Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany says it is exceptional that Barcelona have potentially found a Lionel Messi replacement in Lamine Yamal so soon after the Argentine left the club.

Messi, now at Inter Miami, left Barça in 2021, with Yamal, a left-footed attacker who plays on the right, emerging from the academy to make his first team debut as a 15-year-old in 2023.

The 17-year-old has since played over 60 times for Barça, scoring five goals and providing six assists in 12 appearances this season, and helped Spain win the European Championships in the summer, earning comparisons with Messi along the way.

“It’s exceptional for Barça as a club [to have Yamal] so shortly after the departure of a player like Messi,” Kompany said in a news conference ahead of the meeting between the two sides in the Champions League on Wednesday.

“For my generation, Messi was one of the key figures of our era. To shortly after this player leaving already have potentially a player who can replace him is quite unique.

“Full credit to [Barça’s academy] La Masia for always trusting these players and giving them the chance. But the question for us is not about stopping [Yamal], but trying to win a game against Barcelona, which means [stopping] all the players, not one.

“The focus is on the team, not one player, but he’s an exceptional player.”

Lamine Yamal has already made an incredible impact since comiing into the Barcelona first team. Pedro Salado/Getty Images

Yamal is one of two 17-year-olds who starts regularly for Barça. The other is centre-back Pau Cubarsí, who also drew a rave review from Kompany, a former centre-back himself with Manchester City.

“He’s one of the future defensive leaders in world football for sure,” the Belgian coach said when asked for his opinion on Cubarsí.

“I was lucky to start my career very young, at a similar age, but to play every game at this level, not just representing Barça, but against this level of competition in a top five league and the Champions League, it’s very special, very rare.

“He’s already a good player and if he can hopefully stay fit he will have a wonderful career.”

Kompany, who joined Bayern from Burnley in the summer, has made a good start to his career in Bavaria. His team are unbeaten and top of the Bundesliga, although they lost their last Champions League game at Aston Villa.

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Wednesday’s game at the Olympic Stadium provides the latest test to his managerial credentials against a Barça side coached by ex-Bayern boss Hansi Flick, who won the treble during his time in charge of the German club.

“Hansi was not just a coach at Bayern, he was a very successful coach, a person that represented the club in a way that is still spoken about today,” Kompany said.

“He means a lot for Bayern and I am sure this game means a lot for him. But the duel is on the pitch. Hansi’s ideas are very clear; I hope ours are as well.”

Speaking prior to Kompany, Bayern midfielder Joshua Kimmich refused to rule out a move to Barça next summer when his contract expires, instead revealing the impact the Catalan club had on him when he was younger.

“It’s always special to play against Barcelona,” the German international said. “Of course I have seen my name linked with Barça in the past, but it’s not a special game for that reason, simply because they’re a huge club.

“They’ve had success in the past and, along with the Spanish national team that won three trophies in a row, they’re a club that have left a mark on me. Xavi [Hernández] was my idol when I was younger and Pep Guardiola and his Barça side also had a big influence on me.”

Asked to give a direct answer on if he could join Barça next summer, he added: “In football you can never make the mistake of ruling things out. To respond directly to you, I am not thinking of that right now, but you can never rule things out in life or in football.”

Three straight wins, no goals conceded and top of the league on maximum points.

Aston Villa‘s first ever appearance in the Champions League couldn’t be going any better.

Villa’s 2-0 home win over Bologna on Tuesday maintained the 100% start to the English team’s first campaign in Europe’s top club competition since 1983 — when it was called the European Cup, which Villa won in 1982.

And they don’t want the dream start to end here.

“What we are building here is amazing,” said Villa captain John McGinn, one of the scorers against Bologna at a rocking Villa Park. “Three games in, three wins and most important for us is no goals conceded.

“We don’t want to stop here. It puts us in a great position. Some players came back and now we look really strong.”

Villa opened with a 3-0 win at Swiss outsiders Young Boys and then beat German giants Bayern Munich 1-0 in their first home game of the revamped competition.

Jhon Durán’s goals have been at the heart of Aston Villa’s impressive start to the Champions League. Aston Villa/Aston Villa FC via Getty Images)

Halfway through the third round of league games, Villa are in first place and no other team has nine points.

“We are playing seriously, we are playing focused, responsible and the team is progressing and mature in everything,” said Villa manager Unai Emery, who took charge two years ago with the team just above the relegation zone.

Key this season has been the form of Jhon Durán, the 20-year-old Colombia international who is enjoying his breakthrough year at Villa.

Duran was handed a rare start against Bologna ahead of first-choice striker Ollie Watkins and was about to be replaced by his fellow centre-forward when he hooked home a volley in the 64th minute from Morgan Rogers‘ cross.

Watkins was on the sideline waiting to come on and was seen applauding the goal by Duran, who now has seven for the season in 12 games — mostly as a substitute. One of them was a memorable long-range winner against Bayern.

Duran looked livid when he stomped to the bench but Emery brushed off any issue between them.

“When he was watching that I was thinking of changing him, he accelerated and scored a goal,” Emery said, laughing. “It was fantastic. He was asking for more [time] because he was thinking he could score more goals.”

Information from The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Christian Pulisic continued his sensational start to the season on Tuesday, scoring directly from a corner in AC Milan‘s 3-1 UEFA Champions League win against Belgium’s Club Brugge.

