The Champions League delivered a goal feast on Matchday 3, with 74 goals in 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, leaving all five unbeaten with a perfect 3-0-0 record. Como then thumped Manchester United, which puts Michael Carrick’s future in doubt. Bayern Munich and Arsenal also played out an entertaining 2-2 draw at the Allianz Arena, where Bukayo Saka limped off early with an injury.
Will PSG regret going so hard against Barcelona?
PSG won the battle with a 4-2 home victory over Barcelona, but they paid a heavy 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.
The prevailing view is that PSG should not regret their approach. Players can pick up injuries at any time, and any of the three could have suffered the same fate in Sunday’s Ligue 1 game at Lyon. Luis Enrique has also rested and rotated his big stars throughout the season. The game offered his best players a rare chance to face opposition capable of challenging them, and they will gain far more from matches against Barcelona and Manchester City than from ties against Le Havre or Auxerre. Holding back stars for games like this would leave PSG with a boring, unchallenging season in France.
PSG also have the luxury of regularly resting players in domestic competition so they peak in the Champions League, an approach that has paid dividends over the past couple of seasons. The danger in football is injury through overplaying and fatigue, and that is not an issue for PSG. They are also not invincible at home: they won Ligue 1 by six points last season and did not move into first place until mid-January. A defeat at Lyon on Sunday night could drop them to sixth.
Losing Kvaratskhelia still hurts. When he is on form, he is one of the most enjoyable players to watch in Europe and gives PSG another dimension. One argument rates him as the best left winger in the world, assuming Kylian Mbappé is now classed as a reluctant striker, and as one of the top 10 players overall. Luis Enrique’s intense style demands depth, and PSG have lost their best wide player. They do have plenty of options, though. Désiré Doué continues to grow into a superstar, and heavy summer recruitment replenished the area. Maghnes Akliouche, Ferran Torres and Mika Godts are all available. Some players are harder to replace, such as centre-back Willian Pacho or midfielder Vitinha. PSG remain favourites to retain their trophy, but the blow is significant.
Is Liverpool’s start under Andoni Iraola real?
Liverpool won again on Tuesday, falling 2-0 behind Villarreal through their own errors before scoring 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. Many of their biggest names, including Bradley Barcola, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, have yet to show 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.
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. They look too flawed to win the Premier League this season, and probably the Champions League too, although Europe is never a place to count them out. Iraola is implementing a new system with players still getting used to each other, so patience is required, especially given the recent injury problems.
The biggest positive beyond the three points was Rio Ngumoha. He had impressed in cameos on the right this season, but Tuesday was his most complete display in a Liverpool shirt. He is only 18, so he cannot be expected to repeat it weekly, but he has a very bright future at Anfield. He also looks capable of solving a real conundrum for Iraola. Liverpool entered the season with four wingers who all prefer the left side, which created an obvious imbalance. Iraola has tried Cody Gakpo, Víctor Muñoz and Ngumoha on the right, and Ngumoha looks the one who can make it stick.
There is also a case that this is a false dawn, in the sense that Iraola is not a manager who delivers immediate results. His football takes time to absorb. Bournemouth took only three points from his first nine games in charge, then improved season after season, from 11th to ninth to sixth. The slow burn will be slower because he inherited a poorly assembled squad with players who do not necessarily fit his methods. Virgil van Dijk is likely to leave, which would force a defensive rebuild next season, although Iraola lost three of his back four in one summer at Bournemouth and came back stronger. First-choice centre-forward Hugo Ekitike is also out until the new year. Results will ebb and flow with individuals, and the right-back position is patchwork, starting with Araújo.
There are glimmers elsewhere. Even when he plays poorly, Ryan Gravenberch is learning a lot, Jérémy Jacquet is growing in confidence and Muñoz looks serviceable. These players will define Iraola’s future, though a “real” Iraola team may not appear for a year at the earliest. A counter-view says Liverpool are going along just fine. They are in a period of transition and will not challenge Arsenal and Manchester City for the title, but they are exciting going forward and likely to score more than they concede in most games. Ngumoha is their brightest attacking talent, which does not reflect well on Wirtz and Barcola.
Should Manchester United sack Michael Carrick now?
United lost 4-1 at tiny Como and then took shots at each other after the game. Captain Bruno Fernandes openly questioned Carrick’s tactics. The question is whether Carrick should go immediately or after the international break, and whether Lisandro Martínez was right in his rant last week.
It cannot all be down to Carrick, because a football club must hum on every level, but Martínez’s interview bailed Carrick out massively. The team is poorly set up and not functioning properly, and it should be far better with its current personnel. United finished the summer short of a left-back and a striker, but they signed good midfielders who are performing horribly. Youri Tielemans has suddenly gone from one of the best midfielders in the Premier League to someone who looks way off it. That raises the question of whether the fault lies with the player or the way the team is set up. By that logic, Andrey Santos deserves more of a pass, because if Tielemans is floundering, Santos will too.
