The Champions League delivered a feast of goals on Matchday 3, with 74 across 18 games, an average of 4.1 per match. 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 thumped Manchester United to put Michael Carrick’s future in doubt. Bayern Munich and Arsenal drew 2-2 at the Allianz Arena, where Bukayo Saka limped off early with an injury.
Four senior writers, Gab Marcotti, Sam Tighe, Mark Ogden and Beth Lindop, break down the action.
Will PSG regret going so hard against Barcelona?
PSG won the battle with a 4-2 home victory over Barcelona, but they paid a price. Ousmane Dembélé hobbled off after 20 minutes, and Marquinhos and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia both went off injured on the hour mark. Kvaratskhelia has since been ruled out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL. Will Luis Enrique’s side regret losing a star this early, and does it derail their hopes of a Champions League “three-peat”?
Ogden rejects the argument. Players can be 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. In his view, the manager was right to unleash them because it was a rare chance to face a team capable of challenging them. They will get far more from playing Barcelona and Manchester City than Le Havre or Auxerre. If PSG held back their stars against sides like Barcelona, he argues, they would have a boring, unchallenging season in France.
Lindop agrees. The new format means league phase games are not hugely significant, but PSG against Barcelona is always a marquee fixture, and injuries could have come at any other point. PSG can regularly rest players in domestic competition so they are at their best in Europe, 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 gives PSG another dimension. Luis Enrique’s side remain favourites to retain the trophy, but losing him is a huge blow.
Marcotti says you can get hurt at any time. What you do not want is to get hurt because you are overplayed and fatigued, and that is not an issue for PSG. He reminds readers that PSG won Ligue 1 by six points and did not move into first place until mid-January. If they lose to Lyon on Sunday night, they could slip into sixth. Losing Kvaratskhelia makes them a worse team, but he says they have a wealth of attacking options in Maghnes Akliouche, Ferran Torres and Mika Godts. In his view, centre-back Willian Pacho and midfielder Vitinha would be harder to replace.
Tighe thinks people are underrating Kvaratskhelia. He would argue he is the best left winger in the world, assuming Kylian Mbappé is now classed as a reluctant striker, and one of the top 10 players overall. Losing him for the season is a killer. Désiré Doué continues to grow into a superstar and summer recruitment replenished the wings. But Luis Enrique’s intense style requires depth, and PSG have lost their best wide man.
Is Liverpool’s start under Iraola for real?
Liverpool won again on Tuesday. They fell 2-0 behind against Villarreal through their own errors, 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, although Ronald Araújo is playing well on what was an “emergency loan”. Rio Ngumoha’s dynamic performances are covering up a lot of underlying issues. So are the results real, or is this a false dawn under Andoni Iraola?
Lindop says nobody at Liverpool is under 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, although you can never count them out in Europe. Iraola is implementing a new system with players still getting used to each other, so patience is required, particularly given the recent injury woes. Ngumoha, though, is a real cause for optimism. He has impressed in cameos on the right this season, and Tuesday was his most complete display in a Liverpool shirt. He is only 18, so she does not expect such performances every week, but she sees a very bright future for him at Anfield.
Tighe calls Ngumoha’s display Liverpool’s biggest positive outside the three points. Crucially, he looked great on the right flank. Tighe says the pressure on one so young must be limited, but he looks capable of solving a real conundrum for Iraola. Liverpool entered the season with four wingers who all prefer the left, creating an obvious 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 is not a manager who has an immediate impact on results. His football takes more time to digest. Bournemouth took only three points from Iraola’s first nine games in charge, then improved season after season, from 11th to ninth to sixth. Marcotti thinks it will be a slow burn because Iraola inherited a poorly assembled squad with players who do not necessarily fit his approach. Defensive leader Virgil van Dijk is likely to leave, which would mean starting from scratch at the back next season. Iraola has done that before, losing three of his back four in a single summer at Bournemouth and coming back stronger. He is also without first-choice centre forward Hugo Ekitike until the new year. Results will ebb and flow based on individuals, Marcotti says, and it is patchwork, starting with Araújo at right-back. He sees glimmers. Ryan Gravenberch is learning a lot even when playing poorly, Jérémy Jacquet is growing in confidence and Muñoz looks serviceable. Marcotti does not expect to see a “real” Iraola team for a year at the earliest.