The United States star opened the scoring in the 34th minute at the San Siro, sending in an inswinging corner from the left that deceived the goalkeeper and defenders and somehow missed everyone before bouncing into the net beyond the despairing attempted clearance on the goal line.

The effort was the first “Olimpico” goal of Pulisic’s career and took him to 10 goal contributions in his past 10 games for club and country. It was also the 26-year-old’s second goal in three Champions League games this season, after scoring in Milan’s opening defeat to Liverpool last month.

After Tuesday’s goal, Pulisic raised his arms up and smiled broadly before being embraced by his teammates, as he laughed seeming incredulous. And he later admitted the goal had an element of fortune.

“Today it was a bit of luck but it’s still worth a goal. I’m very happy,” a laughing Pulisic said in Italian. “I didn’t try to do that but it was a good cross, I’ll say that, and after a nice, nice goal but I wasn’t trying that.”

Christian Pulisic celebrates his ‘Olimpico’ goal for AC Milan against Club Brugge. Julian Finney – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images

In Serie A, Pulisic has scored five goals and added three assists in eight games this campaign. He also registered an assist in Mauricio Pochettino’s first game in charge of the USMNT, against Panama earlier this month.

“I work hard every day. I always want to be decisive in matches,” he said. “I’m very happy this year, I’m getting a lot of goals and assists, but it’s not always like that. So I’ll continue like this and hope to continue scoring.”

Belgium’s Brugge had to play most of Tuesday’s game with 10 men after Raphael Onyedika was sent off in the 40th minute but still leveled the score with a goal from Kyriani Sabbe in the 51st.

Tijjani Reijnders later scored twice to give Milan a much-needed first win in this season’s Champions League, having also lost to Bayer Leverkusen.

There was a late scare — and coach Paulo Fonseca certainly looked concerned —when Pulisic had to be helped off late after taking a knock to his knee but the 26-year-old was able to return and almost doubled his tally.

Sixteen-year-old Francesco Camarda was brought on in the 75th minute and became the youngest Italian debutant in the Champions League. He briefly thought he had broken the record for youngest Champions League scorer too, but his header was ruled offside to halt joyous celebrations.

Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Barcelona forward Raphinha has said he was hurt by some of the speculation surrounding the club’s interest in signing Nico Williams in the summer, labelling it disrespectful and in bad taste.

Barça’s pursuit of the Athletic Club and Spain winger raised questions about Raphinha’s future, with one photograph of a fan wearing a Williams shirt with the Brazilian’s No. 11 on the back going viral during the transfer window.

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Raphinha — who has subsequently started the season in fine form, and is in line to make his 100th Barça appearance against Bayern Munich on Wednesday — has admitted he was irked by certain things during the summer.

“I saw those [posts] with the shirt on Instagram,” he said in a news conference on Tuesday ahead of the Bayern game. “I thought it was a joke in bad taste and it was disrespectful.

“People need to respect the players that are here. We’re here giving our best and fighting for the club. To see a photo like that wasn’t very nice for me, I took it as a lack of respect.

“Of course, people are free to do what they want, but I did feel a little hurt in that moment.”

Raphinha’s response has been to up his game on the pitch. Under Hansi Flick, he has found his best form since joining the club from Leeds United in 2022, scoring six goals and providing six assists in 12 appearances in all competitions.

Playing from the left or more centrally, as opposed to on the right wing, he was named LaLiga’s Player of the Month for August. He has even worn the captain’s armband at times, but he insisted the summer speculation is not behind his improvement.

“It wasn’t an added motivator to start the season in the way I did,” he added. “I was anxious to give my best for the club. Seeing how many years of my contract I have here [until 2027], it was a crucial point.

“I started the season knowing to play here I have to adapt to different positions and a different style of play. In the past I gave 100%; now I give 200% and I’m always willing to do that for this club.

Raphinha was speaking at Barcelona’s news conference on Tuesday. JOSEP LAGO/AFP via Getty Images

“[It has been] part mental and part tactical, but also it’s very important for me to have the confidence of the coach and my teammates. My mentality at the beginning of the season was different from other years — I knew I had to adapt to a new position to play here.”

Raphinha is not the only player to improve under Flick, with Barça winning 10 of their 12 games under the German coach this season, but they will be tested this week against Bayern and Real Madrid, who they travel to on Saturday in LaLiga for the first Clásico of the campaign.

Bayern arrive at the Olympic Stadium on the back of a six-game winning streak against Barça, including an 8-2 victory when Flick was in the Bayern dugout in 2020.

However, Flick is not concerned by the past as he prepares for a “special” reunion with the team he led to a treble in 2019-20 before taking the Germany national team job in 2021.

“The past doesn’t matter,” he said in the news conference when asked about the 8-2 specifically. “The here and now is what’s important. We can’t influence what happened in the past, but we can prepare well for tomorrow.

“Of course it’s a special game in this case against Bayern. I played there and I coached there. I have a lot of acquaintances there, players and also people within the management structure.

“It was a great time in my career and I have great memories, but I am in another chapter now here at Barça and I am very happy here.”

The matchup pits the LaLiga leaders against the Bundesliga leaders, with Flick complimenting the work done so far by new coach Vincent Kompany.

“Bayern are in very good shape,” he said. “Kompany and his coaching team are doing an outstanding job, pressing opponents, brave with the ball and imposing their style on teams. It will be a tough task for us.”

Barça and Bayern both have three points from two games in the Champions League this season, increasing the need for both teams to win the game this week.

