The UEFA Champions League delivered a memorable Matchday 3, with 74 goals across 18 games, an average of 4.1 per game. Paris Saint-Germain beat Barcelona, Real Madrid beat RB Leipzig, Liverpool beat Villarreal, Real Betis beat Feyenoord and Aston Villa beat Viking FK, so all five teams remain a perfect 3-0-0. Como also thumped Manchester United and put Michael Carrick’s future in doubt. Bayern Munich and Arsenal drew 2-2 at the Allianz Arena, and Bukayo Saka limped off early with an injury.
Our panel of Gab Marcotti, Sam Tighe, Mark Ogden and Beth Lindop breaks down the action.
Will PSG regret going this hard against Barcelona?
PSG won the battle with a 4-2 home win in the league phase, but Ousmane Dembélé hobbled off after 20 minutes, and Marquinhos and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia also exited with injuries on the hour mark. Kvaratskhelia has since been ruled out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL. Will Luis Enrique regret losing a star this early, and will it derail a Champions League “three-peat”?
Ogden rejects the argument. Players can get injured at any time, and Kvaratskhelia, Dembélé or Marquinhos could have suffered the same fate in Sunday’s Ligue 1 game at Lyon. He points out that Luis Enrique has rested and rotated his big stars all season. Ogden believes the manager was right to unleash the big guns, because it was a rare chance for his best players to face a team capable of challenging them. They will get far more from games against Barcelona and Manchester City than against Le Havre or Auxerre. He adds that the game showed how good the latter stages of the competition will be.
Lindop agrees. She says PSG vs. Barcelona is always a marquee fixture, and nothing guarantees the injuries would not have happened elsewhere. PSG can regularly rest players in domestic competition so they are at their best in the Champions League, an approach that has paid dividends over the past couple of seasons. She still calls Kvaratskhelia’s injury a real shame. When he is on form, he is one of the most enjoyable players to watch in Europe, and he gives PSG another dimension. She still sees Luis Enrique’s side as favorites to retain the trophy, but calls losing him a huge blow.
Marcotti says you can get hurt anytime, and the real danger is injury from overplaying and fatigue, which is not a PSG issue. He reminds readers that PSG won Ligue 1 by six points and did not move into first place until mid-January. A loss to Lyon on Sunday night could drop them to sixth. He says losing Kvaratskhelia makes them worse, but they have attacking depth in Maghnes Akliouche, Ferran Torres and Mika Godts. In his view, center back Willian Pacho and midfielder Vitinha are harder to replace.
Tighe argues the group is underrating Kvaratskhelia. He would call him 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 overall. Losing him for the season is a killer. PSG have more ammunition on the wings, with Désiré Doué growing into a superstar and heavy summer recruitment, but Luis Enrique’s intense style requires depth. PSG are missing their best wide man, which Tighe calls terrible luck for Les Parisiens and sad for the game.
Are Liverpool’s results under Iraola for real?
Liverpool fell 2-0 behind Villarreal through their own doing, then scored four straight goals in a 4-3 win. They are perfect in the Champions League and have lost only once in all competitions this season, to Manchester City. Yet Bradley Barcola, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak have not shown their best, Dominik Szoboszlai is carrying an injury, and right-back remains unsettled, though Ronald Araújo is playing well on an “emergency loan.” Is the Andoni Iraola era a false dawn?
Lindop says nobody at Liverpool has any illusions that Iraola’s side is a work in progress. They look a level below Europe’s top sides and were particularly poor in the first half-hour against Villarreal. She thinks they are too flawed to win the Premier League and probably the Champions League, though you can never count them out in Europe. Iraola is implementing a new system with players still getting used to each other, so she calls for patience, particularly given the recent injury woes. She sees Rio Ngumoha as a real cause for optimism. He has impressed in cameos on the right, and Tuesday was his most complete display in a Liverpool shirt. He is only 18, so she does not expect it every week, but she sees a very bright future for him at Anfield.
Tighe calls Ngumoha’s performance Liverpool’s biggest positive outside the three points. He looked great on the right flank, and Tighe believes he can solve what looked like a real conundrum for Iraola. The Reds entered the season with four wingers who all prefer the left side, which created an imbalance. Iraola has tried Cody Gakpo, Víctor Muñoz and Ngumoha on the right, and Tighe feels Ngumoha can make it stick.
