The UEFA Champions League enjoyed a wonderful Matchday 3 this week, with a feast of goals — 74 across 18 games, a 4.1 per game average — and plenty to talk about.
We got big wins for our No. 1 ranked Paris Saint-Germain (over No. 2 Barcelona), Real Madrid (over RB Leipzig), Liverpool (over Villarreal), Real Betis (over Feyenoord) and Aston Villa (over Viking FK) as all five teams remain a perfect 3-0-0 in the competition, and we got a seismic shocks as Como thumped Manchester United to put Michael Carrick’s future in doubt. The other big game of the week saw Bayern Munich and Arsenal put on an entertaining 2-2 draw at the Allianz Arena, with Bukayo Saka limping off early with an injury.
What to make of it all? ESPN FC writers Gab Marcotti, Sam Tighe, Mark Ogden and Beth Lindop are here to break down the action.
– Ogden, Marsden: PSG and Barcelona put on a show
– Olley: Star attackers might not be needed for Arsenal to win UCL
– Dawson: Man United were woeful, but it’s not just on Carrick
Q1. Are PSG going to regret going this hard against Barcelona? They may have won the proverbial battle with a 4-2 home win in the league phase, but they paid the price as Ousmane Dembélé hobbled off after just 20 minutes, with Marquinhos and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia both exiting with injuries on the hour mark. (Kvara, one of the best players in the world, has since been ruled out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL.) We enjoyed the game, but will Luis Enrique & Co. regret losing one of their stars this early in the campaign? And will this derail their hopes of a remarkable Champions League “three-peat” at the same time?
Ogden: I’m not on board with this argument. Players can be injured at any time and Kvaratskhelia, Dembele or Marquinhos could have suffered the same fate in Sunday’s Ligue 1 game at Lyon. It’s just an occupational hazard and, let’s be honest, Luis Enrique has rested and rotated all of his big stars throughout this season.
I think he was right to unleash the big guns against because it was a rare opportunity for his best players to go up against a team capable of challenging them. PSG’s top players will get much more from playing against Barcelona and Manchester City than Le Havre or Auxerre.
If PSG hold back their stars against the likes of Barça, then they’re going to have a very boring and unchallenging season in France, so I’m all in on Luis Enrique’s selection. And also because it gave us a box office game and showed us just how good the latter stages of the Champions League will be.
Lindop: I’m with Mark on this one. As much as the new format means league phase games aren’t hugely significant, PSG vs Barcelona is always a marquee fixture and there’s no guarantee that players wouldn’t have sustained injuries at other points of the season. PSG have the unique luxury of regularly being able to rest players in domestic competition so that they’re at their very best in the Champions League, and it’s an approach that has paid dividends for them over the past couple of seasons.
That said, it’s a real shame to see Kvaratskhelia sustain such a significant injury. When he’s on form, he’s one of the most enjoyable players to watch in Europe and he gives PSG another dimension. Luis Enrique’s side are still, as it stands, favourites to retain their trophy, but losing a player of Kvaratskhelia’s talent is a huge blow.
Moreno: Flick needs to address Yamal’s performance vs. PSG
Marcotti: Football doesn’t work that way, so at the risk of being boring, I agree with Beth and Oggy. You can get hurt anytime; what you don’t want is to get hurt because you’ve been overplayed and are fatigued. That’s not an issue for PSG. And while we’re at it, yeah, I know they are dominant in Ligue 1 and can outspend everyone and whatnot, but it’s worth reminding ourselves that they won the league by six points and didn’t move into first place until mid-January. If they lose to Lyon on Sunday night they could slip into sixth place. You still have to show up.
Obviously losing Kvara makes them a worse team, but in the grand scheme of things, they have a wealth of attacking options beyond him. I’m a big Maghnes Akliouche fan, and there’s Ferran Torres and Mika Godts too. There are other players at PSG who are harder to replace in my view, like center back Willian Pacho or Vitinha in midfield.