Gavi, Frenkie de Jong, Fermín López and Dani Olmo are all fit again for Barça, although it remains to be seen if any of them are ready to start the game, with Eric García and long-term absentees Marc-André ter Stegen, Ronald Araújo, Andreas Christensen, Marc Bernal and Ferran Torres all missing out.

MADRID — “Our crown, our trophy,” read the banner, held up by fans behind the Santiago Bernabeu’s south goal before kickoff.

Real Madrid are the reigning European champions, the 15-time UEFA Champions League winners, and, of course, the comeback kings, as they showed once again in this unpredictable, wildly entertaining 5-2 win over Borussia Dortmund.

This is a strange Madrid team, full of elite players, but often malfunctioning as a unit. They flirted with embarrassment against Dortmund before they decided to play the hits, and turn the game around, roared on by the Bernabeu crowd.

In the first half, they were poor: fragile in defence, non-existent in midfield and hesitant in attack. In the second half, they looked like an unstoppable force of nature, led by the irrepressible Vinícius Júnior. The Brazilian scored a hat trick, in what’s a contender for his career-best performance to date. This was Ballon d’Or-worthy. By the end of this month, he might have one.

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In the old Champions League format, Madrid never failed to qualify from the group stage, ever. Here, they faced a real risk of starting the new league phase with two defeats in three games. Their 1-0 loss at Lille on matchday two could have been dismissed as an anomaly — Madrid created nine chances there, with an xG (expected goals) of 2.18, but lost 1-0 — but Tuesday’s first-half performance, going 2-0 down to Dortmund and conceding twice in four minutes, made it look more like a trend.

Madrid have not been playing well this season, but they’ve still been winning games, and are unbeaten in LaLiga. There was optimism, excitement and expectation ahead of kickoff here, the feeling of a big European tie, and a repeat of last season’s Wembley final. The atmosphere generated by Dortmund’s thousands of travelling fans helped. Midway through the first half, their coordinated, mass bouncing had the desks in the Bernabeu press box moving gently up and down, all the way across the stadium. On the pitch, their team gave them every reason to jump up and down.

Donyell Malen‘s opening goal after 31 minutes was well worked, a team move that ended with Malen on the ball, in space, in front of goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. Three minutes later, Malen crossed for Jamie Bynoe-Gittens to score Dortmund’s second, sprinting past a dozing Lucas Vázquez at the far post.

It didn’t take long for Madrid to spark into life, Rodrygo — back in the XI here in his favourite competition after three consecutive games on the bench — and Jude Bellingham both hitting the woodwork within seconds of each other. But then it was Dortmund who again came closest to adding a third before the break, Courtois saving at full stretch from Julian Brandt.

The Bernabeu crowd whistled their team off the pitch at halftime, their pride stung. In the second half, a reaction felt almost inevitable. It arrived in the 60th minute when Antonio Rüdiger‘s powerful header from Kylian Mbappé‘s cross made it 2-1, before Vinícius made it 2-2 minutes later, after a nervous wait for an on-field offside call to be overturned.

Real Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior capped off another great display in the UEFA Champions League with a hat trick against Borussia Dortmund. (Photo by Maria Gracia Jimenez/Soccrates/Getty Images)

Then, Madrid had to wait. They pushed for a winner, as Dortmund tried to hang on, and occasionally threaten, if they could, on the break. When it came, Madrid’s third goal arrived from Vazquez, before a breathtaking late double from Vinícius left the result in no doubt. By the final whistle, Madrid’s poor first half felt like a distant memory, the win ultimately so comfortable, so overwhelming, that what came before it could almost be dismissed as an irrelevance.

Vinícius carried the match ball off the pitch and will take the headlines as the game’s outstanding player. As preparation for Saturday’s El Clásico against Barcelona in LaLiga, it doesn’t get much better, even if Madrid’s first-half shortcomings suggest there are still plenty of reasons for concern.

The nature of this new Champions League format, with only 12 of the 36 teams being eliminated after the league phase, means that even with a defeat, Madrid might well have qualified for the knockout phase anyway. And it’s worth remembering that they weren’t immune to the occasional group stage slip-up — remember Moldova’s Sheriff Tiraspol winning 2-1 at the Bernabeu in 2021? Madrid went on to lift the Champions League that season.

But in the end, there was no slip-up here. There was business as usual. After this second half, Madrid will be talked about as being among the favourites to win the competition again in 2025. And with Vinicius in this kind of unplayable form, it’s hard to argue.

Toni Kroos has said he wasn’t tempted to delay his retirement to link up with Kylian Mbappé at Real Madrid, admitting it “wasn’t easy” to tell coach Carlo Ancelotti he’d decided to leave the club.

Midfielder Kroos won 23 trophies in a decade at Madrid — including five Champions Leagues — before retiring last summer, after competing with Germany at Euro 2024.

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The 2014 World Cup winner was able to end his career on a high, aged 34, after winning a LaLiga and Champions League double last season.

“The decision didn’t depend on if a player was arriving or leaving,” Kroos told Marca when asked if he’d considered staying at Madrid to play with Mbappé, who agreed a five-year contract in June.

“It was my decision. I knew Mbappé was coming, and I’m glad he did, because he’s going to help the team. He could have come two years ago, but now he’s finally here. But Mbappé didn’t affect my decision.”

