More decent performances for the Bundesliga:

Borussia Dortmund impressed at Real Madrid, coming away with a 2-2 draw that the Spanish giants were quite fortunate to get. In fact, ironically it was Mesut Özil who saved RM with a free kick in the 89th minute.

Schalke was perhaps less impressive, but came back from an early deficit to square 2-2 against Arsenal.

Bayern München had a walk in the park, and they slaughtered French side Lille OSC 6-1. Claudio Pizarro got a rare start and thanked with a hat-trick.

Based on these results, all three Bundesliga sides should be favored to go through to the knockout stages. Most impressive has been how Dortmund is beginning to show some ability in Europe, and they really pushed Real Madrid around in both legs. That doesn’t mean that they’re good enough to win anything, but considering how lame they’d been in last year’s campaign, this shows improvement. Schalke has been somewhat of a surprise as well, although they’ve had a decent pedigree in Euro competition recently. Bayern surprised too, although by their shocking loss to BATE Baryssau. But since they can turn it off/on at will, I’d don’t think anyone is worried, and Bayern is certainly a contender to win it all.