Harry Kane dominates on the big stage, Bernardo Silva proves Man City depth and which Liverpool star beats Ronaldo, Neymar and Messi in the assist charts?
SunSport reviews the first week of the Champions League that saw brilliant performances from three English clubs
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Another satisfying week’s work in the Champions League for English clubs, with comprehensive wins for Manchester City and Liverpool all but guaranteeing their place in the quarter-finals and Spurs rallying brilliantly to get a well-deserved draw against Juventus.
The focus now switches to next week’s ties with Manchester United away at Sevilla and Chelsea hosting the event’s minnows Barcelona.
Five teams in the quarters?
It’s still on!
KANE IS ABLE…
Another goal for Harry Kane and the Spurs star has now equalled the record for the most goals scored (7) by an English player in a single Champions League season.
He really does have it all. He can score with either foot, and his head, he scores every type of goal and, at 24, he’s got age on his side too.
So what is he worth in today’s market?
And if he has a decent World Cup with England? What then?
The trouble for Spurs is they simply can’t keep him, not just because it would mean turning down a probable world record bid for him, but because he knows that the likes of Alexis Sanchez is getting three times what’s he’s getting (after tax too) and Spurs will never be able to pay anywhere close to that.
SILVA DREAM MACHINE
Earlier in the season you could have been forgiven for thinking that Bernardo Silva was only ever going to get a spot on the Manchester City bench or a start in a cup game.
But he’s rapidly becoming invaluable to Pep Guardiola’s pursuit of the quadruple, especially with David Silva drifting in and out of the side.
The Portuguese got the nod against Basel on Tuesday – his 19th start of the season – and duly delivered again, chipping in with a goal too.
It now means he’s scored in the Premier League, the FA Cup, the League Cup and the Champions League this season.
And that’s not too shabby.
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L’IL JIM…
Guess which player has the most assists in the Champions League this season?
Nope, not Kevin De Bruyne (4).
No, it’s not Neymar (4).
And no, it isn’t Eden Hazard either (3).
It’s James Philip Milner.
Yes, after another ultra-reliable performance against Porto, the Liverpool workhorse now has seven assists in the competition, leaving the game’s megastars trailing in his wake.
WHAT DO GOALS MAKE?
Talking of Liverpool, the Reds now scored more goals than any other team in the Champions League this season – 28 - with 25 of them coming in the last five games.
That attacking prowess is all well and good in Europe but they’ll return home from Portugal to still find themselves 18 points behind Manchester City in the Premier League with a goal difference that’s 29 behind that of Pep Guardiola’s side.
Funny old game and all that…
TAKING THE CRIS…
Finally, we said in our Champions League preview earlier this week that reports of Cristiano Ronaldo’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.
And we were right.
We just won’t mention the fact that we predicted a PSG win, OK?
But two more goals on Wednesday night not only made it goals 100 and 101 in the Champions League for CR7, but also made it the seventh consecutive season where he’s scored 10 or more goals in the competition.
No other player has ever managed to do it more than twice.