5 observations from Matchday 4 of the 2018/2019 UCL group stage

#2 Group C living up to its billing as 'group of death'

Crvena Zvezda's victory threw Group C wide open

UEFA's system of seeding for the group stage means that there must always be groups with at least two genuine heavyweights drawn alongside one another, or as in the case of group C, three.

There were audible gasps in the hall, as Napoli, PSG and Liverpool were revealed to be in the same group, as all three teams are among the best in Europe, and on their day can hold their own with any club in the world.

The group was rightly termed the group of death, and the last group participant Red Star Belgrade were seen as largely completing the numbers, while their bigger group members slug it out for the top spot.

Liverpool and PSG opened up the group with an enthralling five-goal thriller which The Reds edged 3-2 at Anfield, before going on to lose to Napoli at the Stadio San Paolo.

Napoli and PSG played out two stalemates in their doubleheader, and Liverpool headed to Serbia seeking to consolidate top spot with a victory, but the shock defeat to Red Star Belgrade changed the dynamics of the group and threw qualification wide open.

Liverpool and Napoli sit joint top on six points after four matches, but just two points separate them from bottom placed Red Star Belgrade.

This puts us in the unlikely scenario that all four teams still have their fate in their hands, and can pull off qualification into the next round if they get the right results, hence the group would not be decided until the very last day, which is what was expected when the draws were made (albeit without factoring Red Star to be in the qualification discussion).