Multiple contributors
Oct 22, 2025, 09:04 PM ET
The UEFA Champions League returned with a bang this midweek as Matchday 3 offered plenty to talk about.
We had big wins for Arsenal (4-0 vs. Atlético Madrid), Paris Saint-Germain (7-2 at Bayer Leverkusen), PSV Eindhoven (6-2 vs. Napoli), Barcelona (6-1 vs. Olympiacos), Chelsea (5-1 vs. Ajax Amsterdam) and Liverpool (5-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt).
We also got drama with Real Madrid squeaking past Juventus 1-0 thanks to a Jude Bellingham winner, and several other big clubs -- like Manchester City and Internazionale -- collected wins to give the top end of the table a rather predictable look.
So what did we glean from the action overall, and what have we learned from these teams? ESPN writers Mark Ogden, Julien Laurens, Tom Hamilton and Gab Marcotti offer their thoughts on Matchday 3.
- Ogden: Isak's exit leaves room for Ekitike to be Liverpool's main man
- Olley: Arsenal earn statement win in Champions League vs. Atléti
- From Ballon d'Or favorite to being benched: What's going on with Vinícius?
Barça got a pre-Clásico confidence boost by putting six past Olympiacos, but how much of it was their quality -- led by Marcus Rashford, who might be the answer up front for now -- and how much was it Olympiacos being on the receiving end of some bad refereeing?
Marcotti: The expected goals at the time of the sending off was 1.22 to 1.00 to Barcelona, so that's one way of looking at it. And then, with the extra man for more than half an hour, they piled on in garbage time and won 6-1.
That said, it's a midweek game pre-Clásico and these follow patterns, especially at home. You just want the result and you don't want to pick up injuries and they got that. Everybody was looking past Olympiacos, rightly or wrongly.
Still, there are obvious bright spots. Dro Fernández looked sharp, though, obviously, this team isn't exactly short on players who fit in the No. 10 role. Fermín López stole the show on the left wing and I'm happy for him because the club spent most of the summer shopping him around, trying to get a decent fee. No worry: he scored a superb hat trick.
Rashford as a solution up front is an interesting one. Conventional wisdom at Manchester United was that the England star was more productive in wide areas. But that was a different team, with a different style and a different coach (actually, multiple different coaches). If you think of what's asked of a Barcelona center forward these days -- movement, pressing, running in behind -- Rashford has the tools to do that. In fact, there's a parallel with Ferran Torres, who has proven to be a good fit for Hansi Flick's system. Certainly, when everybody's fit, you'd imagine it would be easier for Rashford to get game time at center forward than out wide, given the competition for places.
Ogden: This was the perfect game for Barcelona to showcase their attacking qualities, rather than be punished for their defensive frailties, because they were facing one of the teams most likely to finish in the bottom eight of the league phase. The issues that led to them losing 2-1 at home to PSG on Matchday 2, such as being caught out with their risky defensive high-line, were never going to resurface against Olympiacos, and this was basically a turkey shoot for Barça -- and they shot plenty of turkeys.
If a team is ill-equipped to cope with Barcelona's attacking players including Lamine Yamal, Rashford and Fermín, they are going to get picked apart, so I don't think this win told us anything new about Flick's team. We already knew that they were capable of hammering inferior teams, but we still know that they are vulnerable against opponents with an effective counter-punch.
This was great for the goal difference and the confidence of the forwards, who all weighed in with at least one goal, but Barça could also concede six against Real Madrid this weekend; that's the problem that Flick must solve if his team are to win the Champions League.
1:35
Burley: Barcelona's result means nothing ahead of El Clasico
Craig Burley says Barcelona's 6-1 victory over Olympiacos in the Champions League does not cover their defensive issues.
Laurens: There is nothing Flick would have gleaned from Tuesday's win, and there's arguably nothing we learned either. There can't be much of a confidence boost after a performance like this. They won and scored six goals: good for them. We know they are very good going forward, even when they have big names missing. Lamine can hurt any defence, Fermín is a lovely player too, and Rashford has got his mojo back.