Tighe: Hmmm, are we sleeping a bit on Kvara’s ability here? I’d be willing to argue he is the best left winger in the world — assuming Kylian Mbappé is officially classed as a reluctant striker these days — and one of the top 10 players in the world overall?
To lose him for the season is a killer. Yes, PSG have much more ammunition to call upon on the wings, with Désiré Doué continuing to grow into a superstar and heavy recruitment over the summer replenishing this area, but Luis Enrique’s style is intense and requires depth. They’re not only down a player here: they’re down their best wide man. It’s terrible luck for Les Parisiens, and sad for the game as he’s a joy to watch at top speed.
Q2. Liverpool won again on Tuesday night, falling into a 2-0 hole of their own doing vs. Villarreal before rallying to score four straight goals in a 4-3 win. They’re perfect in the Champions League, and they’ve only lost once (to Manchester City) in all competitions this season. However, lots of their biggest names (Bradley Barcola, Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak) haven’t shown their best yet, Dominik Szoboszlai is carrying an injury, right-back is still unsettled (though shout-out Ronald Araújo, who’s playing well for an “emergency loan”), and Rio Ngumoha‘s dynamic performances are covering up a lot of underlying issues. What do we make of the Andoni Iraola era so far: Are their results for real? Or is this a false dawn?
Lindop: I don’t think anyone at Liverpool is under any illusions about the fact Iraola’s side are still a work in progress. They look a level below Europe’s top sides, and they were particularly poor in the first half-hour against Villarreal. I think they’re too flawed to win the Premier League this season and probably the Champions League too — although you can never count them out in Europe. Iraola is trying to implement a new system with a crop of players who are still getting used to each other and that’s why I think patience is required, particularly in light of their recent injury woes.
That said, Ngumoha should be a real cause for optimism after his performance. He’s impressed in cameos on the right this season, but Tuesday night was his most complete display in a Liverpool shirt. He’s still only 18, meaning we shouldn’t expect him to produce those kinds of performances every week, but he has a very bright future at Anfield.
Tighe: No doubt about it, Ngumoha’s performance was Liverpool’s biggest positive outside of three important points. What a display from the youngster!
What’s absolutely crucial here is that he looked great on the right flank, and while we must avoid piling too much pressure on one so young, he looks capable of solving what looked like a real conundrum for Iraola this season.
Somehow, the Reds entered the season with four wingers who all prefer to play on the left side, creating an obvious imbalance in the squad. Iraola has tried plenty of different options over there already (Cody Gakpo, Víctor Muñoz, Ngumoha), and it’s the latter that feels like he can really make it stick. We need to see more, and there’s no shortage of football to play, but this is really exciting for Liverpool.
Leboeuf hails Ngumoha after Liverpool’s comeback vs. Villarreal
Marcotti: It’s a false dawn in the sense that Iraola isn’t the sort of manager who is going to have an immediate impact in terms of results. His football is different and takes more time to metabolize. People forget that Bournemouth only got three points in his first nine games in charge when Iraola arrived, and that the Cherries improved season after season: from 11th to ninth to sixth.
It’s especially going to be a slow burn because he inherited a poorly assembled squad in my view, with players who don’t necessarily fit what he’s trying to do. Throw in the fact that his defensive leader, Virgil van Dijk, is likely to be gone and he’ll have to start from scratch defensively next season. (To be fair, Iraola has done it before: he lost three of his back four in a single summer at Bournemouth and came back stronger). Plus, he’s without his first-choice center forward, Hugo Ekitike, and will be until the new year.
All this means that there’s only so much he can work on in training and results will ebb and flow based on individuals. It’s patchwork stuff, starting with Araújo at right back.
Ngumoha’s performances are encouraging and I’m especially glad because we too often get fixated on inverted wingers and all that nonsense. There are glimmers. Even when he’s playing poorly, Ryan Gravenberch is learning a lot, Jérémy Jacquet is growing in confidence, and Muñoz looks serviceable. They will define Iraola’s future, though I don’t think we’ll see a “real” Iraola team until a year from now at the earliest.