Ogden thinks Liverpool are going along fine. They are in a period of transition and will not challenge Arsenal and Manchester City for the title, but all clubs suffer some pain when pressing the reset button. Ngumoha is their brightest attacking talent, which does not reflect well on Wirtz and Barcola. Even so, Liverpool are exciting going forward and likely to score more than they concede in most games. Patience is required at Anfield, he says, and it could be worse: “just look at Manchester United.”
Should Carrick be sacked after Man United’s Como humiliation?
Manchester United lost 4-1 at Como and then took shots at each other after the game, with captain Bruno Fernandes openly questioning Carrick’s tactics. Should Carrick go straight away, or should United wait for the international break? And was Lisandro Martínez right in his rant last week?
Tighe says it cannot all be down to Carrick, because a club needs to hum on every level, but he thinks Martínez’s interview bailed Carrick out massively. The team is not well set up and is not functioning properly, and it is hardly beyond belief that it could be far better with the current personnel. United finished the summer short of a left-back and a striker, but they recruited 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 best midfielders in the Premier League to someone who looks way off it, and Tighe asks whether that is his fault or poor team setup. By that logic, Andrey Santos deserves more of a pass. Carrick holds a lot of responsibility, Tighe says, just 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 if they lack fitness, that is down to the manager and his coaching staff. He describes a squad full of misfits, some dating back to Louis van Gaal’s time (2014-16), such as Luke Shaw, 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 that it never works when an interim manager gets the job permanently. He wants a coach who will get the players fit, organised and disciplined, and names Antonio Conte.
Lindop feels a little sorry for Carrick. Martínez’s comments point to a club in disarray behind the scenes, even if United want to project togetherness. Carrick is the latest in a long line of managers to struggle at Old Trafford, and there is no silver bullet, particularly if the hierarchy above him remains unchanged. She agrees his days look numbered. He did an excellent job steadying the ship last season, but she believes he never had the pedigree for the role long term. Conte would spice things up, she says, but the union would surely end in disaster, although it would make great content for the club’s “All or Nothing” documentary.
Marcotti took up Ogden’s challenge to find examples of interim managers who succeeded:
Roberto Di Matteo was an interim boss and went on to win the Champions League. Zinedine Zidane was an interim boss and won three Champions Leagues. Hansi Flick was an interim boss and won the Treble, and he is doing well at Barcelona now. Tony Barton won the European Cup at Aston Villa. Edin Terzic won the German Cup and reached the Champions League final. Garry Monk replaced Michael Laudrup at a relegation-threatened Swansea City and led them to eighth place the following season. Chris Coleman took over at relegation-threatened Fulham and led them to ninth the next year.
The problem, Marcotti says, is that all those managers either had exceptional players or a very solid club, or both. United are neither. He sees two separate questions. The first is whether Carrick can 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 it is obvious the players running at half-speed are not doing it for him. Marcotti also notes how many players were injured for a critical game: the only senior outfield players on the bench were Joshua Zirkzee, Amad Diallo and Carlos Baleba. The second question is what is wrong with the club, because clearly it is not just Carrick. Here Martínez was right, Marcotti says. 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 conceded Zidane and Flick, but said Di Matteo was gone within months of signing a new contract, which is basically the fate awaiting Carrick. Marcotti replied that Ogden was glossing over Coleman, Barton, Monk and Terzic, and that most United fans would be happy with Carrick winning a Champions League and then being sacked.
What did Bayern 2-2 Arsenal tell us?