But for the rest, they were again very fragile in midfield and in defense. Frenkie de Jong not being there in midfield to control a bit more the tempo of the game made it a basketball match too often, in tribute to the start of the NBA regular season a few hours later. This is still a team you would not trust in defensive transitions, as Olympiacos showed, but who could score against anyone in the same way.
What does this say before the Clásico? Nothing new really. They could win 3-2 or lose 3-2, no one knows.
Hamilton: After that farcical red card, Olympiacos collapsed, but how you see this performance depends on how Barça-tinted your spectacles are. They were ruthless in front of goal -- Fermín's hat trick was an exercise in perseverance and clinical finishing, while Rashford's pair of goals were brilliantly judged finishes. Few teams in the world could have coped with the speed of passing that led to Rashford winning the penalty for Lamine to slot home.
For those of the more cynical perspective, Olympiacos goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis had a stinker, Santiago Hezze was victim of a woefully unfair red card, and up until that point, Barça were finding it hard to break the Greek side down and take their chances, echoing difficulty in recent matches against PSG, Sevilla and Girona. The red card changed the flow of the match, so let's pause before saying this team are back to their best.
Ahead of El Clasico, they desperately need to get some of their injured contingent back, but despite this monster win, they're not yet back to the levels we saw last season.
Q2. Liverpool shrugged off a losing streak with some bold moves as Arne Slot benched Mohamed Salah, pulled Alexander Isak at half-time, and let Cody Gakpo, Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz run the show. Is this the way forward for the Reds? What is their best line-up right now if they're to build on Wednesday's 5-1 shellacking of Frankfurt?
Marcotti: The worst thing you can do is read too much into the Frankfurt result. They are seventh in the table, 11 points off the top in the Bundesliga. They haven't kept a clean sheet since April and have conceded 23 goals in their last six games. You don't get to play Eintracht every week; you're not going to get the long-term solution out of this game.
That said, the 4-4-2 formation -- because that's pretty much how I saw it, with Wirtz coming in from the right -- is an interesting option. You can put whatever two midfielders you like in there: Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai worked on Wednesday, obviously long-term you'd expect it to be Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch, but you can pick based on form/opponent.
Of course, the issue is the front two and the elephant in the room is Salah. A Salah-Isak partnership can work, but right now you'd obviously want Ekitike in there. And obviously, you want Wirtz to have as free a role as possible if he's going to start in a wide area, so you'll need width. That's Jeremie Frimpong, though he came off early against Eintracht.
Like I said, this scheme has its merits, but let's take it all with a grain of salt given who they were playing and the way they've been defending.
Ogden: Winning breeds confidence and can banish self-doubt, so the importance to Liverpool of the 5-1 win in Frankfurt can't be overstated. However, there's a but -- Eintracht Frankfurt were so bad that we can't really gauge whether Liverpool are out of their slump until they face Brentford on Saturday because that is a game that will really test Liverpool's weaknesses.
Slot said after the Eintracht win that it was easier for his team to press because "we were not able to do that in recent games because the ball was always in the air." That was obviously a veiled dig at Manchester United and Chelsea, who both beat Liverpool 2-1 with more direct tactics, but that is precisely what Slot's side will face at Brentford. So let's reserve judgement.
However, it is clear that Ekitike is Liverpool's most reliable forward now. He is doing everything that Isak hasn't done, but Isak's injury won't help the pair form an understanding and with Salah set to disappear on AFCON duty on December, Ekitike and Isak need as much time together as possible before then.
Hamilton: Slot gave us a glimpse of what Liverpool could look like post-Salah on Wednesday night, as they snapped their four-game losing streak. But in making those changes, he's given himself some welcome selection dilemmas, while also scratching the itch of seeing what it's like to start Ekitike and Isak up front. Ekitike looked far more comfortable in the role, with Isak hooked at half-time. (Slot says it was down to match fitness, but you decide.) Slot now faces the tricky conundrum of having to give Isak time to play himself back into form, while getting a run of wins under their belt after losing four in a row.