Kroos described how he broke the news to Ancelotti, who coached the midfielder in both of his two spells in charge of Madrid.

“It was really hard for me to tell Carlo,” Kroos said. “He was hoping that I would continue, and we had, and have, a really good relationship. He was my first coach here, and it wasn’t easy to tell him, but everything in life comes to an end.

Toni Kroos won Germany’s footballer of the year for 2024 despite his retirement. Max Ellerbrake – firo sportphoto/Getty Images

“I knew he wouldn’t get angry, but that he’d be a bit sad. It wasn’t easy for me either, because something that had been very special was ending. I tried to choose a good moment … And I was lucky that we won LaLiga by a distance, and I said: ‘Now!’ Because there was the perfect time, between LaLiga and the Champions League final.”

“After 10 years, everyone knows me very well,” Kroos added. “And they know that if I’ve taken a decision and thought it through, there’s no turning back. The boss [Ancelotti] said to me: ‘You’re German, there’s nothing to be done, right?'”

Kroos’ No. 8 shirt has been passed on to Federico Valverde, who now has the task of replacing his influence in midfield.

“I love [Valverde] as a person and as a player,” Kroos said. “I believe in him and that’s why I gave him the No. 8, I think it could be good for him. Now he has to take the responsibility of playing and taking the risks I took on the pitch. It’s his turn, and I think he can do it.”

We are still only two gameweeks into the new 36-team, one-group UEFA Champions League format, but it has already caused quite a stir.

Change can be difficult to process for soccer fans, especially to longstanding mechanisms in the game, and this latest one has been seismic. In fact, it has ripped up the very fabric of the competition. Whether you like or hate the changes at this early stage, everyone can agree that it still feels a bit weird. But the key question is whether the pushback we’re seeing from fans is a product of typical, initial resistance that will eventually soften, or something deeper.

Here, we’ll take each of the major criticisms that we’ve seen levelled at the new tournament format (which you can see explained here) and try to assess whether they are truly valid, or just a signal of unfamiliarity that will eventually become accepted as time wears on.

1. “It’s uncompetitive.”

There were some incredible games across the first two gameweeks. To namecheck a handful of them: Aston Villa and Lille stunned Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, respectively; 10-man Juventus roared back to beat RB Leipzig 3-2; and Arsenal dispatched Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 with unerring confidence.

There were also some outright drubbings. Dinamo Zagreb were thrashed 9-2 by Bayern; Slovan Bratislava lost 5-1 to Celtic, then followed it up with a 4-0 loss to Manchester City; Celtic went on to lose 7-1 to Borussia Dortmund; while Swiss minnows Young Boys have lost 3-0 to Villa and 5-0 to Barcelona.

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For some teams, it has been a brutal start. In the first 36 games, there have been nine wins by a margin of 4+ goals (and there were eight in the first 27 games), which dwarves the numbers we’ve seen in the last five editions of the Champions League across the first two matchdays (two, four, four, five, three). This has led to suggestions that the new format has become less competitive, but there’s a couple of things worth bearing in mind here.

First, two gameweeks is a very small sample size. You can get hints from them, but rarely is it advisable to draw conclusions — anyone who works with data would call you mad for doing so. Second, the teams we’ve namechecked on the wrong end of these scorelines are no strangers to this sort of thing.

Take Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb. They finished last in their group in 2022-23, and last in 2019-20. They qualified for the 2016-17 edition and didn’t score a single goal, while conceding 15 to Lyon, Juventus and Sevilla. The year before that, they beat Arsenal 2-1, but lost 3-0, 2-0, 5-0, 1-0 and 2-1 in the other games.

Young Boys have also perfected the art of finishing bottom of a Champions League group, doing so the last two times they qualified in 2021-22 and 2018-19. While Serbia’s Crvena Zvezda, who were beaten 10-2 over two games against PSG in 2018-19, lost their group games by an aggregate score of 9-0 to Bayern and Tottenham in 2019-20. Even Celtic, an iconic European name, finished bottom of their group the last three times they’ve qualified before this season, twice conceding 15 times across their six games and losing 9-0 on aggregate in both games against Barcelona.

All of this is to show, in the context of the scale of European football, that the good teams are still good, and the bad teams are still bad. And bad teams have always been present in the Champions League.

Yes, scorelines have flared up earlier than usual this season, and it will be interesting to see if that’s simply a small sample size or indicative of the fact the tournament has grown from 32 to 36 teams this year, widening the depth of talent from top to bottom. But in the entirety of the group stage in 2022-23, there were 16 thrashings by 4+ goals, and 14 the year before that, — so we’ll have to see if the trend continues.

As with any dataset, there have also been some anomalies. Young Boys, who are 36th in the UCL table with a -8 goal difference, won the Swiss Super League in 2024 and beat Galatasaray over two legs in qualifying, but are bizarrely bottom of their domestic league this year with just six points from nine games. So you would expect their form to turn around at some point. Meanwhile, included in the list of nine 4+ winning margins so far is Benfica’s 4-0 destruction of Spain’s third-best team Atlético Madrid. Nobody would have predicted that result before the game. So this might be the biggest clue of all that we’d be wise to wait and see what unfolds before rushing to judgement.

VERDICT: Wait and see

2. “Losses don’t matter.”

Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, and Atlético Madrid have all lost one of their opening two games. Meanwhile, AC Milan and RB Leipzig have lost both of their games so far and are rubbing shoulders with the likes of Crvena Zvezda in the bottom third.