Marcotti calls it a false dawn in the sense that Iraola will not have an immediate impact on results. His football takes time to metabolize. Bournemouth took only three points from his first nine games in charge, then improved season after season, from 11th to ninth to sixth. Marcotti says Iraola inherited a poorly assembled squad with players who do not necessarily fit his approach. Defensive leader Virgil van Dijk is likely to leave, so he will have to start from scratch defensively next season, though he lost three of his back four in one summer at Bournemouth and came back stronger. First-choice center forward Hugo Ekitike will be out until the new year. Marcotti calls it patchwork, starting with Araújo at right back. He sees glimmers: Ngumoha, Ryan Gravenberch learning a lot, Jérémy Jacquet growing in confidence, and Muñoz looking serviceable. He does not expect a “real” Iraola team for at least a year.
Ogden thinks Liverpool are going along just fine. They are in transition and will not challenge Arsenal and Manchester City for the title, but every club suffers some pain when pressing the reset button. He calls Ngumoha their brightest attacking talent, which does not reflect well on Wirtz and Barcola. Liverpool are exciting going forward and likely to score more than they concede in most games. Patience is required at Anfield, and Ogden notes it could be worse: “just look at Manchester United.”
Should Man United sack Carrick?
United lost 4-1 at Como, then took shots at each other after the game. Captain Bruno Fernandes openly questioned Carrick’s tactics. Should Carrick go straight away or wait for the international break? And was Lisandro Martínez right in his rant last week?
Tighe says it cannot all be down to Carrick, but believes Martínez’s interview bailed him out massively. The team is not well set up and not functioning properly, and he thinks it could be much better with the current personnel. United finished the summer short of a left back and a striker, but they signed good midfielders who are performing horribly. He asks whether that is the players’ fault, the manager’s, or both. Youri Tielemans has gone from one of the Premier League’s best midfielders to someone who looks way off it. If Tielemans is floundering, Tighe says, Andrey Santos should get more of a pass. Carrick holds a lot of responsibility, but not all of it.
Ogden agrees but says United’s players do not look fit. Their running stats are some of the worst in the Premier League, and that is down to the manager and his coaching staff. He calls the squad full of misfits, some dating back to Louis van Gaal’s time (2014-16), with too many players either not good enough, too old or both. Ogden says Carrick has to go because he is not qualified for a job of United’s stature, and he insists it never works when an interim manager gets the job permanently. He wants a coach who will get the players fit, organized and disciplined: “Hello, Mr. Antonio Conte.”
Lindop feels a little sorry for Carrick. Martínez’s comments point to a club in disarray behind the scenes. Carrick is the latest in a long line of managers to struggle at Old Trafford, and no silver bullet will fix everything if the hierarchy above him stays unchanged. She agrees his days look numbered. He did an excellent job steadying the ship last season, but she feels he never had the pedigree for the long-term role. She says Conte would spice things up but the union would surely end in disaster, though it would make great content for the club’s “All or Nothing” documentary.
Marcotti answers Ogden’s challenge with examples. Roberto Di Matteo was an interim boss and won the Champions League. Zinedine Zidane won three. Hansi Flick won the Treble and is doing well at Barcelona. Tony Barton won the European Cup with Aston Villa. Edin Terzic won the German Cup and reached the Champions League final. Garry Monk replaced Michael Laudrup at relegation-threatened Swansea City and led them to eighth the following season. Chris Coleman took over at relegation-threatened Fulham and led them to ninth the following year. The difference, he says, is that those managers had exceptional players, a very solid club, or both, and United are neither.
Marcotti sees two questions. First, can Carrick get United where they want to be? Probably not, so he should go. The jump was too big, midweek football is hard to adjust to, and this group of players is visibly running at half-speed. For a critical game, the only senior outfield players on the bench were Joshua Zirkzee, Amad Diallo and Carlos Baleba. Second, what is wrong with the club? Here, Martínez was right. There are serious issues of communication and drift. It is not just about the transfer window and Jason Wilcox’s choices but about accountability and vision, and that will not be fixed straight away.
