In the off-season, Wayne Rooney was mentioned on many an occasion with a move away from Manchester United but the England striker seems to have settled down nicely with new manager David Moyes as he continued with his job of scoring goals.
At present, Rooney is top of the heap as main English scorer in the Champions League. His brace in United’s 4-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen left him with a total of 200 in all competitions, including 144 in the Premier League and 29 in the Champions League.
Much has been expected of Manchester City in Europe this season following the signing of new players and the arrival of new coach Manuel Pellegrini.
However, the side fell into ano-ther home hurdle last month (1-3 to Bayern Munich) that could see them missing out on the knock-out phase for a third straight year.
The next round of competition will be played next week.
Group A
Manchester United: Four points.
Home vs Bayern Leverkusen 4-2; Away vs Shakhtar Donetsk 1-1.
Despite dropping two points in their last match at Shakhtar Donetsk, Manchester United are bound to progress to the knock-out stages.
They are currently topping the group standings with four points along with Shakhtar Donetsk. Leverkusen are on three points.
On Wednesday, United play Real Sociedad at Old Trafford. These two teams will cross swords for the first time in Europe.
Real Sociedad visited England once before, in 1976, for a clash against Liverpool in the UEFA Cup. Liverpool went through 9-1 on aggregate.
Group D
Manchester City: Three points.
Away vs Victoria Plzen 3-0; Home vs Bayern Munich 1-3.
City are three points behind leaders Bayern. Their two upcoming encounters against CSKA Moscow are crucial since the Russians are also on the three-point mark. This will be the Blues’ first meeting with CSKA.
Group F
Arsenal: Six points.
Away vs Fenerbahce 2-0; Home vs Napoli 2-0.
Arsene Wenger admitted that he has an obsession in trying to win the Champions League and in his opinion this could be Arsenal’s season.
The Gunners are currently top of their group followed by Napoli and Borussia Dortmund on three points. Next Tuesday they play Dortmund at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal have met the German team in 2011-12 in two group matches, attaining four points following an away draw (1-1) and a home win (2-1).
Group E
Chelsea: Three points.
Home vs Basel 1-2; Away vs Steaua Bucharest 4-0.
No team are out of the reckoning if they drop points in their early excursions but clubs like Chelsea always seek to finish first in their group to avoid complications.
At the moment, Chelsea are sharing second spot with Basel on three points, three adrift of group leaders Schalke 04.
Next Tuesday, the Blues travel to Germany to face Schalke.
Celtic pointless
Celtic have high hopes of chalking up their first group points at home to Ajax next week.
The Hoops lost their first two matches (away to Milan 0-2 and home to Barcelona 0-1).
Celtic are rock bottom in their group and Ajax only managed one point from two matches.
This will be the fourth time that Celtic and Ajax will be meeting in European competitions.
2001-02 (Champions League) Celtic-Ajax – A 3-1, H 0-1 (agg: 3-2).
1982-83 (European Cup) Celtic-Ajax − H 2-2, A 2-1 (4-3).
1970-71 (European Cup) Celtic-Ajax − A 0-3, H 1-0 (1-3).