This is bad. Yet the reaction from fans hasn’t been, which suggests many aren’t convinced the losses are that costly at this stage. Given the increased number of games and early feel to the table, no single result feels terminal right now. But fortunately, video games can give us a reference point of what will be required to make the top eight automatic spots.

“Football Manager” baked the new Champions League format into their game two years ago, giving us thousands of simulations to draw upon, and it showed that teams are highly likely to require a minimum of 15 points. There’s a chance that figure could even creep to 16 or 17, too. So if we take 16 as the middle target, that means you need to tick along at an average of two points per game to make it.

Now reconsider the fact that Bayern have already lost to a Pot 4 side (Villa), and face Barcelona, Benfica and PSG in the months to come. Add to that the fact Real Madrid have lost to a Pot 3 side (Lille) and have Dortmund, AC Milan, Liverpool and Atalanta on the horizon. That means there is already very little margin for error for these two titans, as they’ve already dropped three points and are still due to play two Pot 1 fixtures and two Pot 2 fixtures.

Consider the points target, the fixture list and the ground already lost … and these early losses take on a different complexion.

For Europe’s established juggernauts, the old Champions League group stage was often about getting to 10 points and then assessing what was needed to finish top and secure a (theoretically) easier knockout draw. Now, it’s a war of attrition against 10+ foes; if you can’t churn out the wins now, you might pay for it in February.

VERDICT: Unfair

3. “It’s a goals-scored competition.”

Bayern Munich piled on nine goals against Dinamo Zagreb. Sebastian Widmann/Getty Images

There’s no escaping that a single 36-team table looks bizarre. However, splitting it horizontally into four sections helps massively when it comes to outlining the different qualification zones and where teams stand.

But one curious complaint from fans is the accusation that the Champions League has turned into a competition that rewards the number of goals scored. That’s likely because the top seven in the table are all on six points and are separated by goal difference and goals scored right now.

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This is clearly another quirk of the fact we’re only two gameweeks into the campaign; it is highly unlikely that even one team wins all eight games — let alone seven of them.

In the old format, with eight different groups of four, no-one would have batted an eyelid if seven teams won their opening two fixtures because they weren’t being directly compared together. As ever, points gained will be the real separator, with goal difference kicking in to divide a handful of clubs if needed.

It’s also worth highlighting that an incentive to score as many goals as possible is actually good for the game. Fans love seeing goals and, as illustrated earlier, we are seeing plenty right now.

While the table may not make pleasant reading for those whose clubs find themselves in a difficult position, neutrals should be encouraged by the fact that three of the seven perfect teams (Brest, Villa, Bayer Leverkusen) weren’t even in the Champions League last season. It’s fresh, it’s different, and it piles pressure on those who have not started well.

VERDICT: Unfair

4. “There are too many games.”

The most disappointing aspect of this new format for some fans is how it has added more games to an already stacked calendar.

There are now eight matches instead of six in the group stage, and any team placing 9th to 24th will have to play twice more in a playoff to reach the Round of 16. Ultimately, those teams will have played 10 games to get there — whereas in the old format, it would have been just six. And, in the event a playoff team go on to win the Champions League, they’ll have played 17 games in total — which would have been just 13 last year.

Furthermore, every team will play twice during the transfer window in January. And that is just weird.

It’s a lot. And it comes at a time where some players have openly spoken about the possibility of going on strike due to the number of games. Indeed, Manchester City’s Rodri and Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois have confirmed that the players’ union, FIFPRO, have filed a legal claim against FIFA on this matter.

Perhaps the true driving force for this was the unveiling of the new 32-team FIFA Club World Cup, set to take place in summer 2025, alongside regulations designed to stop clubs leaving their best players at home. But UEFA sneaking extra games into the new Champions League format will have been a factor too.

This one is pretty much indefensible.

VERDICT: Fair

5. “Playing eight different opponents is too much.”

The old group-stage format gave teams just three opponents to play twice, home and away. Now it’s eight opponents and they’re all different; there’s no return fixture to consider, a much longer list of fixtures to remember, and more of a carbon footprint involved in getting to them all.

The positive is that it adds great variety to the fixture list. If UEFA’s goal was to remove early elements of repetition in games and create a more overarching continental feel to teams’ experiences in the tournament, they’ve certainly hit that brief.

The negative is that it leaves fans unable to benchmark their team’s potential progress to the knockout stages early on, as it’s very difficult for anyone to figure out who they’re supposed to be competing with in the table. There’s also something odd about a league of teams whose points tallies compete against each other, but who don’t all play against each other. Perhaps some fans also miss the “grudge match” element of a return fixture in a group too, which is forever gone now.

VERDICT: Wait and see

6. “The draw was terrible.”

For those who were sceptical of the new format, watching an abomination of a draw process won’t have helped one bit. Clearly, the new format is more technical to draw out and far less suited to UEFA’s traditional method of broadcasting.

But what we witnessed was a mess that was so tough to follow, even Cristiano Ronaldo consistently slamming a giant button over and over again couldn’t save it.

UEFA can’t conduct the draw privately and relay the results later, as there would inevitably be accusations of fixing, but they have a year to figure out a different way to make the draw broadcastable. The first effort was shocking.

VERDICT: Fair

The European soccer weekend has passed, but it’s left us with a ton of things to talk about across the major leagues. In the Premier League, Liverpool edged past Chelsea in a game that honestly showed the best of both sides, while in LaLiga, Real Madrid got another gritty win despite still not looking like the juggernaut everyone expected when Kylian Mbappé joined in the summer.