Ogden concedes Zidane and Flick but notes that Di Matteo was gone within months of signing a new contract, which is the fate awaiting Carrick. Marcotti replies that most United fans would be happy with Carrick winning a Champions League and then getting sacked.
What did Bayern 2-2 Arsenal tell us?
Arsenal were virtually at full strength, minus William Saliba. Bayern were missing Joshua Kimmich, Michael Olise (suspended) and Jamal Musiala, and Luis Díaz came off with an injury after entering as a substitute.
Lindop calls it a high-quality game with three brilliant goals. She thinks Arsenal will be happier, not only because they equalized late but because it was another mature away performance that showed how hard they are to beat in Europe. Saka’s first-half injury was a blow, but Eberechi Eze did well as his replacement, and Arsenal’s squad is equipped for injuries. She sees them going deep again. She finds Bayern hard to assess with so many injuries. Vincent Kompany will be disappointed with how they managed the game at 2-1, but she expects a different proposition once the big guns return.
Marcotti says that without Barcelona-PSG, this would have been the game of the round. Losing Saka after 10 minutes did Arsenal no favors, but they showed a ton of character. This was last season’s Arsenal, which hunkers down, stays compact and plays in transition. He does not think they should play this way in every game, and neither does Mikel Arteta, but it was right away from home. He is not a Viktor Gyökeres guy but says it was the right call, and he doubts Kai Havertz could have laid the ball off as Gyökeres did for Declan Rice’s goal. For Bayern, he says you must grade them on a curve. Kimmich’s absence was felt: Tom Bischof is great but far from Kimmich’s leadership. Alphonso Davies showed he can still cut it as a winger, and Olise’s absence leaves a gaping hole. Both opening goals came from outstanding transition passes, from Martin Ødegaard and especially Harry Kane. Arsenal neutered Bayern but not the old trope of Kane dropping deep and picking out streaking wingers. “There’s no answer to it.”
Ogden argues Bayern have a better squad and a goalscorer in Kane who is exactly what Arsenal need to reach the next level. Both will go deep, but had Bayern not met PSG in last season’s semifinal, they would have reached the final. He calls Bayern the better bet to win the competition. Right now, PSG, Bayern and Barcelona are head and shoulders above the rest, with Arsenal in the next group. Arteta needs to add variety and adventure to become a real threat to the big three.
Tighe says the result suits all parties. Bayern always expect to win at home, but with the absences and a league-phase fixture, a draw is palatable. Arsenal did what they needed to, and the fact Saka’s injury did not rock them is a major positive. The extent of Saka’s injury is what will concern Arteta most, not any dropped points.
What else stood out on Matchday 3?
Tighe highlights Manchester City’s 5-1 dismantling of AEK Athens, powered by a cluster of academy graduates. Phil Foden scored a hat trick and showed manager Enzo Maresca he has fire in his belly. Rico Lewis assisted two of the goals, and 17-year-old Floyd Samba won the free kick that started it all off. Later, 18-year-olds Ryan McAidoo and Kaden Braithwaite came on and made an impact, with McAidoo setting up Foden’s third.
Ogden counters that the sparse attendance at the Etihad was a concern. He accepts that football is expensive for supporters, but the empty seats pointed to City’s relatively small fanbase, which does not tally with commercial earnings 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 official attendance against AEK was 40,042. He says there is no shame in that, but a club that claims to be a global commercial superpower needs fans to prove it by filling the stadium, as Real, United, Liverpool and Bayern do.
Lindop points to Kane with Monday’s Ballon d’Or ceremony approaching. He was not at his sparkling best against Arsenal, yet still scored from the penalty spot and set up Davies. She praises his passing range and says that on another night he could have ended with a hat trick of assists. She admits an English bias but is rooting for him at next week’s ceremony in London.
Marcotti skips the City debate and the Ballon d’Or and focuses on Como. Nico Paz could walk into just about any team in the world right now. Como were missing three starters, Trevoh Chalobah, Assane Diao and Moise Kean, and United had not conceded four in a game since May 2025, away to Brentford. He calls Cesc Fabregas the real deal. Como have spent beyond their means and will likely face Financial Fair Play consequences, but their players are mostly youngsters or middling players reborn under Fabregas.