UEFA Champions League 2013: Arsenal, Chelsea and Barca all notch wins

Lionel Messi’s absence was felt strongly, even though Barcelona managed a victory. Even with the rest of their key attackers healthy, the Blaugrana’s attack was seriously lacking throughout the game.

The first half was an outrageously dull affair, with neither team creating anything. Victor Valdes had to make a stop on a weak shot by Giorgios Samaras in the 5th minute, and there would not be another shot on target for the rest of the period. Barcelona had no problem keeping 80 percent possession, but couldn’t muster so much as a respectable half-chance.

Dortmund’s first goal was by far the best football of the night, as an attacking free-kick from the visitors was easily cleared before the hosts embarked on a sweeping counter-attack which found Henrik Mkhitaryan in space down the right channel. It looked as though the best option for the Armenian was to shoot, but he elected to chip the ball across the crowd in the area to Marco Reus, who played a fantastic short pass for the onrushing Robert Lewandowski to tap in from point-blank range.

A counter from a set-piece once again provided an opening for Dortmund shortly afterwards, but Lewandowski’s near-post finish was not high enough to prevent Steve Mandanda from getting across to keep the ball out.

Zenit huffed and puffed throughout the first half, but they couldn’t quite manage to break down the visiting defence. The closest they came was after Hulk and Danny exchanged passes in the area, with the former eventually forcing a fine save from Heinza Lindner, but considering the amount of pressure they were putting on Vienna it’s shocking that they didn’t manage to grab a goal before the break.

Indeed, it was actually the visitors who looked more like scoring. They had a penalty appeal turned down after Ogor Smolnikov was (correctly) adjudged to have fouled Daniel Royer outside the area rather than inside, and Royer showed himself worth fouling when his vicious, swerving strike nearly caught out Juri Lodigin midway through the half. Philipp Hosiner could also have put Vienna on the board when he pounced on a poor pass from Viktor Faizulin, but his 25-yard shot was deflected just wide.

With Borussia Dortmund losing to Napoli and Marseille to Arsenal on the opening Champions League matchday, there’s pressure on both sides to bounce back on Tuesday. The two teams go face-to-face in Dortmund, with hosts and last year’s finalists clear favourites heading in.

Despite having to contend with a fairly lengthy injury list, Dortmund have only dropped a couple of points in the Bundesliga so far this season. They’ll be without Sebastian Kehl, İlkay Gündoğan, Marcel Schmelzer, Łukasz Piszczek and goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller on Tuesday evening -- all regular faces -- though their impressive league form suggests they have the squad depth to cope.

Both of these sides are in great form -- Arsenal sit top of the Premier League while Napoli are still unbeaten this season -- and picked up impressive wins on the opening Champions League matchday, adding to the intrigue yet further.

Arsenal injuries and suspensions