Wirtz has struggled to find his feet at Liverpool after the summer move but had the freedom of Frankfurt in their 5-1 win. Gakpo is simply undroppable at the moment, so if you're looking for a Liverpool team to play Brentford on Saturday out of those available at the moment, it has to resemble something like: Giorgi Mamardashvili in goal (Alisson will eventually return), Conor Bradley at right back (Frimpong went off injured), Ibrahima Konaté and Virgil van Dijk in the middle, with Andy Robertson at left back (Milos Kerkez was so poor against Manchester United); Gravenberch (presuming he's fit for Saturday, play Jones if not), Mac Allister and Szoboszlai in the midfield three. And then up front, Gakpo has the left spot sewn up, Salah on the right with Ekitike through the middle.
Wirtz may have something to say about missing out in the midfield, but he needs time to gel, as does Isak.
1:29
Should Isak or Ekitike start against Brentford for Liverpool?
Nedum Onuoha gives his thoughts on who should start as Liverpool's number nine against Brentford.
Laurens: Slot reportedly took off Isak at half-time because of a groin injury, so we will never know if the Liverpool manager would have still taken him off at the break or if the reason was purely medical. Personally, I don't think the front four the Dutchman chose worked in the first half. Ekitike scored a solo goal that had nothing to do with the line-up, Isak had two decent chances in the first 10 minutes on simple runs. And Frankfurt are really not a very good team.
With all that in mind, I'm not sure if Slot has found the answers to the questions and problems he has had so far this season. But it was good to see him changing things, and not hesitating to drop Salah and Mac Allister. However, I don't believe this front four would work in the Premier League. If Isak is injured, he will miss the trip to Brentford on Saturday and I expect Salah to be back on the right with Ekitike as the No. 9, Wirtz behind him and Gakpo on the left.
Q3. Napoli got crushed 6-2 by PSV and Antonio Conte -- no stranger to failure in this competition -- lost his cool after the match, blaming rotation and new signings: "We added nine players in the summer, that has cost us in terms of chemistry. The old guys, including me, need to rediscover their spirit, the new guys need to learn to fit in and be humble and silent." Is Conte right to rant about his team? Is this a smart motivational technique, or will it only make things worse?
Marcotti: I guess you have to defer to the coach, because he's there, he works with the players every day and he knows what buttons to push. Yes, integrating nine guys affects chemistry, that's obvious. It applies to Liverpool too, who brought in a ton of new players and have been inconsistent. But that's why it's Conte's job to make it work. And the heavy recruitment was necessary as last season they weren't in Europe and were able to use a much smaller squad.
That said, Conte also said his players were being disrespectful to Napoli and their fans and hinted that folks weren't being realistic about the challenges they faced. I don't like that. It feels like blaming players and sucking up to supporters. Players see through that, especially some of the veteran newcomers like Kevin De Bruyne. And some of his other comments, like towards Noa Lang, who had pointed out that he'd only spoken to Conte once leave a lot to be desired. Conte's reply was: "Noa Lang plays when I say he plays."
You'd hate to think it's history repeating itself, with Conte falling out in Year Two after success in Year One.
Ogden: I'm sorry, but weren't we all hyping up Rasmus Højlund earlier this month as another player who thrives away from Manchester United and billing De Bruyne as a great signing for the Serie A champions? Conte can't have it both ways. Maybe it's not the volume of signings that is the problem for Napoli, but the standard of the players. Or maybe, just maybe, it is that Conte has never delivered in the Champions League and we're just seeing the same old story repeat itself this season.
Hamilton: When things get a little ragged on the pitch, Conte responds off it. Tottenham Hotspur fans know that well: No one is free from his spray. But look, they are one point off the top of Serie A and we've seen elsewhere in Europe (Liverpool) that it takes time to mould a new side.
After their appalling defeat to PSV, you can imagine a fair bit of his ire was directed at Lorenzo Lucca --- one of their many summer signings -- who endured a torrid time at Eindhoven on Tuesday and was shown a red card for basically calling the referee out. It was symptomatic of the frustration Lucca must be feeling, but also made him an easy target for Conte to mask his team's shortcomings.
