Hopeless defending

The art of defending was forgotten on Tuesday night in the UEFA Champions League. The upside: amidst the flood of 40 goals in eight matches, there was barely a moment to consider it might be more bad, than good, for football. But, on closer inspection, there were a number of situations where sides who are normally good enough at this level defended miserably.

In Rome, Bayern really reached a pinnacle that left Roma crumbling as they won their game 7-1 and became the first team in the Champions League to score five goals in the first half away from home. But, while Bayern's performance was special, there more than enough opportunities for the home side to prevent their German victors from reaching top gear.

Arjen Robben's cut in and shot from the left is as predictable as it is effective, but it is still baffling why defenders can't push him wide more often. Mario Götze's interplay with Thomas Müller for the second goal was impressive, but he too could have been closed down quicker. There was no marking for Robert Lewandowski's header and after that, it was clear that Roma had lost their focus.

Mastery rather than foolery followed as Bayern's shifting formation and remarkable fluidity - Lewandowski regularly dropped deep and was then overlapped by midfielders, as best seen for Robben's second goal - left the home side chasing shadows. Aside from their interplay and pressing, it was Bayern's relentless sticking of the knife that made the defending so difficult, after the third goal.

Bad marking, ball watching and penalties

Schalke's inability to defend in clutch moments is nothing new really, but under new coach Roberto Di Matteo it was surprising to see them lurch back to old ways against Sporting Lisbon. In the end, they managed to score one more goal than their guests, but it wasn't pretty. In one instance, their entire defense surged to the front post to defend a cross, leaving a man free at the back post - nothing short of rookie. Nani's opening goal was also preventable: no low corner should ever reach an opponent in the box like that.

In London, Slovenian minnows Maribor was another one of the teams to suffer a real drubbing on Tuesday night. A combination of some bad luck and a bit too much ball watching against Chelsea, meant they eventually lost 6-0. Only Eden Hazard's final strike, the last goal of the game, was truly unstoppable it could be argued.

In Barcelona, Ajax Amsterdam didn't defend the wings well enough, but against the speed of play that Lionel Messi and Neymar offered it is perhaps understandable. Manchester City were guilty of simply giving the ball and the game away in Russia against CSKA.

But it was Belarussian side BATE Borisov that came out looking the worst on Tuesday night as their opponents, Shakhtar Donetsk, hardly delivered a lightning performance yet still ran out 7-0 winners. From optimistic offside appeals, to the sheer abandonment of marking and two silly penalties, BATE offered Shakhtar countless chances to score. The game was memorable for another record though: Shakhtar's Brazilian striker Luiz Adriano become the first player ever to score four goals in the first half of a Champions League game.

Entertaining or not?

The art of defending extends to goalkeepers as well though, of course and although often defenders left their final man abandoned, there were some exceptions. In the Porto vs. Bilbao game, Bilbao's goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz should have done better for instance. Iraizoz's lack of a save against Ricardo Quaresma's shot on goal clearly cost his side the chance of a point.

Against Paris St. Germain, APOEL were defeated at home thanks to an opportunistic goal from Edison Cavani, on a night when the home side probably deserved a point. Amongst the Paris players, it should be noted that 50 million euro ($63.57 million) defender David Luiz did put in a decent defensive performance, contrary to the trend of the night.

So, perhaps it wasn't just a case of poor defending. There were a few bad referee decisions - none more so than Schalke's last-minute penalty - and there were also some outstanding performances - Bayern the most impressive. Still, the collective inability of teams to regain their focus after conceding was widespread and made the evening more of a YouTube compilation than a high-quality contest between Europe's top footballing teams.