The unpredictability of the Champions League

The Champions League group stage is always full of drama and excitement. 32 teams battle it out and the clubs from the top five European face league champions from some of the lower ranked nations. There are no easy games in the Champions League and Real Madrid know that better than anybody. 

Group B of the 2020-21 Champions League is the most unpredictable of all of them. Real Madrid were trailing in both their games in the group stage so far. After a shock defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk and a draw against Borussia Monchengladbach, Real Madrid's odds have dropped from +1600 to +2000 and it's now sitting bottom of their group. It is impossible to call who will progress though.

When the group stage draw was made, it was expected that Inter Milan and Real Madrid would ease through the group while Monchengladbach and Shakhtar would fight for the Europa league spot. However, after two matchdays, the latter two occupy the top two spots. Shakhtar winning 2-3 at Madrid after being 0-3 up and Gladbach drawing 2-2 with the Spanish club after having a 2-0 advantage are not the only surprise results.

Monchengladbach would have won at Inter had it not been for a late Lukaku goal and there have been surprises elsewhere. Despite Barcelona beating Ferencvaros 5-1, it was far from straight forward as the Hungarians had a goal disallowed and looked dangerous in the first 15 minutes of the contest. Man City also had to come from behind in their victory over Porto and Salzburg were 1-2 up at Atletico Madrid before losing, more proof there are no easy matches in European's biggest club competition.

As well as shock results, fans have been richly entertained in the first two matchdays so far. Juventus' clash with Barcelona, despite lacking the presence of Cristiano Ronaldo, was very end to end. Juve striker Alvaro Morata even had three goals disallowed for offside in the contest. Atalanta have been firing in the goals once again and Rennes have also given a good account of themselves on their CL debut.

It is still very early days, but there are set to be many more surprises over the next four matchdays and there is plenty of thrilling action to come. It would not be unexpected to see one of the big clubs ended up getting knocked out in the group stage.