However, there's also an element of smoke and mirrors here. Those players who left over the summer were all largely superfluous, but what they're missing is Romelu Lukaku anchoring things up front, despite the impressive early start from Højlund. The crux of the team that played PSV on Tuesday was the group who won the league last term -- instead of blaming the new signings, look at the system which allowed PSV so much space in front of Napoli's defence.
Perhaps a more measured view after their dismal performance was from Scott McTominay. "It's a long season," he said. "For us, we just have to be calm. We can't go crazy and think about too many different things."
Laurens: There were only three new players amongst the 10 outfield Napolitans who started on Tuesday in Eindhoven (Lucca, De Bruyne, Sam Beukema) so I am not sure I am buying Conte's excuse. This was just a terrible performance from himself and from his team. He set up his side wrong, leaving the control of the midfield to PSV.
At half-time, Napoli were only 2-1 down, so Conte's team-talk clearly didn't inspire his men at all. His substitutions didn't work either and the second half devolved into one of the worst nightmares of his managerial career.
Napoli and Conte are better than what we saw in the Netherlands, but his struggles in Europe continue. The reception of Frankfurt and Qarabag in the next two Matchdays should help Conte and Napoli climb back up the table and make peace with this season's Champions League which has been a tough ride so far: two losses in three and two red cards as well.
Q4. Real Madrid didn't look brilliant vs. Juventus, but Bellingham got his first goal of the season. Is a Bellingham-Arda Güler midfield pivot the thing to make them click heading into the Clásico?
Marcotti: Juventus set out to defend. It took Real Madrid a while to score, but let's not kid ourselves, their expected goals at full-time were 2.81 and they had 66% possession while taking 28 shots. This was one-way traffic and, apart from a couple Kenan Yildiz moments (too few) and that Dusan Vlahovic chance, we saw little from Juve.
Where to put Bellingham is almost an existential question. The injuries at right back mean Federico Valverde is out of the picture in midfield, which is why Xabi Alonso tried Güler with Bellingham. I think that's hard to do against an opponent who will attack and will want the ball like Barca will in the Clásico.
It's a question of balance. If Bellingham puts in the defensive work that Valverde offers, you can get away with it, as long as you have the ball for long stretches. If not, it becomes real tough. And when the right backs are fit again, you'll have a tough choice to make. I can't see Valverde being dropped, you need Aurélien Tchouaméni (or someone like him) in there and Güler is the golden child right now. Four into three don't go.
Ogden: As Gab says, that only works if Bellingham is prepared to drop deeper and play a more defensive role because you can't ask Güler to do that.
Bellingham has everything in his locker to be that player, but he still allows himself to become the 10-year-old in the playground who is better than everyone else and therefore decides to play wherever he wants. If his time on the sidelines recovering from injury was used wisely, Bellingham should have studied the changes Real are going through under Alonso and worked out how best to suit the team. His England omission recently may also have caused him pause for thought.
So let's see. If Bellingham can add the maturity to his game that would enable him to play a more disciplined role, that's great news for club and country, but I think he's probably still a year or two away from that.
1:54
Is the El Clásico Alonso's hardest managerial test?
Craig Burley and Steve Nicol look ahead to Real Madrid vs. Barcelona after UCL victories for both teams.
Hamilton: Alonso wanted this pair of matches to set the standard for the rest of Real Madrid's season. And they've got part one in the bag, thanks to their 1-0 win. But the Clásico will play out to an altogether different tempo. Real Madrid won't finish with 28 shots, or 66% possession, or with nearly double the number of passes than their opponents.
But despite this one-sided picture, this wasn't a complete performance from Real Madrid -- in the early stages of the match, they looked disjointed and overall, the strength of the team isn't yet proportional to the talent in the squad. Ahead of the Clásico, his selection is going to be fascinating.
With Valverde marooned at right back for the time being to cover injuries, you feel the team needs Tchouameni in the middle to help anchor things. So with Güler in a superb run of form, and Bellingham rightly regarded as one of the world's best players -- despite being an England exile -- it's a tough conundrum for Alonso. For the time being -- until Dani Carvajal and Trent Alexander-Arnold return at least to free up Valverde -- you feel he may stick with this trio.