Ogden: I think Liverpool are going along just fine right now. We know they’re in a period of transition and won’t challenge Arsenal and Man City for the Premier League title, but all clubs have to suffer some pain at times when it comes to pressing the reset button and that’s where Liverpool are under Iraola. Ngumoha is their brightest attacking talent, which doesn’t reflect well on Wirtz and Barcola, but you can’t deny that Liverpool are exciting going forward and likely to score more than they concede in most games.
Patience is now non-existent in top-level football, but that’s what’s required at Anfield. And come on, it could be worse — just look at Manchester United.
Q3. That was embarrassing from Man United, going down 4-1 at tiny Como and then taking shots at each other post-game, with captain Bruno Fernandesopenly questioning Michael Carrick’s tactics. Should Carrick be sacked straight away, or should they wait for the international break? And while we’re at it, was Lisandro Martínez right in his rant last week? Surely it’s not just all down to Carrick?
Tighe: It can’t all be down to Carrick — for a football club to succeed, it needs to be humming on every level — but I think Martínez’s interview bailed Carrick out massively. This team is not well set up, it is not functioning properly, and it is hardly beyond belief for it to be a lot, lot better with current personnel.
United finished the summer short of a left back and a striker, no doubt. But they recruited some good players in midfield who are performing horribly. Is that the players’ fault, the manager’s fault, or both?
What should give everyone pause for thought here is that Youri Tielemans has suddenly gone from one of the best midfielders in the Premier League to someone who looks way off it. Why? Is that his fault, or is the team poorly set up? Using that logic, Andrey Santos should be given more of a pass; if Tielemans is floundering, of course Santos is.
There are big problems at United, on multiple levels, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that Carrick holds a lot of responsibility here — just not all of it.
Ogden: I agree with Sam that it’s not all down to Carrick, but his point about Tielemans brings me to something that has been obvious all season.
United’s players don’t look fit. Their running stats are some of the worst in the Premier League and if they lack fitness, that is absolutely down to the manager and his coaching staff. If a team isn’t fit enough, no amount of talent will make up for that at Premier League or Champions League level.
United have a squad full of misfits with some [Luke Shaw] dating back to Louis van Gaal’s time at the club (2014-16) and too many players are either not good enough, too old or both.
But back to the original question and Carrick’s future. Yes, he has to go because he isn’t qualified for a job the stature of managing United. It never, ever works when an interim manager gets the job permanently. Gab may have an example to prove me wrong, but that would be an exception.
United need a coach who will get the players fit, get them organised and bring some discipline. Hello, Mr. Antonio Conte.
Dawson: Carrick’s future under mounting pressure after loss vs. Como
Lindop: It’s hard not to feel a little bit sorry for Carrick. Martínez’s comments point to a club in disarray behind the scenes even if United are keen to project a sense of togetherness. Carrick is the latest in a long line of managers to struggle at Old Trafford and it feels like there is no silver bullet that is going to address all of United’s problems, particularly if the hierarchy above him remains unchanged.
That said, I agree with Mark that Carrick’s days look numbered. He did an excellent job steadying the ship last season, but to me, he never had the pedigree to take on the role long term. However, I’m not quite sure what the answer is from here.
Conte would definitely spice things up a bit. but it’s a union that would surely end in disaster at some point down the line. Although it would make great content for the club’s “All or Nothing” documentary…
Marcotti: “It never, ever works when an interim manager gets the job permanently. Gab may have an example to prove me wrong, but that would be an exception.” Quoting directly from Mark above. Oggy, you call, I answer.
Roberto Di Matteo was an interim boss and went on to win the Champions League. Zinedine Zidane was an interim boss and went on to win three Champions Leagues. Hansi Flick was an interim boss and went on to win the Treble. (He’s also doing rather well at Barcelona now).
