After four games, the UEFA Champions League group stage has handed fans its fair share of surprises. With teams such as Chelsea struggling in both the Premier League and the European competition, and with sides like Barcelona that seem to be cruising in every tournament despite all their absences, Europe's top club competition could be saving the best for the last two matchdays.
Here's a quick recap of how things went down today in Groups E,F,G and H.
Group E
Barcelona strolled past BATE Borisov for the fourth time in a row, making their chances of progression better than ever. Only a catastrophy would make Los Blaugranas miss the knockout stage, and given Neymar's shining moment, things seem to be lining up for the defending champions. Today, the Brazilian player scored a brace to lead Los Blaugranas' efforts against Belarusian BATE, defeating them 3-0.
Neymar is quickly earning a superstar status with Barcelona.
Ronaldinho in the CL: 35 games, 14 goals. Neymar in the CL: 24 games, 16 goals. Neymar is only 23 pic.twitter.com/KWSNooTa9x
— Neymar Jr. (@NeyMarvellous) November 5, 2015
In the other match of this group, Roma had a two-goal lead cancelled against Bayer Leverkusen, but Miralem Pjanic's penalty helped them secure three points. The Giallorossi's other goals were scored by Mohamed Saleh and Edin Dzeko, while Mehmedi and Chicharito Hernández made it 2-2 for Die Werkself.
Group E after four games
Group E: Barcelona can still be caught by Roma and Leverkusen. But will they be? #UCL pic.twitter.com/y7fxkNuTqn
— Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) November 4, 2015
Group F
Aside from Bayern's walk-in-the-park against Arsenal, Olympiakos came from behind against Dinamo Zagreb thanks to a couple of goals by Felipe Pardo. The Greek champions will make it hard for Arsenal to qualify, since the Gunners will now need to win both of their remaining games -including a showdown in Greece- and hope their goal differential helps them out.
Bayern and Olympiakos are tied with 9 points, but can the Greek side hold on to the Group's second ticket for the knockout stage?
#UCL Group F... Bayern and Olympiacos fly high. Arsenal prop up the table. pic.twitter.com/34pxrWn2u4
— Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) November 4, 2015
Group G
FC Porto is letting the world know that their 2014-2015 Champions League season was not based on luck, as they strolled past Maccabi with a 3-1 score. Cristian Tello, André André and Mexican left back Miguel Layun scored for the Dragons, while Eran Zahavi scored for the hosts. During this game, Iker Casillas tied Xavi Hernández as the players with the most wins in Champions League history. The group's second place belongs to Chelsea, thanks to a late free kick goal by Willian.
"Number of games won in the UEFA Champions League"
Más victorias en UEFA Champions League: [91] @CasillasWorld y Xavi [79] Raúl [74] Giggs [73] Cristiano [67] Puyol [66] Iniesta [65] Seedorf
— MisterChip (Alexis) (@2010MisterChip) November 4, 2015
Dynamo's chances of eliminating Chelsea will depend heavily on what they can do against The Dragons during Matchday 5, while Mou's Blues face Maccabi in Tel Aviv.
As things stand after tonight's games in Group G. #UCL pic.twitter.com/bsDXErLiTP
— Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) November 4, 2015
Group H
Zenit St. Petersburg is stealing the show in a group that was supposed to be dominated by Valencia and Lyon, but experts may have to thinnk twice about that, since the French side is about to be eliminated from the competition with just one point. The team from Russia has already booked their ticket for the knockout stage, winning every game so far and conceding only four goals in the same number of matches.
Zenit defeated Lyon thanks to a brace by Artem Dzyuba, while Valencia complicated their next-round hopes after losing against Gent 1-0.
Should Zenit be considered as title contenders given their performance in the tournament?
Group H makes for nice viewing if you're a @fczenit_en fan! Still all to play for below the leaders. #UCL pic.twitter.com/e5E4Jnk0Kt
— Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) November 4, 2015