Manchester City and Arsenal head for the exit

Two of England's Champions League hopefuls have been ruthlessly exposed by the best in Europe in the last couple of days.

The pattern of both games was remarkably similar, with both Manchester City and Arsenal having a player sent off and losing their games 2-0.

Those who claim that Barcelona have a weaker team than for several years may be right, but it was still far too good for the team some claim is the best in England, Manchester City. Barcelona dominated possession (68%-32%) and goals from Messi and Dani Alves in the last minute surely made the tie secure for the Catalans. City's usual attacking flair was never allowed to come to the fore and they looked impotent in the face of Barcelona's superiority.

On to Wednesday night and the pattern was pretty well repeated as Bayern Munich weathered an early storm from Arsenal. Mesut Ozil unforgivably missed a penalty, as did David Alaba of Bayern, but the latter award also resulted in the dismissal of Arsenal goalkeeper Wojchiech Szczesny, which effectively ended the match as a contest. Bayern eventually scored two goals and possession of 79%. They might have had more goals, but the tie is surely over (even with the memory of Arsenal's 2-0 win in Munich last year).

So, two of England's finest are on their way out of the competition. Maybe they're paying the price for not winning their groups.

Barcelona have no answers

Barcelona face an uphill struggle to qualify for the quarter finals of the Champions League after losing 2-0 to AC Milan in the first leg at the San Siro last night.

What went wrong?

Barcelona had a lot of possession, but lacked a cutting edge. Sounds a crazy thing to say when they've got a player who has just broken the record for the number of goals scored by an individual in a calendar year, but Lionel Messi was very quiet last night.

You have to give credit to the disciplined defence maintained by the Italian club. Apart from the fact that Italian teams have been doing just that for years, they must have learnt from the way Chelsea went about winning the trophy last season. Again last night, Barcelona had no answers.

It may not be what we want to see, but endless possession with very few shots (Barcelona last night) may not be what we want either!

Having watched Bayern Munich put Arsenal to the sword on Tuesday night, it may sound odd to say, "Come on the Germans!"

Manchester United face stern Champions League test

Real Madrid v Manchester United
AC Milan v Barcelona
Celtic v Juventus

There are some sumptuous ties in the next round of the Champions League.

Manchester United could hardly have a had a harder tie than the Madrid giants over two legs. The English league leaders will have to do it the hard way to get their place in the quarter final.

Barcelona, in scintillating form in the Spanish League, but now with the worries for their coach Tito Vilanova, will find it tough against AC Milan.

Celtic, fantastic achievers from the Scottish League and from a hard group, are rewarded with a tie against Italian league leaders Juventus (seven points clear).

Licking their wounds from an early Champions League exit and a World Club Cup defeat, Europa League qualifiers Chelsea took their frustrations out on Leeds United in the Capital One League Cup quarter-final last night. Their introduction to the Europa League will be a trip to Sparta Prague when the tournament resumes in 2013.

Modric, Fabregas: who's going to win and lose?

As the transfer mayhem continues throughout this miserable British summer, Tottenham Hotspur are holding out for more than £27m for Luka Modric; Arsenal have rejected a bid of £27m from Barcelona for Cesc Fabregas.

If those players eventually move - Modric to Chelsea, Fabregas to Barcelona - who will be the big winners and losers in the deals?

Tottenham: loser or winner by selling Modric for, let's say, £30m?
Chelsea: loser or winner by buying Modric for that price?
Arsenal: loser or winner by selling Fabregas to Barcelona for, let's say £35m?
Barcelona: loser or winner by buying Fabregas for that price?

I'd say:
Tottenham: winner, by getting so much for a player who didn't play that much last season.
Chelsea: probably a winner, given the lack of inspiration in their midfield for much of last season.
Arsenal: loser; they need top players; they need players.
Barcelona: Fabregas to improve their team? Really? Not now, but maybe in the future. Just about a winner.

So, I'd say:
Biggest loser: Arsenal.
Biggest winner: Tottenham.

But the game's all about opinions, isn't it?

Barcelona smash Real Madrid for five in awesome display

Watching Barcelona tear apart Real Madrid last night was awesome. The final score was 5-0, and Madrid can be grateful that Barcelona played some "Harlem-globetrotter" style possession football at times to show off their ability without threatening the Madrid goal for long periods.

To put this victory into perspective, Madrid were unbeaten this season, yet Barcelona made them look as though they were a whole division lower.

Xavi, Iniesta, Messi - incredible. But the whole team contributed to a sparkling display.

At times it was a fiery affair, and it wasn't always Madrid who were to blame, despite their heavy loss. Barcelona showed that they can stand up for themselves, but also be unnecessarily petty at times. On one occasion, manager Pep Guardiola was holding the ball after it had gone out of play for a Madrid throw. Over came Cristiano Ronaldo to take the throw, but Guardiola petulantly wouldn't give him back. As Ronaldo came closer Guardiola dropped the ball out of reach. Ronaldo, rightly angry, pushed the Barcelona boss in the chest, only for the latter to hold his face! Old player habits die hard, I suppose. It was a pathetic episode caused by the Barcelona manager, who should be bigger and better than that. Inevitably, of course, all hell broke loose and Ronaldo got the blame by the home players.

Nevertheless, the main story is that Barcelona looked amazing, unplayable and must be favourites to win everything they put their mind to.

Top European clubs face Champions League exit

Some of the most successful European clubs in European Cup and Champions League history face an exit at the group stage of the competition this season, including holders Barcelona.

Liverpool's failure to hold on to a 1-0 lead, succumbing to a late Lyon equaliser last night, has put them in peril of group exit. Indeed, it is highly unlikely that they will recover their position and they face the ignominy of joining the Europa League at its knock-out stage instead.

In Group F, it is actually possible that both Barcelona and Inter Milan could fail to qualify. The group is so tight that anything could happen. Barcelona, having lost at home to Rubin Kazan a couple of weeks ago, could only draw 0-0 with the same team in Russia, so will finish below them should the teams end up with the same number of points. Inter Milan leapt from last to first with their 2-1 late turn-around at Dynamo Kiev, but have only two more points (6) than Kiev in fourth. Rubin and Barcelona have 5 each.

In group A, it is Bayern Munich who are in real danger after they lost 2-0 at home to Bordeaux - who qualified as a result. Now, as well as hoping Juventus get nothing at Bordeaux in three weeks, Bayern will have to win their trip to Italy too. They are as unlikely as Liverpool to succeed.

Finally, in group C, both AC Milan and Real Madrid face tricky ties against Marseille to avoid being dumped out of the competition, especially Real, who visit Marseille on 8 December.