Champions League Round-Up: Arsenal show the way, humiliation for Leicester and Zidane's run goes on

Arsenal top their group with impressive Lucas, but is it enough?

Congratulations to Arsenal. Their performances were enough to top their Champions League group, but as Rio Ferdinand pointed out on Tuesday evening, they do not have the quality to make a serious impact on the tournament. There is no shame in not being able to compete with Juventus, the top three Spanish sides or Bayern Munich, but it must be quite trying as an Arsenal fan or player.

To go to Basel is a stiff test. It is one that should be passed, but nevertheless, it is an examination of a team that has a propensity to wilt under pressure. Arsenal didn’t, and Arsenal impressed. They were good enough to wipe the floor with Basel, and to look relatively untroubled throughout. They have Alexis Sanchez, but it was Lucas Perez - who scored a hat-trick - who took most of the attention and deserved plaudits.

Perez is a latecomer to success. Before he moved to Arsenal, he had trundled from Spain to Ukraine, then to Greece and back to Spain. There was no hint that he had a special talent. Indeed, there is no hint of that now. But with Mesut Ozil and Sanchez to help him, he could be an upgrade on Olivier Giroud. But his presence in the side explains just why Ferdinand is right to be confident that even though they finished first in their group, they remain short of the quality required.

Does Zinedine Zidane plan on ever losing again?

It must be weird being Zinedine Zidane. He doesn’t appear arrogant, despite being a playmaker who headbutted someone in the World Cup final, his last ever game. He doesn’t seem foolish, either. But he still took the Real Madrid job despite it being a job where you have to be manager for Real Madrid. He is the first manager at the club not to be ‘gifted’ an unasked-for superstar while the most important defensive players are removed from use, but he is also the first manager to be doing the job on what looks like a budget. But weirder than all that, he is six points clear at the top of the Liga, and now he has qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League, that he won last year as a caretaker manager, with as much chance of winning it as anyone else. Still, he sits there, probably having the occasional cigarette to take it all in. Florentino Perez must be wondering just how he can ruin it all and draw attention back to himself. Borussia Dortmund top the group, and that is a credit to Thomas Tuchel, but Zidane won’t even remember what defeat feels like with this side.

PSG struggling to keep up the steady improvements under Unai Emery

While Arsene Wenger did just enough, Unai Emery cannot be sure of the same. Before Emery came Carlo Ancelotti, and then Laurent Blanc. Ancelotti failed when he didn’t win the league in his first season, but he put together the basis of a side that Blanc improved. Blanc, too, was unspectacular, but his performances in Europe gradually improved against a background of domestic domination. There were problems, and Blanc was never the most inspiring man, but PSG were a European opponent to trouble all but the very best.

Emery came to PSG, and while he did not have a huge amount of money, he should have been used to that given his time at Sevilla, and there is enough talent in the squad to work with. He added, apparently sensibly, and it might still turn out an ameliorating appointment for PSG. But it isn’t working now. They have failed to find first place in the league, which is the minimum for the club. They have stuttered, they are far from ruthless, and the team is unsettled - there remain hints of indiscipline about them.

To Blanc’s credit, he was able to minimise complacency in the side, even if they never particularly thrilled. Emery has been unable to improve the top end, but as shown against Ludogorets, his team are starting to take their talent for granted - this will be punished in the knockout stages.

Leicester City take another risk with their morale

In some ways, Leicester could not win whatever they did. Leicester City have to play Manchester City at the weekend, and so they chose to not risk their best players. Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy weren’t in the starting line-up against their match against Porto. Ben Hamer, who wilfully has a silly beard, started in goal. It was a team that Claudio Ranieri fielded because he was more concerned with the Premier League to come, and that’s understandable: Leicester had already qualified for the Champions League knockout stages with an exceptionally run in the first five matches, and they are struggling domestically.

But it is hard to see how such a performance will help them. In the first half they conceded three goals, and had about a quarter of the possession in the game. Any players who do feature against Manchester City will remember the battering they took, in a season where the wheels are about to fly off, and the carriage is about to skid along on the pavement, any wins could be important. If Leicester fail to take at least a point at the weekend, then all Ranieri has done is give his side another miserable experience.

Spurs must choose whether to take the Europa League seriously

There’s something about the Europa League. When you’re out of Europe towards the end of the season, the vague glamour and serious otherness it offers an undeniable allure. To the fan, anyway. To managers, it is travel and hassle. For most English teams, there is more to be gained by continuing to focus on the league and to eschew the demands of the second-rung tournament.  It is a tournament to exit at the earliest opportunity.

That might not be the case this year. Manchester United, and now Spurs, are chasing Champions League places in the most competitive race for the top four in years. The quality might well be off, but the number of teams with a chance of qualifying has ramped up the difficulty. Mauricio Pochettino has a choice - to commit to a competition that is eminently winnable for a team as good as the one he has built, or gamble on achieving the top four.