Not being involved in European football this season, courtesy of the first-half of last season carnage, I`ve tried to distance myself from the Champions League this season.
However, faced with very little else to watch last night, I must confess that I tuned in to coverage of the two games being played, the clash between Manchester City and Monaco and the fixture between Bayer Leverkusen and Atletico Madrid.
Both, I have to say, were entertaining matches and made me yearn for the return of Champions League football to Stamford Bridge.
Watching the City v Monaco game it was interesting to see Radamel Falcao in action. After his failed loan-spells with Manchester United and Chelsea, many football pundits has written the striker off as being finished.
But over in Monte Carlo, the striker has been re-born. Last night he scored a brace, as Monaco snatched a 5-3 defeat from the jaws of victory. The first was a decent diving header and the second was a beautiful chip over the stranded keeper.
However, Falcao should have left the Etihad Stadium with a hat-trick. Presented with a spot-kick, Falcao made an awful mess of the situation, trying to fool the keeper with a stutter in his run but only proceeding in chipping the ball straight into the arms of the keeper.
But the brace he scored last night takes his season total to 21 with his resurgence silencing a few critics.
Over in Germany, Atletico Madrid showed that they could be a force to be reckoned with in the latter stages of the Champions League.
They were far too good for Bayer Leverkusen winning by a margin of 4-2. The final goal being scored by somebody who will also have a place in our hearts when it comes to the Champions League, Fernando Torres, with the former Chelsea striker heading home a decent cross.
Here`s hoping nothing disastrous happens between now and the end of the season and the name of Chelsea Football Club is back in the European pot come the 2017 / 2018 season.
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