Elsewhere: Barcelona welcomed back Gavi after a long injury layoff and thrashed Sevilla, Harry Kane scored a hat trick for Bayern Munich to snap his scoring drought, and Arsenal‘s latest red card nightmare may signal something gloomier about their status as title contenders. There were also talking points galore around Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayer Leverkusen, Napoli, Manchester United and more.

It’s Monday. Gab Marcotti reacts to the biggest moments in the world of soccer.

Why Arne Slot and Enzo Maresca can both be happy after Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Chelsea

It’s not a surprise that Arne Slot is pleased. Liverpool won 2-1 to stay top of the table, one point ahead of Manchester City, who had beaten Wolves earlier in the day. His decision to initially rest Luis Díaz and Alexis Mac Allister, both of whom had played midweek internationals halfway around the world, was also vindicated. (Darwin Núñez was also benched at the start, but had to come on in the first half following Diogo Jota‘s injury.) Curtis Jones, who replaced Mac Allister, showed that he can more than hang in this midfield, while Cody Gakpo showed, again, he’s a more than viable option out wide.

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But what of Enzo Maresca? He said the performance was “very good” and “if there is a way to lose a game, then this is the way.” Is he deluded?

I don’t think so. Not so much for the underlying stats — 58% possession at Anfield is nice, as is all that accurate passing, but it’s only marginally relevant — but for the way Chelsea held together and looked disciplined against a quality opponent. They looked like a team; in other games even when they’ve won, too often it felt it was about their star players doing star player-type things. In fact, their star player, Cole Palmer, was somewhat muted (by his standards, anyway).

And it really shouldn’t have been this way, looking at the personnel. Reece James was making his first appearance of the season, Romeo Lavia and Tosin Adarabioyo their second league starts, Malo Gusto was forced to decamp to left back. And yet the system held, with Liverpool forced to defend for longer stretches than they would have liked.

Liverpool gritted out an impressive win over Chelsea, though both managers can feel galvanized by their respective performances. Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images

This may have been Chelsea’s best performance of the season, and it came without three projected regulars Wesley Fofana, Marc Cucurella and Enzo Fernández. The question is how you build on it, especially when you don’t know what you’re going to get in terms of serviceable minutes from James, Fofana and Lavia.

This is part of the challenge for Maresca, who is dealing with the fallout of the club’s “project” that has left him with a young and gifted — albeit poorly assorted and, in some roles, physically frail — squad. He put it best in an interview with Sky Italia over the weekend: “I’m in charge of the sporting side, what I can control is the group of players I have and I know where I want to take them.”

As for Slot, one thing that immediately jumps out is the huge range of options he has. Some coaches insist on working with a core group of 14 or 15 players. Others say they love having two guys for every position. Slot hasn’t weighed in, but the reality is that Liverpool’s potential second XI is as good (and as a experienced) as any in Europe. How’s this: Caoimhín Kelleher — Conor Bradley, Joe Gomez, Jarell Quansah, Kostas Tsimikas — Wataru Endo, Curtis Jones — Federico Chiesa, Harvey Elliott, Cody Gakpo — Darwin Nunez.

Slot didn’t rotate much early on, presumably because he wanted to get the chemistry right. But now it feels as if he has options and flexibility, which matters on several fronts. First, it’s obviously a big bonus in terms of navigating a long and fixture-congested season. Second, while some players are inevitably more important than others (Mohamed Salah and Virgil Van Dijk spring to mind), nobody feels indispensable to this side. And finally, while some are loath to discuss it, the size and depth of the squad give the club leverage when it comes to their trio of free agents: Salah, Van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Both Slot and Maresca are new to their jobs. Both can be pleased with what they saw this weekend, but Slot, clearly, is well ahead, mainly because he landed at a more stable (and better run) club. My colleague Rob Palmer — standing in for Julien Laurens on Monday’s “Gab+Juls Show” — put it best. I’m paraphrasing here, but in essence Slot is an interior decorator who moved some furniture around and changed some of the decor in a solid, well-built, already beautiful home; Maresca arrived on a building site and had to get to work with lumber, concrete and glass, building from scratch.

Despite win, all is not well at Real Madrid … and not just because of Ancelotti’s tactical tweaks

Carlo Ancelotti has talked all season along about finding “balance,” and it’s not hard to see why. For all the attacking riches in the shape of Kylian Mbappe, Vinícius Júnior, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo, these are four players who all tend to gravitate to the left. Throw in the fact that work off the ball isn’t always a priority — especially for the first two — and it’s not hard to see how he’d be tempted to tinker with his formation.

Saturday, away to Celta, a 3-4-2-1 formation that meant Rodrygo was dropped, Bellingham was deployed on the right and Aurélien Tchouaméni operated as a third centre back. Real Madrid won 2-1, but don’t let that fool you. One goal was a ridiculous individual effort from Mbappe, while the other came courtesy of a genius assist from substitute Luka Modric who, at 39 — and officially Madrid’s oldest-ever player — can only be counted on so often. Celta won the xG battle (1.82 to 0.74) and Thibaut Courtois (him again …) had to make two out-of-this-world saves: one from Williot Swedberg, one from Jonathan Bamba.

