Neymar's best Barca game? Five things we learned from the Champions League this week
The Brazilian shone in the 6-1 thrashing of Roma,
Iker Casillas produced a clanger against Dynamo Kiev and Thomas Muller
broke another record on matchday five
Bayern Munich stayed perfect in their home fixtures but Manchester United came unstuck. Elsewhere, Paris St-Germain impressed on Zlatan's Malmo homecoming while Juventus completed a double over Manchester City.
Here's the story of matchday five.
Luis Suarez scored two, Lionel Messi scored two and Neymar missed a penalty. Looking at the top-line figures you could be forgiven for thinking that the Brazilian had a poor game. That would be to ignore, however, his 90-minute contribution in Barcelona's 6-1 demolition of Roma - perhaps his finest game in a Barca shirt to date.
Yes, his penalty was lax and his experiments with a new style of taking spot kicks have yet to bear fruit but elsewhere his game is better than ever.
His through ball to Dani Alves, who then set up Suarez for the first goal, was straight out of the playmakers' handbook. His dribble and one-twos got Barca going for the second. It was his excellent cross which was eventually smashed home by Suarez for the third.
He cut in from the right and exchanged passes with Suarez before Messi teed up Gerard Pique for the fourth. His outrageous piece of control preceded Suarez setting up Messi's second and Barca's fifth while he won the penalty from which Adriano eventually profited.
"It's very good for the team to have them up front," coach Luis Enrique said of his front three afterwards. "They make our entire team better."
Neymar weaved his magic all over this game but was, perhaps, too far back in the moves for all the goals to make the highlights reel. Nonetheless, he revelled in the 'pass before the pass'; out of the limelight but allowing Messi and Suarez to gorge themselves.
Gone is the flashy hairstyle and the moments of provocation that once characterised this young "crack" who seemed destined for the top since emerging as a teenager. He is letting his feet do the talking.
Dynamo Kyiv became the first visiting side to win at the Estadio do Dragao for 11 months courtesy of this surprising 2-0 win and Porto are paying a heavy price for a certain goalkeeper's error.
Iker Casillas's late Real Madrid career was punctuated by silly mistakes which were happening far too frequently to be written off as anomalies. He was unceremoniously dropped by Jose Mourinho as well as for league duty under his replacement Carlo Ancelotti. His latest blunder, which gifted Dynamo Kiev their crucial second goal on Tuesday night and cost Porto their first defeat of the season, could have wide repercussions.
Casillas allowed a simple Derlis Gonzalez lob over his head while making a half-hearted attempt to stop it one-handedly leaving the Portuguese giants with next to no chance of making a late comeback and claiming the solitary point they needed to qualify. Now they must go to London and win against former manager Jose Mourinho and his Chelsea side.
"It was a fast shot which surprised me," Casillas told the press after. "I thought I deflected [it] over the bar. Clearly, the fault is mine."
It becomes all the more galling when you factor in Dynamo's 90th-minute equaliser in the reverse fixture in the autumn. Julen Lopetegui is taking his fair share of the blame for this defeat with the Portuguese media questioning his decision to drop talisman Andre Andre and casting the result as the beginning of a crisis.
Porto fans will be consoling themselves with the fact that Stamford Bridge is not the fortress it once was - even if they have never won on English soil - while Casillas prepares for another showdown with his former Real Madrid nemesis Mourinho.
Thomas Muller became the youngest player to win 50 Champions League matches following Bayern Munich's 4-0 hammering of Olympiacos on Tuesday night. The 26-year-old eclipsed the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in achieving the record - a landmark which underlines just how dominant Bayern have been on the continental scene since Muller made his breakthrough under Louis van Gaal.
From a gangly second striker with unrefined technique, Muller has grown into one of the most sought-after players in world football with sums as high as €100m being discussed in relation to his transfer value. He has won almost everything on offer in the game; a Euro 2016 title with Germany will just about top off the collection, but there is no suggestion that Muller is going to slow down or stop learning. He is a strong, forceful personality who has yet to hit his peak.
Muller was, predictably, on target in the defeat of the Greek champions - a victory which completed a sequence of comprehensive Champions League group stage home wins for Bayern, and has now registered 19 goals in 20 matches this season. Those numbers, especially for a player who is not the focal point of an attack, simply defy belief.
Nonetheless, no prizes are handed out in the winter and Bayern must beware the wheels coming off in spring as has happened in their previous two Champions League campaigns.
"The road ahead is still tough," Muller said. "We want to win the thing. Obviously, that's not exactly a given, as there are a few teams with the same target. It'll be much tighter once we get to the quarters and semis, but we're well on track.
A showdown with Barcelona looms - perhaps in the final at San Siro. Muller and Bayern will be aware that it will be the only victory which will be truly worth celebrating come the end of the season.
Before the Champions League group stages started, the relationship between Andre Villas-Boas and Zenit St Petersburg looked set to expire. He was handed a six-match touchline ban for shoving an assistant referee, he fell out with some of the Zenit "old guard" including Andriy Arshavin and Aleksandr Kerzhakov and results just wouldn't go his team's way despite the heavy contingent of expensive overseas players in his line-up.
Zenit are still struggling to match the pace of CSKA Moscow, currently in fourth and seven points behind, and to that extent nobody could have predicted the turnaround in their form on the continental stage.
Villas-Boas, in his final season at the club, has presided over five consecutive Champions League victories and has qualified Zenit to the last 16 as group winners with a game to spare. Their latest win came against a depleted Valencia in St Petersburg on Tuesday night courtesy of Oleg Shatov and Artem Dzyuba.
"Our players are now playing intelligently and it was a great result for Zenit, Russian football and our image," said AVB.
Villas-Boas has complained about the foreign player quotas in the RPL so there might be a certain element of irony in two Russians netting the goals to win the game on Tuesday.
Nonetheless, it is in the Champions League and with a full complement of foreigners that Zenit have indeed done their best work. Hulk and Danny were again imperious against the Spaniards.
Only six teams have gone on to win all six group stage matches in the Champions League and Zenit could be set to join a very select band of clubs before the knockouts begin in spring.
Ordinarily a match between Malmo and Paris St-Germain would not garner all that much attention, especially since the fate of Group A was wrapped up well before kick-off. Given the identity of the chief protagonist, however, it is perhaps no surprise that so many eyes were drawn as PSG travelled to Zlatan Ibrahimovic's hometown in southern Sweden on matchday five.
The man himself could scarcely have imagined it could go so well. PSG dominated, winning 5-0, and he himself scored a beautiful curling effort before departing to a standing ovation from four corners of the ground. Zlatan thereby ensured that his compatriots, as well as those French fans who have taken him to their hearts, got a decent evening's entertainment as he promised on the eve of the game.
"When I realised we were going to play in Malmo, I told myself I was going to rent the square," he said at the pre-match press conference. "It took some time, but I got help from the club. I really wanted everyone to see this match. This will be an incredible party."
And it was. But that match which everyone anticipated is now concluded. Zlatan's PSG career is undoubtedly winding down with his contract expiring and new terms unsigned. He has won all there is to win on the domestic scene with the Parisians but Champions League glory has, thus far, remained out of his reach.
He's had the memorable send-off in his own home stadium; can he and his team-mates go all the way to the Champions League final at another of his old stomping grounds, San Siro where he thrilled Inter and Milan fans alike, and give the great man the title that eludes him?
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