Arsenal were virtually at full strength, minus William Saliba. Bayern were without Joshua Kimmich, the suspended Michael Olise and Jamal Musiala, while Luis Díaz came on as a substitute and then went off injured. Does the draw say more about Bayern, or about Arsenal’s chances of winning it all?
Lindop called it a high-quality game between two top sides, with three brilliant goals. She thinks Arsenal will be the happier team, not just because they equalised late but because it was another mature away performance that showed how hard they are to beat in Europe. Losing Saka in the first half was a blow, but Eberechi Eze did well in his place, and if any squad is equipped to deal with injuries, it is Arsenal’s. She can see them going deep again. Bayern are hard to assess with so many injuries. Vincent Kompany will be disappointed with how they managed the game at 2-1 up, but she expects a different proposition once the big guns return.
Marcotti says that without Barcelona against PSG, this would have been the game of the round. Losing Saka after 10 minutes did Arsenal no favours, but they showed a ton of character. This was the Arsenal of last season, hunkering down, staying compact and playing in transition. He does not think they should play this way in every game, and neither does Mikel Arteta, but it was the right approach away from home. He is not a Viktor Gyökeres fan but thought starting him was the right call, and doubts Kai Havertz could have laid the ball off as Gyökeres did for Declan Rice’s goal. Bayern were disappointed to fail to win after going 2-1 up at home, but Marcotti says they must be graded on a curve. You notice Kimmich more when he is absent, and Tom Bischof has a long way to go to match his 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 Kane trope of dropping deep and picking out streaking wingers. There is no answer to it, Marcotti says.
Ogden says Bayern have the better squad, more talented individuals 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 semi-final, he believes they would have reached the final. With more options, more tactical flexibility and a less competitive league than Arsenal’s, they are a better bet to win it. For Ogden, 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 threaten the big three.
Tighe says the result suits all parties. Bayern always expect to win at home, but with the absentees and the fact it is “just” a league phase fixture, a draw is palatable. Arsenal did what they needed to, and the fact that Saka’s injury did not rock them is a major positive. The extent of Saka’s injury is what Arteta will be most concerned about, not any points dropped.
Dealer’s choice: what else stood out on Matchday 3?
Tighe picked Manchester City’s 5-1 dismantling of AEK Athens, driven by 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. Later, 18-year-olds Ryan McAidoo and Kaden Braithwaite came on and made an impact, McAidoo teeing up Foden’s third. Tighe called it a nice tonic for fans, even if not many turned up to see it.
Ogden said the sparse attendance at the Etihad was a concern. He appreciates 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 United’s. When United played Sabah FK at Old Trafford last month, 73,685 fans paid to watch, because a huge fanbase fills the gaps when regulars stay away. The official attendance against AEK was 40,042. When City’s regulars cannot afford to attend, he argues, the club does not have enough fans to take the spare tickets. When a club claims to be a commercial global superpower, Ogden says, the fans need to prove it by filling the stadium, as they do at Real, United, Liverpool and Bayern.
Lindop turned to the Ballon d’Or ceremony on Monday and argued that Kane showed again why he is a worthy contender. He was not at his sparkling best in the 2-2 draw with Arsenal, yet he still scored and assisted, teeing up Davies and then converting a penalty. His goalscoring record is phenomenal, but it is his range of passing that makes him a joy to watch. His accuracy against Arsenal was such that on another night he could have had a hat-trick of assists. She admitted a possible English bias in rooting for him at next week’s ceremony in London.
Marcotti had had enough City criticism and cared little for the Ballon d’Or, so he focused on Como. Nico Paz, he says, could walk into just about any team in the world right now. Marcotti noted that Como were missing three starters, Trevoh Chalobah, Assane Diao and Moise Kean, and that United had last conceded four in a game in May 2025, away to Brentford. Cesc Fabregas, he says, is the real deal. Como have spent beyond their means and will likely pay a hefty price under Financial Fair Play, but most of their players are either youngsters or middling players reborn under Fabregas.