One poor performance isn’t reason enough to shelve the “back three” experiment, but I’m not sure Madrid have the personnel in terms of sheer numbers to keep this up all year (unless they make moves in January and, remember, they still have to find a solution to Dani Carvajal‘s absence). That said, he has to try to something.

Ancelotti took it on the chin on Saturday, blaming himself for “not explaining the system well enough to the players.” Maybe he’ll have time to explain it better ahead of the Clasico this Saturday.

The other glaring takeaway is that while Mbappe (despite his well-chronicled off-the-pitch issues) seemed focused, hard-working and unselfish, Bellingham looked grumpy and off the pace. He has yet to find the right chemistry with his teammates up front, and strops like the one he threw after Vinícius did not find him at the far post in the first half don’t help build team chemistry.

Rumors of Harry Kane’s demise are greatly exaggerated, but don’t let a big win over Stuttgart fool you

There’s nothing better than a hat trick to silence the doubters, and Harry Kane did just that, hitting the net three times in Bayern’s 4-0 win over Stuttgart. The goals ended a drought that lasted — including his England appearance — nearly 400 minutes, which is an eternity for a center-forward of his calibre considering the sort of service he usually gets. It’s probably not a coincidence that the spell coincided with Bayern dropping points in three games and England not exactly ripping it up against Finland.

Kane snapped his games-long scoreless streak for club and country with three goals vs. Stuttgart, but Bayern still look a bit wobbly. Tom Weller/picture alliance via Getty Images

The big win against an overachiever-turned-pretender like Stuttgart is even better news than Kane’s hat trick, obviously, but Vincent Kompany will want to treat this game as a learning opportunity. For much of the first half, Bayern were stifled and looked very uncomfortable. João Palhinha, who came on for the injured Aleksandar Pavlovic (he’ll miss time with a broken collarbone) looked like a foreign object. The forwards were imprecise, the movement slack. It was only Kane’s long-range wonder strike that broke the deadlock, well into the second half, before Bayern’s greater individual quality made all the difference.

You can’t just explain this away with the absence of Jamal Musiala, either. The worst thing Kompany could do at this stage is rest on his laurels.

Red cards loom large for Arsenal, at Bournemouth and in title challenge too

OK, Premier League referee boss Howard Webb fiddling on his phone with an old-school wired earpiece while William Saliba‘s challenge on Evanilson went to VAR was not a good look. Maybe put the phone away during the game, or don’t sit in the stands if you’re going to use it during crucial moments, but make no mistake about it. Given where the foul was committed and where the covering defenders were, that’s a red card every day of the week — and with good reason. It’s precisely what we don’t want to see: a foul denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity.

Yet when stuff like this happens, you need to react. Arsenal weren’t great — they were missing Bukayo Saka in addition to Martin Odegaard — but they still carved out two very good chances, which Mikel Merino (making his first start) and Gabriel Martinelli missed. Then again, they were also outwitted on Ryan Christie‘s set-piece routine — maybe slow down on the whole “set-piece coach” genius thing for a while — and gave away a needless penalty to win the game. Andoni Iraola is one of the most underrated coaches around, but Mikel Arteta is correct when he says: “We kicked ourselves in the foot.” And he wasn’t just talking about Saliba or Leandro Trossard‘s awful backpass that played him into trouble, either.

Saliba will now miss the Liverpool game, which is pretty much a six-pointer if you fancy yourself a title contender. More to the point, it’s still October, and this is Arsenal’s third red card of the season. Each has cost them points, and each was largely avoidable. (Arsenal are not a dirty side!) What’s more, in the past decade, nobody has won the league while clocking more than three red cards.

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10. Gavi returns as Barcelona romp to 5-1 win: You didn’t have to be a “cule” to get that tiny bit emotional seeing Pedri trot to the sideline and give Gavi the armband as he made his first appearance in 11 months. We can fret about where he’s going to play when he regains match sharpness, but wherever it is, it’s going to be a huge addition. Even if he’s sharing time, at least initially, with the current regulars, it’s going to be a crucial boost in a season where load management and rotating are critical. On the pitch, Sevilla were blown with three first-half goals — including two from Robert Lewandowski, who now has 14 in 12 games in all competitions — and there was even time for the youngster Pablo Torre to come on and grab a couple. Barcelona are playing with total confidence and fluidity right now — keyed by Raphinha, who is arguably playing the best football of his career — though if you’re going to nitpick, at some point they’ll need to address the high defensive line. Sevilla could have punished them, and better teams with better forwards will, but that’s a concern for another time.

9. Lessons learned for Ange Postecoglou and Tottenham: Like reading the game correctly and taking off your main creative threat in midfield (James Maddison) for someone less gifted, but more physical (Pape Sarr). It’s not that Spurs didn’t have much of the upper hand in a first half that finished 1-1; it’s more the fact that they struggled to stop West Ham’s transitions. Pape Sarr addressed that, and in this context, it was OK to sacrifice Maddison’s quality because the likes of Heung Min Son and Dejan Kulusevski (again) were running rampant, as Spurs ran out 4-1 winners. It’s not renouncing “Ange-ball” — it’s making it more effective by responding to what is actually happening on the pitch.