Laurens: I personally would not go there against Barcelona. It would be too attacking and too risky for Alonso to leave Tchouameni on his own as the low point of this triangle. Even a poor Juventus team found it easy at times to go through this midfield, so imagine the Spanish champions.
Against Pedri, De Jong and Fermin, playing with just one No. 6 and two No. 8s, would be something. Yes, Madrid will be at home and they will want to put the Catalans under pressure and recover the ball high up on the pitch, but having another hard-working player like Valverde would make the most sense.
That's why I don't believe we will see the trio of Tchouameni, Güler and Bellingham from the start on Sunday. Eduardo Camavinga replaced Güler after 74 minutes on Wednesday. Bellingham played the whole 90 minutes but played very high with little defensive contributions (two recoveries, one interception, two clearances). Barça will be so good with the ball that you need a different midfield three than the one we saw against the Bianconeri. I would even put Valverde almost man marking Pedri. But that's just me, I am no Xabi Alonso.
Q5. Pulling out for a big-picture look, the Champions League table looks depressingly familiar compared to last season with so many big clubs off to hot starts and locking in the Top 8 with nearly half the league phase complete. Is this real or a mirage? Can we still expect some surprises from here?
Marcotti: Maybe we should chill out. Galatasaray, Sporting CP, Newcastle United and Qarabag (!) have as many points as Liverpool and Barcelona. They're all one win from going top. It's not depressing, it's just how the games shook out. I think schedule strength also plays a part here. Inter have nine points, but they have played Ajax, Slavia Prague and Union St.-Gilloise. Real Madrid had a rough time against Marseille, beat Kairat Almaty and their 17-year-old debutant keeper, and a poor Juve side. The fact that only five teams are three from three is a good sign, I think. And, of those, only PSG, Bayern Munich and Arsenal have been consistently good.
2:04
Nicol: Arsenal are the most 'powerful' team in Europe
Steve Nicol and Craig Burley praise Arsenal's physicality as the current Premier League leaders.
Ogden: Lots of the big clubs misjudged the early matchdays of the league phase last season, while the unfancied teams such as Celtic, Brest and Sporting took advantage with fast starts that helped get them into the playoff stage. That hasn't happened this season, the shock value has gone, so it's unlikely that we're going to have a repeat of the drama on Matchday 8, when PSG and Manchester City could have gone out.
I think the change this year is that the top clubs want to get qualification wrapped up with a couple of matchdays to go so they can rest players during a busy January. But let's see what happens next month, when Liverpool play Real Madrid and PSG meet Bayern Munich. A defeat in those games could make things uncomfortable for the losing side.
Hamilton: The wonderful variety and randomness of the new-look Champions League has evaporated, for now, at least. Or has it? The top of the table has a familiar feel with the traditional powerhouses sitting pretty at the summit after three rounds. The likes of Benfica, Ajax, Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer Leverkusen were put back in their place this week and as things stand, most of the top eight are the teams we'd expect to be featuring in the latter stages of the tournament.
But there's still plenty of time for this picture to change. The schedule has been kind to a team like Inter, and you feel others are finding their feet, and the hangover of the Club World Cup in the summer will become ever-more influential as the season progresses. If before the tournament you'd been given a sneak peek of the table after three rounds, you'd have not batted an eyelid at PSG, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Arsenal and Real Madrid winning all of their matches to date, with Man City, Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona, Liverpool and Chelsea all hovering. But there's still plenty of time for this to change. PSG, Arsenal and Bayern are setting the standard so far but expect others to continue biting at their heels.
Laurens: I don't think we should look at the table until Matchday 5 or 6 anyway. Everyone has played teams with different levels, strengths and weaknesses so far. We need to have a bigger sample to see what this season will offer us in the Champions League. It might well be a campaign where only the top clubs make the Top 8 and no one is missing out on the Top 24 either. But, for now, I think it has been fun to watch -- very competitive at times and very one-sided at others, but that's fine. It's football. It will be the case again in two weeks' time where we will have the mouthwatering PSG-Bayern clash to watch.
