Champions League review: Barcelona unstoppable, Manchester United unremarkable

Will anyone stop Lionel Messi and Barcelona?

Lionel Messi doesn’t appear to have lost any sharpness after missing two months with a knee injury. After coming off the bench in the second half of the clásico – just so Real Madrid didn’t bother trying anything funny – he was back in Barcelona’s starting line-up on Tuesday night and played like a man who wasmaking up for lost time against Roma. Messi scored twice, the first a delicious dink over Wojciech Szczesny at the end of a superb team move that was full of flicks, tricks and feints and there was more evidence that the best player in the world gets a buzz out of Neymar and Luis Suárez, laughing and joking with the other members of Barcelona’s front three as they trotted on to the pitch. What fun those three must have – how about that volley from Suárez? Barcelona’s 6-1 victory sealed first place in Group E and at the moment it looks like only a fully-fit Bayern Munich can stop them. Jacob Steinberg

Another forgettable night at Old Trafford

There was a moment in the second half at Old Trafford when Luuk De Jong took on Daley Blind on the edge of United’s penalty area, bought himself a little space and then, falling backwards, speared a shot high and wide of goal. It was the kind of incident that has no place on any self-respecting highlights package, and seeing it on ITV’s round-up show later in the evening was evidence of the kind of bullet those who decided not to watch the game live had dodged. In his match report for the Guardian Daniel Taylor describes “a perplexing lack of action”, all the more distressing if you’re in charge of picking out the best bits for broadcast. One person who enjoyed himself at Old Trafford, however, was the PSV coach Phillip Cocu. “I am very excited about this result,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed our tactical play, our attitude and our way of playing overall. I am very proud.” His team appeared to enjoy it too, performing link-armed fan-rushing group celebrations at the end of a kind that normally indicate at the very least heroic qualification for the quarter-finals, rather than a goalless draw and the mere possibility of progress to the round of 16 – reliant on this instance on them beating CSKA Moscow at home while United lose or draw at Wolfsburg (their apparent assumption that United are incapable of winning at the third-best side in the Bundesliga is something of an indictment of the English side’s current malaise). There was one notable moment in the match, though: towards the end Jesse Lingaard grappled with Santiago Arias, who after feeling some contact on his ear flung himself to the turf clutching his face and started rolling around. It was ludicrously overdramatic, but also perhaps fitting for a player called Arias to act like a diva. Simon Burnton

Mourinho will relish watching Casillas’s error again and again

Porto find themselves in a pickle after their unbeaten run came to an end in their2-0 home defeat by Dynamo Kyiv, a result that leaves them needing to beat Chelsea in their final game to guarantee a place in the last 16. Although they are still top of Group G, Porto would plunge into the Europa League if they draw at Stamford Bridge and Dynamo beat Maccabi Tel-Aviv, who are pointless at the bottom of the group. Three teams would finish on 11 points in that scenario and a head-to-head mini-league that excludes results against Maccabi would be created to separate them, with goal difference used as the deciding factor. Chelsea only need a point because theirs is zero, but Dynamo are on plus one thanks to some horrific goalkeeping from Iker Casillas, whose farcical attempt to save Derlis González’s chip in the 64th minute means that Porto are on minus one. Once regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the world, Casillas has become an obvious weak link and it will presumably not be lost on him that his mistake could help the man with whom he fell out so acrimoniously at Real Madrid. José Mourinho must have had a good laugh when he saw González’s goal and Chelsea’s manager will be targeting Casillas on 9 December