Champions League - Winners and Losers: Gunners finally remember how to fire

This column has not always been hugely gentle with a club whose motto these days may as well be ‘Fragile: Handle With Care’. But credit where credit is due: Arsenal were excellent against Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday evening, fully deserving of the 2-0 victory that booked their place in the Champions League knockout stages for, oh, the 3000th year in a row.

Ahead of kick-off, you worried for them. Nacho Monreal still at centre-back. No Wojciech Szczesny. Yaya Sanogo. Yet it was the much-maligned French striker who settled the nerves at a mist-swathed Emirates, nudging Arsenal ahead within two minutes. He ought to have added a second before the interval but it mattered little in the end, Alexis Sanchez making the result safe with a fine second-half strike.

The sceptics will note - and rightly so - that this is a Dortmund side languishing 16th in the Bundesliga. Yet Jürgen Klopp’s charges had won every one of their opening four games in Group D, scoring 13 goals in the process. They may not quite have the swagger of two seasons ago – especially when Marco Reus is absent, as he was here – but this was still a good scalp for Arsène Wenger. Bravo.

The Portuguese giants made an inauspicious start to Group G, drawing with Maribor before falling to frustrating narrow defeats to Chelsea (1-0 in Lisbon) and Schalke (4-3 in Gelsenkirchen). Yet after gaining revenge on the Germans, Marco Silva’s men now find themselves in with a real shout of progressing to the knockout stages thanks to a commanding win over Maribor.

Much of the optimism at the Alvalade can be traced back to the return of one of the club’s most famous sons (apart from, y’know, him): a revitalised Nani netted in both games against Schalke and did so again on Tuesday evening. It was a goal that summed the player up perfectly: a mazy solo dribble that threatened on more than one occasion to peter out but eventually culminated in a crackerjack finish into the corner.

“Things are going well for me at the moment,” the 28-year-old said after he game. “I'm very involved in the matches and that's what I want – to contribute to the success of the team.” Both Nani and Sporting will be hoping that inspiration continues to trump the pig-headedness that undermined his progress at Manchester United.

Sergio Agüero. Just say yes.

Bayer Leverkusen, Monaco, Zenit and Benfica… Group C is not exactly the most box-office of sections, but what it lacks in star power, it more than makes up for in gritty competitiveness.

And no one is more grittily competitive than Monaco. The Ligue 1 side had not scored a goal since the fortuitous win over Leverkusen in gameweek one (0-0 vs Zenit, 0-0 and 0-1 against Benfica) and were battered from start to finish by the Roger Schmidt’s side at the BayArena on Wednesday, yet managed to come away with maximum points again thanks to Lucas Ocampos’ breakaway goal on 72 minutes.

In a sense that makes them winners, of course. But they appear in our 'losers' section for good reason: Monaco can seal a place in the last-16 by avoiding defeat against Zenit in a fortnight, and if they do so via a 0-0 draw it will make them the first side in Champions League history to make it out of the group with just two goals.

Ludogorets are a good side, especially on home soil. Real Madrid almost came unstuck in Razgrad, while Basel went home with nothing at all. This is not an argument invoking any presumed historical superiority for Europe’s big-name sides against so-called minnows.

No. This is about defending, and goalkeeping, and generally being awake, none of which Liverpool are very good at.

There was the slow start, capped by Simon Mignolet’s butter-fingered attempt to grasp a long shot, which gifted Dani Abalo the opening goal in a match the Reds could not afford to lose. Then, after slavishly dragging themselves back into contention with goals from Rickie Lambert and Jordan Henderson (who also missed a sitter), Liverpool contrived to go to sleep at a corner, allowing Georgi Terziev to level late on.

Both Brendan Rodgers (“A good result… we are happy”) and Henderson (“There were a lot of positives”) desperately tried to put a constructive spin on the evening, but the truth is that Liverpool will have to do far better than this if they are to beat Basel and stay in the competition.

If they let in a goal in their final game against Athletic Club (and let's face it, they probably will), they will break the record for most goals conceded in a group stage. In a way, letting in an average of 4.4 goals per game (22 in five so far) is actually pretty impressive. But in every other way, it's really not very impressive. Not very impressive at all.