You want more? Tony Barton was an interim boss and won the European Cup at Aston Villa. (Sam has a poster of him no doubt hanging above his bed, next to the David Platt life-size cutout.) Edin Terzic was an interim boss who went on to win the German Cup and reach the Champions League final. Garry Monk was an interim boss who replaced Michael Laudrup on a relegation-threatened Swansea City and went on to lead them to eighth place the following season. Chris Coleman was an interim boss at relegation threatened Fulham and went on to lead them to ninth place the following year.
The problem is all those guys either had exceptional players or a very solid club. Or both. United are neither.
There are two separate questions in play as I see it. One is whether Carrick can get United to where they want to be. The answer, to me, is probably not, and therefore he should go. It was too big a jump for him, it’s too difficult to adjust to playing midweek football, and it’s too obvious this group of players running at half-speed aren’t doing it for him. (And by the way, for a critical game like this it’s funny how many guys were injured: the only senior outfield players on the bench were Joshua Zirkzee, Amad Diallo and Carlos Baleba.)
The other question is what’s wrong with the club, because clearly it’s not just Carrick. And here, Martínez was right. There are serious issue of communication and drift. It’s not just about the transfer window and Jason Wilcox’s choices it’s about accountability and vision. This won’t get fixed straight away.
Ogden: OK, I’ll give you Zidane and Flick, but Di Matteo was gone within months of signing a new contract, which is basically the fate awaiting Carrick.
Marcotti: So we’ll gloss over Coleman, Barton, Monk, Terzic, etc? And I think most United fans would be happy with Carrick winning a Champions League and then getting sacked.
Q4. The other big game of the week saw two contenders, Bayern Munich and Arsenal, scrap to an entertaining 2-2 draw. However, looking beyond the scoreline, Arsenal were virtually at full strength (minus William Saliba) while Bayern were missing Joshua Kimmich, Michael Olise (who was suspended) and Jamal Musiala, while Luis Díaz entered as a sub but then came off with an injury. Does this draw tell us more about Bayern, or more about Arsenal’s chances of winning it all this season?
Lindop:It was a high-quality game between two top sides, with three brilliant goals to boot. I think Arsenal will be the happier team — not just because they equalised late on but because it was another mature away performance which proved how difficult they are to beat in European competition. Losing Saka to injury in the first half was a blow but Eberechi Eze did well when he was called on to replace him and, if any squad is equipped to deal with injuries, it’s Arsenal’s. I can see them going deep into the competition again this season. As for Bayern, I think it’s hard to assess them with so many players injured. Vincent Kompany will be disappointed with how they managed the game at 2-1 up but, once some of his big guns return, I think they’ll be a different proposition.
Marcotti:Beth’s right, if we hadn’t witnessed Barcelona vs. PSG yesterday, this would have been the game of the round. Losing Saka after 10 minutes did Arsenal no favors, but there was a ton of character shown. This was the Arsenal we saw last season, the one that hunkers down, stays compact and tries to play in transition. I don’t think Arsenal should be playing this way in every game (neither does Mikel Arteta) but it was the right approach away from home. I’m not a Viktor Gyökeres guy, but that was the right call and I’m not sure Kai Havertz could have laid the ball off the way he did for Declan Rice‘s goal.
As for Bayern, they were disappointed because they were 2-1 up at home in the second half and failed to win. But you have to grade them on a curve. The absentees weighed heavy. You notice Kimmich even more when he’s not there: Tom Bischof is great, but he’s got a long way to go to get near Kimmich’s leadership. Alphonso Davies showed that he can still cut it as a winger and we may see more of that as the season progresses. And, obviously, Olise’s absence leaves a gaping hole. What struck me though was how, with both teams trying to be physical and compact and not getting sucked too deep, both opening goals were the result of outstanding passes in transition. Martin Ødegaard, of course, but especially Harry Kane. Arsenal found a way to neuter Bayern, but not the old trope of Kane dropping deep and picking out streaking wingers. There’s no answer to it.
Moreno praises Kane’s ‘outstanding’ performance vs. Arsenal
Ogden:Look, Bayern have a better squad with more talented individuals and they have a goalscorer — Kane — who is exactly what Arsenal need to take them to the next level. Both sides will go deep in the competition, but had Bayern not run into PSG in the semi last season, they would have reached the final. Bayern have far more options and tactical flexibility, plus the advantage of playing in a less competitive league than the Gunners, so they are an all-round better bet to win the competition this season.
