Chelsea vs Basel – Blues fail to breach Basel defence in the second half
Basel pulled off an upset when they overturned a deficit to beat Chelsea 2-1 at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea led 1-0 at half time thanks to Oscar’s goal and looked to be on their way to victory but Basel scored twice in the second half as they stifled Chelsea’s creativity. Chelsea made five key passes in the second half and four in the first but none of their second half key passes created chances inside the Basel box – suggesting that Basel were very solid and didn’t allow Chelsea to play between the lines. The infographic below (via Squawka.com) displays where Chelsea made key passes in the second half: 
Marouane and Fellaini and Michael Carrick lay the foundations for Manchester United
Marouane Fellaini (R) and Michael Carrick (L) formed a solid partnership in midfield for Manchester United (Getty Images)
Marouane Fellaini looked settled in the Manchester United side when he made his first start for the Red Devils in their UEFA Champions League match at home against Bayer Leverkusen. Fellaini and Michael Carrick made 32% of Manchester United’s passes against Bayer Leverkusen (158 out of 493) and the duo also made 7 interceptions between them as their midfield play allowed Manchester United control the game. The infographic below from Squawka.com shows Marouane Fellaini’s passing from the match against Bayer Leverkusen:
Arsenal stifle Europe’s most creative midfielder
Arsenal’s disciplined performance left Mathieu Valbuena frustrated (Getty Images)
Marseille’s Mathieu Valbuena made 117 key passes last season, second only to Everton‘s Leighton Baines in the top five leagues in Europe but Arsene Wenger’s side didn’t allow the diminutive midfielder make even one key pass on Wednesday night. In fact the midfielder only managed three passes into the Arsenal box, and none into very worrisome positions. His passing map below (via Squawka.com) highlights how Arsenal’s discipline did not allow him to pass into central areas and forced him into spreading play to the wings whenever he received the ball in the centre.
Toni Kroos proves his passing ability with 99% accuracy
Toni Kroos produced a near-perfect passing performance for Bayern Munich (Getty Images)
Bayern Munich’s Toni Kroos was immense against CSKA Moscow at the Allianz Arena as he completed 99% of his passes (79 out of 80) and went into half time with a 100% pass accuracy as he completed all 56 of the passes he attempted in the first 45 minutes. As can be seen in the graphic below (via squawka.com) Kroos showed an impressive range of passing with short passes, long passes and some more penetrative passes.
Barcelona‘s defending from the front suffocates Ajax
Barcelona’s incessant pressing disrupted Ajax’s fluency (Getty Images)
Barcelona‘s aggressive pressing game saw them win an impressive 21 out of 23 tackles and make 15 interceptions as they didn’t allow the home side to settle. What was more impressive was that eight of these tackles were made in the Ajax half, as were six of their interceptions. The graphic below, via Squawka.com, shows Barcelona’s tackled during the match.
