The first legs of the Champions League second round games didn’t bring any surprise results, but thanks to a general cautiousness over the two weeks - seven of the remaining 16 clubs failed to score - all eight ties hang in the balance.
A more pessimistic reading is that the wealth disparity between the top clubs and the rest has made results more predictable as individual quality trumps tactical intelligence; Manchester City and Real Madrid were given scares by
Schalke and Ajax respectively, only for the difference in class to shine through late on.