Right now, PSG, Bayern and Barcelona are head and shoulders above the rest and Arsenal are in the next group. Arteta needs to add some variety and adventure to his team’s tactics to make them become a real threat to the big three.
Tighe:It really does feel like a result that suits all parties. Bayern always expect to win at home, but with those absences, and the fact it is “just” a league phase fixture, a draw is palatable. Arsenal effectively did what they needed to do, and the fact Saka’s injury didn’t rock them too much is also a major positive (not so long ago, that could easily have sunk them).
The extent of Saka’s injury is the thing Arteta will come away most concerned about, not any points dropped. Drawing your pot one away fixture is absolutely fine.
Q5. We always like to end on dealer’s choice. What else — a goal, a player, a result, a trend — stood out to you across Matchday 3?
Tighe: Manchester City dismantled AEK Athens5-1 thanks in large part to a cluster of academy graduates. As the focus (rightly) continues to center on City’s immense spending over the last 15 years, winning a Champions League game thanks to star youth performances felt like a nice tonic for the fans (although to be honest, not that many of them turned up to see it).
Phil Foden was the star of the night, netting a hat trick and showing manager Enzo Maresca that he has fire in his belly right now. Two of those goals were assisted by Rico Lewis, while 17-year-old Floyd Samba won the free kick that started it all off. Later on, 18-year-olds Ryan McAidoo and Kaden Braithwaite entered the fray and impacted, the former teeing up Foden’s third goal.
It was something to keep the season ticket holders warm on a cold, rainy night at least.
Ogden: Yeah, but the sparse attendance at the Etihad was a concern Sam, speaking of the season ticket holders. I totally appreciate that football is an expensive business for supporters nowadays, but the vast number of empty seats pointed to the reality of City’s relatively small fanbase and how it doesn’t tally with the club’s commercial earnings being on a par with Real Madrid’s and bigger than Manchester United’s.
When United played Sabah FK at Old Trafford last month, 73,685 fans paid to watch the game. Why? Because United have a huge fanbase and when the regulars don’t turn up, their reservoir of fans will happily fill the gaps.
City? The official attendance against AEK was 40,042 — maybe they also counted inflatable bananas to make up the numbers? All joking aside, when City’s regulars can’t afford to watch, they don’t have enough fans to take the spare tickets. There’s no shame in that, but when a club claims to be a global superpower commercially, you need the fans to prove it by filling the stadium, just as they do at Real, United, Liverpool and Bayern Munich.
Carrick has not given Man United position any thought after Como defeat
Lindop: With Monday’s Ballon d’Or ceremony fast approaching, Kane showed once again why he is a worthy contender to take home the prize. He was not quite at his sparkling best in Bayern Munich’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal and yet he still emerged with a goal and an assist, brilliantly teeing up Davies before coolly converting from the penalty spot.
Kane’s goalscoring record is phenomenal, but it’s his range of passing that makes him such a joy to watch. His accuracy against Arsenal was such that, on another night, he could have ended the evening with a hat trick of assists. This might be my English bias here, but I’m rooting for him to come out on top at next week’s glittering awards ceremony in London.
Marcotti:I think we’ve had enough City hate of late, and I could care less about the Ballon d’Or. So, I’ll focus on Como. Nico Paz, right now, could walk into just about any team in the world and I’m glad he’s showing it on the big stage. Beyond that, while we can all point out United’s flaws and absentees, that Como were missing three starters (Trevoh Chalobah, Assane Diao and Moise Kean). And that the last time United conceded four in a game was in May 2025 (away to Brentford). Cesc Fabregas is the real deal. And while Como have spent beyond their means and will likely be visited by the Financial Fair Play fairy and pay a hefty price, those players out there are mostly either youngsters or middling guys who were reborn under Cesc.
