Best of Three: Are BK Häcken going to upset the applecart?

Plus Barcelona's tactical tweak and PSG's woes

When the Champions League groups were drawn, there was some disappointment about ones where there was going to be an obvious winner but two gameweeks in it is interesting to see which teams are leading the race to be the second-placed teams. In Group B, Brann have made it two wins from two with a 1-0 win over Slavia Praha which they just about held onto having spurned a number of chances early on in the game. They now look in a very strong position to advance with Lyon.

In Group A meanwhile, Benfica got an important first win over Rosengard which will set up December’s fixtures against Eintracht Frankfurt nicely as those two sides look set to battle it out for second. BK Häcken remain the surprise leaders in Group D whilst Group C continues to look incredibly tight after Roma beat Ajax and Bayern Munich beat Paris Saint-Germain. 

Are BK Häcken going to cause an upset in Group D?

Sitting atop of the table in Group D with six points is the somewhat surprising name of BK Häcken. Wins against Paris FC and Real Madrid have put them in a strong position for qualification, with the Swedish team taking both sides by surprise. This week, Häcken came from a goal down to win 2-1 against a Real Madrid team plagued by the same issues that they had against Chelsea. Here they managed to have a lot more possession but struggled to use it effectively, resorting to efforts from a long way outside the area. In the end they only had thirteen touches in the penalty area, and they looked disorganised when Häcken began to attack in the second half. Both of Häcken’s finishes were very good but Real Madrid left themselves open to a comeback like this one.

Häcken find themselves in an interesting position in this group (as do a number of other teams which participate in summer leagues) in that this represents the end of their season. Right now, they are in good form, seemingly getting over the disappointment of losing the Damallsvenskan on the final day to Hammarby. But how that changes as we head into December and January with not many matches on the table will be interesting to see. 

How did Barcelona turn it around against Eintracht Frankfurt?

When Eintracht Frankfurt took a 1-0 lead over Barcelona the comeback felt somewhat inevitable unfortunately. Eintracht had started well with a narrow pressing structure that was helping limit the areas Barcelona wanted to play in, with them struggling to exploit the space that was available out wide. When Laura Freigang put them ahead, there was a sense that if they could keep their structure they might be able to keep hold of something.

That was not the case however as a half time switch from Jonatan Giraldez helped Barcelona exploit the space out wide. Switching Salma Paralluelo from the left wing into the striker role with Mariona moving out wider helped create additional space for Ona Batlle, who no longer had a touchline hugging winger ahead of her. Salma scored the equaliser soon after the change as she outmuscled the Eintracht defence. More goals followed soon after with Aitana scoring from a corner before Salma got her second. 

The ability to make these kinds of in-game adjustments has helped Barcelona become increasingly versatile. Teams want to come up with a game plan based on how they think Barcelona will play but if they change that within the game, they struggle to readjust themselves. But at the same time, future opponents of Barcelona will look with interest at how well Eintracht frustrated them, even if it was only for one half.

Are PSG going to go out in the group stages?

Paris Saint-Germain currently sit bottom of Group C with zero points having lost first to Ajax and then to Bayern Munich. The Ajax loss was the more shocking of the two but it had made this home match against Bayern extra important. 

Neither side were that impressive in this match. Bayern only had two shots on target and created an xG of 0.5 outside of their goal. But PSG continue to look disjointed, relying heavily on runs made by Grace Geyoro and Tabitha Chawinga. The return of Marie-Antoinette Katoto, who came off at half time in this match, has not been the attacking reboot it might have seemed. 

Fortunately for PSG, the nature of this group means that there is plenty of time for them to still turn it around. There are going to be a number of twists and turns, and no one team has looked clearly better than the others so far. But this is a long term issue for the Parisian club who have lurched from drama to drama over the past couple of years. The lack of plan both on and off the pitch continues to be clear.