United’s players also do not look fit. Their running stats are among the worst in the Premier League, and a lack of fitness falls squarely on the manager and his coaching staff. No amount of talent makes up for it at Premier League or Champions League level. The squad is full of misfits, some, like 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.
The case against Carrick is strong. He did an excellent job steadying the ship last season, but he never had the pedigree for the role long term. Interim managers rarely succeed when handed the job permanently, and United need a coach who will get the players fit, organised and disciplined. Antonio Conte is one name in that frame, though a union with him would surely end in disaster at some point. It would at least make great content for the club’s “All or Nothing” documentary.
The claim that appointing an interim manager permanently never works does not hold up. Roberto Di Matteo was an interim boss and won the Champions League. Zinedine Zidane was an interim boss and won three Champions Leagues. Hansi Flick was an interim boss, won the Treble and is now doing rather 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 relegation-threatened Fulham to ninth the year after. Di Matteo, however, left within months of signing a new contract, which is the fate that appears to await Carrick.
All those managers had exceptional players, a very solid club, or both. United are neither. There are two separate questions. Can Carrick take United where they want to go? Probably not, so he should go. The jump was too big, adjusting to midweek football is difficult, and it is obvious that a group of players running at half-speed are not performing for him. For such a critical game, an unusual number of players were injured: 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, and here Martínez was right. There are serious issues of communication and drift. It goes beyond the transfer window and Jason Wilcox’s choices to accountability and vision, and that will not be fixed quickly. Many United fans would also be happy to see Carrick win a Champions League and then get 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, and Luis Díaz came off with an injury after entering as a substitute.
It was a high-quality game between two top sides, with three brilliant goals. Arsenal will be the happier team, not only because they equalised late but because it was another mature away performance that showed how hard they are to beat in Europe. Losing Saka to injury in the first half, after about 10 minutes, was a blow, but Eberechi Eze did well when called on, and Arsenal have a squad equipped to deal with injuries. They can go deep again this season. This was the Arsenal of last season, hunkering down, staying compact and playing in transition. They should not play that way in every game, and neither does Mikel Arteta believe they should, but it was the right approach away from home. Playing Viktor Gyökeres was the right call, and it is doubtful that Kai Havertz could have laid the ball off the way Gyökeres did for Declan Rice‘s goal.
Bayern are hard to assess with so many absentees, and Vincent Kompany will be disappointed with how they managed the game at 2-1 up. Kimmich’s absence was felt: Tom Bischof is great but has a long way to go to match 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 passes in transition, from Martin Ødegaard and especially Harry Kane. Arsenal neutered Bayern, but not Kane dropping deep and picking out streaking wingers. There is no answer to it.
On the title race, Bayern have a better squad, more tactical flexibility and a goalscorer in Kane who is exactly what Arsenal need to reach the next level. They also play in a less competitive league than the Gunners, and they would have reached last season’s final had they not met PSG in the semi-final. On that view, PSG, Bayern and Barcelona are head and shoulders above the rest, with Arsenal in the next group, and Arteta needs to add variety and adventure to his tactics. The draw suits all parties, though. Saka’s injury, not any dropped points, is Arteta’s main concern, and drawing a pot one away fixture is absolutely fine.
What else stood out on Matchday 3?
Manchester City dismantled AEK Athens 5-1 thanks largely to a cluster of academy graduates. Phil Foden was the star of the night, scoring a hat-trick and showing 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 teeing up Foden’s third. It felt like a nice tonic for fans as scrutiny continues, rightly, to centre on City’s immense spending over the last 15 years.
The sparse crowd at the Etihad was a concern, however. The official attendance against AEK was 40,042, and the many empty seats pointed to a relatively small fanbase that 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. United’s huge fanbase fills the gaps when regulars stay away, whereas City do not have enough fans to take up spare tickets. There is no shame in that, but a club that claims to be a commercial global superpower needs to prove it by filling the stadium, as Real Madrid, United, Liverpool and Bayern do.
With Monday’s Ballon d’Or ceremony fast approaching, Kane again showed why he is a worthy contender. He was not quite at his sparkling best in the 2-2 draw with Arsenal, yet he still scored and assisted, teeing up Davies brilliantly before coolly converting from the penalty spot. His goalscoring record is phenomenal, but his range of passing makes him such a joy to watch, and his accuracy against Arsenal was such that he could have ended the night with a hat-trick of assists. The awards ceremony takes place next week in London.
Finally, Como deserve focus. Nico Paz could walk into just about any team in the world right now, and he is showing it on the big stage. While United’s flaws and absentees are easy to point out, Como were also missing three starters, Trevoh Chalobah, Assane Diao and Moise Kean. United had not conceded four in a game since May 2025, away to Brentford. Cesc Fabregas looks the real deal. Como have spent beyond their means and will likely pay a hefty price under Financial Fair Play, but the players on the pitch are mostly youngsters or middling players reborn under Fabregas.