5 things we learned from Champions League Round of 16 - 1st leg

After a long break the Champions League finally returned from its hiatus and served up lots of drama. The two eagerly awaited clashes between Manchester City-Barcelona and Bayern-Arsenal went the way of the European powerhouses. Both ties ended at 2-0, with a player sent off for the home side leaving the English Giants with a mountain to climb in the away leg. Meanwhile PSG thrashed Leverkusen 4-0 and Athletico Madrid scrapped a 1-0 victory at San Siro. Here are the key learning’s -

#1 Barcelona are not a side in decline-

Jose Mourinho claimed that Manchester City were facing Barcelona's "worst side in many, many years" It was a harsh criticism for a team whose aura might have diminished with 7-0 thrashing against Bayern last season but are currently sitting at the top of La Liga. A team filled with talents Xavi, Messi, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Neymar, Alexis Sanchez can’t be all that bad which Manchester City fans found out much to their chagrin. Even without the contentious penalty and red card, Barca were deserved winners and absolutely dominated the midfield. With Messi returning to top form after a series of niggling injuries and a purring midfield, Mourinho surely will hope to avoid them in quarterfinals.

#2 City need to find a success formula in Europe-

While they have been frighteningly dominant at the Etihaad, scoring goals for fun and thrashing sides like Arsenal, Tottenham etc, but Manchester City were found wanting against Barcelona. The talks of quadruple seem pre-mature and while they might still win a domestic treble, they need a miracle at Camp Nou to survive in Europe. Some of the blame should surely be attached to Pellegrini who decided to break Lescott-Kompany partnership which performed admirably against Chelsea and bring in Demichelis who is a disaster waiting to happen. Also fielding Clichy and Kolarov together on the left side hindered City’s counterattacks. And to think they could have avoided Barca if he realised they needed just one more goal in their 3-2 win against Bayern in the league phase to top the group.

#3 Familiar February Failings for Arsenal-

Like many of the previous seasons Arsenal’s campaign is again unravelling in the month of February. Given that they had funds in excess of $100 million, Arsene Wenger’s reluctance to spend money in January seems like a unwise move now.They have slid from the top of Premier League, their biggest signing looks disinterested and bar the opening 10 minutes, were completely outmatched by a superior Bayern side. True they were unlucky to draw Bayern so early but this Arsenal side already look exhausted.Injuries to Ramsey and Walcott, lack of second striker and Ozil’s anonymous performances of late haven’t helped their cause and Wenger must do something to get them out of the rut.

#4 Bayern are the team to beat this season-

When Guardiola took over the helms of an all conquering Bayern sidefrom Jupp Heynckes after a yearlong sabbatical, everyone was thinking ‘How can he even match last year’s feat?’. But Guardiola’s team are well on their way to maybe even improving on it. They already have won the Super Cup and Club World Cup while shattering Bundesliga records almost weekly. Even without the injured duo of Ribery and Shaqiri they were a league above Arsenal and had a barely believable 88% possession in the second half. Scary thing is this side is only improving and with talents like Robben, Ribery, Gotze,Thiago, Mueller,Kroos in attack they are my favourites to lift the trophy and complete an unprecedented Champions league double.

#5 PSG and Atletico are genuine contenders-

PSG and Atletico put in superb performances of varying degree to remind that they are genuine threats in the Champions League. The big spending Paris Saint Germain swatted aside Bayer Leverkusen,who are second in Bundesliga with Ibra taking his Champions league tally to astonishing 10 goals and new signing Cabaye scored for the first time. They barely moved out of second gear throughout and have established their credentials as a team to watch.While Atletico Madrid, the first club since 2008 to challenge the Real- Barca duopoly in Spain grind out a hard fought 1-0 victory against A.C Milan on back of superb performances from Thiabut Courtious and a fantastic far post header by Diego Costa to bounce back from defeats against Real. Diego Simeone’s side has a real fighting quality and are well organised to cause trouble for any team.