ESPN FC's Steve Nicol reacts to Liverpool's great overall performance vs. Atletico Madrid. (1:07)
Matchday 4 of the Champions League organization degree noticed spherical-of-16 places clinched by means of Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Ajax, at the same time as Manchester United conjured every other late display. There had been narrow Barcelona and Real Madrid wins, but Paris Saint-Germain slipped up and Atletico Madrid and AC Milan continued to struggle.
We requested James Olley, Tom Hamilton and Andrew Richardson to answer some massive questions.
Olley: The curious relationship Liverpool fans have with Luis Suarez. His 59th-minute substitution at some point of Wednesday's 2-zero win over Atletico Madrid was belatedly greeted with muted applause but the home crowd had lengthy had their amusing as booing become heard. Suarez scored 82 dreams in 133 appearances throughout 3 seasons with the club to 2014 however changed into dogged by means of controversy, two times being banned for biting an opponent (as soon as on global duty with Uruguay) and serving a further suspension for racially abusing Patrice Evra for the duration of a fit against Manchester United in 2011.
In fairness, Suarez emphatically celebrated a purpose for Barcelona in opposition to Liverpool at some stage in their Champions League semifinal first leg in May 2019 and he spent a fair portion of the opposite fixture against Atletico kicking lumps out of Virgil van Dijk. But it become almost as though Reds fans loved an possibility to forged him as a pantomime villain. Liverpool's players infamously wore t-shirts in aid of Suarez as an investigation into the Evra incident took place. On Wednesday night, one fan in the back of the press field could be heard calling Suarez a "racist." How instances exchange.
Hamilton: Ajax beat Borussia Dortmund three-1 to turn out to be the first Dutch facet to win their commencing four organization games and are gambling with the identical self assurance that took them to the semifinals in 2018-19. Moreover, the membership's extremely good recruitment was there in red and white in the Westfalenstadion, with Sebastien Haller and Dusan Tadic grabbing a intention each.
Haller turned into unfancied at West Ham, but has been a revelation with seven goals in this season's organization degree and Tadic, picked up for £12 million from Southampton in 2018, ought to lay declare to being Ajax's excellent participant of the 21st century. Meanwhile, Erik ten Hag's stock continues to upward thrust as certainly one of Europe's satisfactory coaches, however this win changed into greater evidence of what may be executed whilst the complete system works in concord.
Elsewhere, Sporting Lisbon have been fantastic to watch with their all-out attack approach inside the four-0 victory against Besiktas, while Trent Alexander-Arnold turned into magnificent for Liverpool within the 2-zero win over Atletico Madrid. And if you want a performance of the spherical, look no further than Paulo Dybala's showing for Juventus within the four-1 win against Zenit.
Richardson: Atalanta centre-forward Duvan Zapata confirmed he is comfortable gambling at Champions League level towards a Manchester United backline containing one in all England's excellent defenders (Harry Maguire) and a 4-time winner of the competition (Raphael Varane).
Zapata has had moments in Serie A, but to superstar on the largest degree in opposition to considered one of the most important golf equipment in the sport is special. He might not score heaps of goals and is already 30, but the Colombia worldwide keeps defenders busy and creates area for others. Atalanta can also conflict to preserve preserve of him.
