkusen need to play Barcelona while Roma play BATE Borisov. Yeah, Leverkusen needed to win this game. What this does is give BATE Borisov a chance to qualify for the knockout stage. A point behind Roma and Leverkusen, a Roma upset and Leverkusen loss to Barcelona will put the underdogs into the final 16.

 

Most Shocking Result: Barcelona defeating Roma

Let’s get this straight, I’m not shocked that Barcelona defeated Roma. I kind of figured they would win. I’m just shocked that Barcelona defeated Roma with such ease. A 6-1 beatdown over a pretty good Roma team, it’s going to take a very special performance by someone for Barcelona to get eliminated from Champions League play this season. Can they be the first team to win back-to-back Champions League titles since 1990?

 

Results: 

 

Best Tweet:

Yeah EA Sports. I love FIFA but you probably should fix this on your next update.

 

Best Goal: Luis Suarez – Barcelona

I’m just not going to say anything about this goal. Just a brilliant looking goal and definitely goal of the night.

 

Team in Most Trouble After Matchday 5: Bayer Leverkusen

By not beating BATE Borisov and now likely to have to beat Barcelona to get past Roma to go to the knockout stage, they’re in a bad position if they still have plans to advance.

 

Highlight Games for Matchday 6 (Groups E through H):

Chelsea vs. Porto (Group G)

Olympiakos vs. Arsenal vs. (Group F)

Roma vs. BATE Borisov (Group E)

Bayer Leverkusen vs. Barcelona (Group E)

About Phillip Bupp

Producer/editor of the Awful Announcing Podcast and Short and to the Point. News editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. Highlight consultant for Major League Soccer as well as a freelance writer for hire. Opinions are my own but feel free to agree with them. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @phillipbupp

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