We played out what turned out to be a pretty pointless game in the end as we ended up top of the group anyway down to the other game in Group H ending in a 0-0 draw.

There were plenty of positives to choose from despite the defeat, namely decent performances from Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Reiss Nelson. Jack Wilshere and Olivier Giroud were handed starts with Danny Welbeck making his proper comeback from his recent injury problems and everyone played well enough but it was a bit of a comedown after Saturday’s amazing league victory over Spurs.

Despite huge injury problems of their own, Cologne played well enough and probably just about deserved the win. Even in spite of the dubious penalty they were handed when Debuchy got in a tangle with a German player and the ref pointed to the spot. Sherou Gurassy despatched then penalty straight down the middle past Ospina, another player returning from an interlull injury.

Anyway, no harm done despite the defeat, we top the group meaning we won’t face Bayern or Barcelona for at least another round and we remain seeded so in theory we should face a fairly easy tie in the next round, if there is any such thing at this level Jeff.

Any road up, it’s back to Premier League action this weekend with a visit to an in-form Burnley side, where we only just sneaked a win last season thanks to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain Laurent Koscielny’s last minute winner.