The S-Thread #1 For 10/3/12 (Third Version): 2012-13 UEFA Champions League Group Stage Matchday 4

The Group of Death provided great drama two weeks ago, and it shall do the same tonight, as City and Ajax look for much needed big results at home.

Dynamo Kiev need to give a better performance today in a match they should and must win against Zagreb.

This thread will be updated at halftime and at fulltime.

HALFTIME

1) Another Roberto Mancini flob so far in Europe, with Dzeko over Tevez and Balotelli? Weird.

2) Madrid are slowly getting back to full form, and a great job to weather the Ajax storm in Holland.  

3) Arsenal looking with more hangover for sure from Saturday.

4) Great start for Kiev in a must win at home against Zagreb. 

5) The road teams have been very impressive tonight for the most part, so far. 

Fulltime thoughts 

1) Despite getting a late penalty from Balotelli to save his bacon, it was another lethargic display lacking in quality from a Roberto Mancini side in UEFA club play. 

2) Malaga so far this season, even without the service of Baptista, looks like La Liga has finally a legitimate third elite team in the Champions League besides the big two of Barcelona and Real Madrid. Eliseu and Isco have been class all year.

3) While Mancini struggles again, it seems rising force Jurgen Klopp has figured out the Champions League now after the learning experience it was last year for Dortmund. 

4) Today could be the performance that turns around AC Milan's season, as Zenit drop key points at home and look in serious trouble of not progressing to the knockout stages. 

5) And while Dortmund was unfortunate to get the win in Manchester, Schalke let a valuable three points slip away and gave a priceless tie to Montpellier through Camera's great late tally for the Ligue 1 champions. 

Team of the Day at about 20-25 minutes time as of this post's third version.  Hard to pick one since there were a lot of great offensive performances. 

And now, the Team of the Night: 

Hart; Marcelo, Wellington (Malaga), Jenkinson (Arsenal); Ait-Famna (Montpellier), Moutinho, Eliseu (Malaga) Reus;  El Shaarawy (Milan), Ronaldo, Benzema

Another great night of Champions League fixtures has concluded. The group stages resume in a few weeks time, but until then for the UEFA Champions League coverage at The Whole Delivery, see you later.