In case you missed it, here are the highlights from Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League action.
The results
Watch match highlights:
AC Milan 2, Celtic 0
Barcelona 4, Ajax 0
Marseille 1, Arsenal 2
Chelsea 1, Basel 2
Schalke 3, Steaua Bucuresti 0
Napoli 2, Borussia Dortmund 1
Atlético Madrid 3, Zenit St. Petersburg 1
Austria Wien 0, FC Porto 1
The day’s main talking points
1. Klopp implodes: Jürgen Klopp is a very likeable guy, his frankness and his obvious charm allowing him to win over neutrals, and disarm many of his critics at the same time. Though he’s known for being animated, the Borussia Dortmund manager rarely lets his anger get the better of him. On Wednesday, we saw Klopp’s dark side. Match officials didn’t let Dortmund defender Neven Subotic back onto the pitch after receiving treatment for an injury, and Napoli’s Gonzalo Higuain duly scored. Klopp went ballistic, gritting his teeth and giving the fourth official an earful – his facial expression was pretty scary, too. Klopp was sent off, and almost on cue, things began to fall apart for the Germans, as goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller was shown a red card for using his hands outside his area to deny Higuain in first-half injury time. If Klopp was looking to motivate his team with his antics, it proved a miscalculation.
2. Messi just being Messi: No doubt comparisons will be made between Lionel Messi’s hat-trick performance with Cristiano Ronaldo’s three-goal effort on Tuesday. It’s so tempting to link the two super stars together in this instance, to trot out tired clichés about anything Ronaldo can do, Messi can do better. That’s the wrong context to view Messi’s effort against Ajax, though. Messi wasn’t the least be interested in topping Ronaldo. He was just being himself, doing what he normally does. And what he does is score goals and dictate the pace of the game, all the while making it look so simple, like he’s not even trying — as if he’s holding back. That’s all. Nothing more, nothing less. This wasn’t about some silly rivalry with Ronaldo. This was all about Messi being Messi.
3. Typical Celtic: At the risk of appearing to be kicking a wounded dog, it needs to be said Celtic got exactly what they deserved at San Siro. Don’t you dare feel sorry for them. Not for the first time in Europe, the Scottish champions outplayed their opponents, only to somehow find a way to drop all three points. Adam Matthews and Anthony Stokes roasted Milan fullback Kevin Constant all night, exploiting acres of open space down the right side. It was so bad that Philippe Mexes continually had to leave his post in the middle of Milan’s defence to bail Constant out. But Celtic’s exploits down that flank never led to anything, much like the rest of their attacking endeavours. And that’s the problem with the Scottish champions. Celtic is a wonderfully hard-working and organized team. But Celtic is also a limited side, lacking genuine quality, and no amount of grit and sweat is going to make up for it.
4. Mourinho admits he was at fault: It’s not often Jose Mourinho comes clean and admits his culpability. He’s usually quick to point his finger at UEFA, the English FA or the officials – anybody but himself. He had no choice but to take the heat on Wednesday, after a dire Chelsea lost to Basel at Stamford Bridge and his team were rightly booed off the pitch. “I am responsible for everything,” Mourinho said. Indeed, the Blues played down their opponents on the night, underestimating the Swiss by sleepwalking their way through the game. Chelsea failed to build on their 1-0 lead, squandering a series of scoring chances, and barely seemed bothered by it. Only Oscar looked interested, but he couldn’t contain a surging Basel side led by the mercurial Mohamed Salah in midfield and the dangerous Marco Streller up front. In contrast, Marco van Ginkel and Willian were so poor for Chelsea, and yet it took Mourinho until well into the second half to replace them.Thursday programming alert – Europa League:
Valencia v Swansea (Sportsnet, 1 p.m. ET)
SV Salzburg v Elfsborg (Sportsnet ONE, 1 p.m. ET)
Dinamo Zagreb v Chornomorets (Sportsnet 360, 1 p.m. ET)
Eintracht Frankfurt v Bordeaux (Sportsnet World, 1pm ET)
Tottenham v Tromso (Sportsnet, 3 p.m. ET)
Estoril v Sevilla FC (Sportsnet ONE, 3 p.m. ET)
Real Betis v Lyon (Sportsnet 360, 3 p.m. ET)
Lazio v Legia Warsaw (Sportsnet World, 3 p.m. ET)
Watch additional games exclusively on Sportsnet World Online | TV schedule
Match of the day
Napoli vs. Dortmund was a great mix of action and drama, fabulous goals and a bit of controversy, all played out before a fantastic crowd and electric atmosphere in Naples.
Goal of the day
If you don’t know who Lorenzo Insigne is, shame on you. The young Italian showed why is one of the best prospects in the game by bending a blistering free kick from distance around Borussia Dortmund’s wall and in off the underside of the crossbar in the 67th minute. Honourable mentions to Hulk’s long-range effort for Zenit St. Petersburg and Lionel Messi’s gorgeous free kick goal for Barcelona.
Save of the day
Spare a thought for Fraser Forster. The Celtic goalkeeper made a spectacular diving save to force Mario Balotelli’s free kick onto the post, but Sulley Muntari collected the rebound to give Milan a 2-0 lead in the 86th minute.
Eight pack of facts
Lionel Messi is the first player in Champions League history to record four or more hat-tricks in the competition.
Aaron Ramsey has scored six goals in his last six appearances for Arsenal in all competitions.
Basel is the first Swiss side to win in 20 competitive visits to England since FC Luzern beat Tottenham in the 1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup.
No Romanian club has ever beaten German opposition in the Champions League (two draws and nine losses).
Borussia Dortmund has won only one of their last 11 Champions League games played away from the Westfalen Stadion (four draws and six losses).
FC Porto has kept eight clean sheets in their last 11 Champions League games.
Celtic has lost all four of their road games against AC Milan in the Champions League.
Zenit St. Petersburg has won only two of their 11 Champions League games away from home (with two draws and seven losses).
Tweets of the day
Jurgen Klopp or Alan Rickman in Die Hard?
Jurgen Klopp's pointy, angry face sure qualifies him as a future Die Hard villain … very expressive, very Alan Rickman-ish
— Beyond the Pitch (@BeyondthePitch) September 18, 2013
This will be a meme by the end of the night: pic.twitter.com/Am8rBAe3M0 #hipster
— Stefan Bienkowski (@SBienkowski) September 18, 2013
Burning questions
Why didn’t Juan Mata start for Chelsea? Why did Jose Mourinho wait until the 67th minute to introduce the Spaniard?
Why does Celtic struggle so badly to earn results on the road in Europe?
What exactly did Jurgen Klopp say to the fourth official to get sent off?
3 stars
1) Lionel Messi: Who else? The Argentine ace bossed Ajax without really getting out of first gear. In fact, you almost had the sense from watching Messi that he took it easy on the Dutch side.
2) Mohamed Salah: Basel’s midfield star was sublime and silky smooth in possession, causing plenty of problems for Chelsea, including netting the goal that sparked the Swiss comeback.
3) Gonzalo Higuain: The Argentine’s glancing header gave Napoli the lead, and his run on goal led to Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller being sent off for handling outside his area.