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8. Fonseca’s hard line pays dividends as 10-man Milan beat Udinese: Just about every coach talks the talk (“every member of the squad is equally important”), but not everyone walks the walk the way Fonseca does. He could have let the pre-break embarrassment of Milan’s silliness against Fiorentina slide. Instead, he acted by dropping Rafael Leão, and he probably would have dropped Theo Hernández too if he wasn’t suspended. Milan took the lead through Samuel Chukwueze, played more than an hour with 10 men after Tijani Reijnders’ red card, and still saw out a 1-0 win over Udinese. In so doing, they showed the kind of unity, professionalism and grit that their fans have been crying out for all season. Some coaches are indeed as good as their word.

7. Ten Hag finds motivation wherever he can as Man United snap their winless streak: Ten Hag & Co. went into the break a goal down and furious at the referee for twice making Matthijs De Ligt come off the pitch to get patched up after he injured himself in a wild challenge. De Ligt’s head and face were covered in blood, and the rules are pretty clear despite Ten Hag’s insistence that “it was dry blood.” The fact that he was off the pitch when Brentford went a goal up only infuriated him further, and he said the team “used it as fuel” for the second-half comeback that resulted in a 2-1 win. More than the “fuel” argument, I’d chalk it up to the fact that Marcus Rashford on the right can show off his perceptive passing, Alejandro Garnacho is a baller and Rasmus Hojlund is a cool finisher. That, and the fact that Brentford — when they’re missing this many players — aren’t good whereas United kept their belief until the end. Ten Hag can say his job isn’t on the line (“fairy tales and lies”), but his state of mind speaks volumes.

6. Leverkusen’s big, late break infuriates Eintracht, and rightly so: Sometimes, more than one thing can be true. How the referee did not award Eintracht a penalty after Hugo Ekitike was unbalanced (at a minimum) by Jonathan Tah in injury time is hard to understand. If you were Eintracht you’d be angry, seeing a potential draw at the defending champions slip through your fingers. But hopefully you’d be realistic, too. Bayer Leverkusen had nine shots on target (27 overall) and an xG of 4.21, while missing a penalty to boot, en route to a 2-1 win. In terms of performance, this game should not have come down to injury time.

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FRIDAY, OCT. 25 (all times ET)• Mainz vs. Monchengladbach (2:20 p.m.)• Espanyol vs. Sevilla (2:50 p.m.)

SATURDAY, OCT. 26(all times ET)• Valladolid vs. Villarreal (7:50 a.m.)• Augsburg vs. Dortmund (9:20 a.m.)• RB Leipzig vs. Freiburg (9:20 a.m.)• Werder vs. Leverkusen (12:20 p.m.)• PSV Eindhoven vs. PEC (12:40 p.m.)• Real Madrid vs. Barcelona (2:50 p.m.)

SUNDAY, OCT. 27 (all times ET)• Bochum vs. Bayern Munich (10:20 a.m.)• Getafe vs. Valencia (11:05 a.m.)• Union Berlin vs. Frankfurt (12:20 p.m.)• Betis vs. Atletico Madrid (1:20 p.m.)• Ajax vs. Willem II (2:55 p.m.)

5. Lautaro Martínez enters the history books for Inter: The 1-0 win away to Roma was a “grown-up” (read: unspectacular and results-focused) performance and Lautaro Martinez was the difference-maker, scoring the only goal. I’m not sure I’d go as far as Simone Inzaghi, who says he’s a top five player in the world, but after a slow September, he’s hitting his stride nicely and his goal makes him Inter’s greatest-ever foreign goal scorer. Roma were poor and fearful, the rumblings among the fans don’t help, and Inter took advantage without risking too much.

4. Paris Saint-Germain’s youth project continues with Senny Mayulu: Maybe load management for veterans plus kids to eat minutes in Ligue 1 isn’t an official Luis Enrique policy. But it’s working, in no small part because PSG’s homegrown kids are just that good. Warren Zaïre-Emery, Yoram Zague, Ibrahim Mbaye and now Senny Mayulu have all started in Ligue 1 this year … and all are still teenagers. For that matter, so is Desiree Doue (who is not homegrown). PSG mixed it up against Strasbourg (with six plausible starters left out) and it was Mayulu who stole the show, opening the scoring en route to a 4-2 win.

3. Criticism of Juventus is wide of the mark at this stage in the season: No, Juventus did not exactly turn on the style in their 1-0 win over Lazio on Saturday. The build-up is too slow, and there’s a lack of directness. That’s not a reason to beat up Thiago Motta, though. Lazio going down to 10 men after 23 minutes didn’t help, as their opponents went into lockdown mode. And without Nico Gonzalez, Federico Conceicao and Teun Koopmeiners, they won’t have the same attacking oomph, which is understandable. Juve have yet to concede from open play, they’re third in Serie A, they’ve won both their Champions League games, the new boss just arrived … chill out.

2. Late Stones goal controversy overshadows other issues in Man City’s win: It hurts to concede in the 95th minute, but the reality is that John Stones‘ winner in the 2-1 Manchester City win away to Wolves should have stood: Bernardo Silva was not offside when he was interfering with goalkeeper José Sá (there is no offside on corner kicks) and by the time he could be offside (when Stones headed the ball) he wasn’t affecting play. That’s pretty obvious. The three points are big for Pep Guardiola, but the game showed there’s plenty to work on. For the fourth time in their last seven games, City went a goal down (and it could have been two down, if not for an Éderson miracle) and despite having over 75% possession, they looked sterile with the ball. Credit Wolves, who are much better than the table suggests, but there are things for Pep to work on.

1. Gilmour isn’t Lobotka (not yet, anyway) as soft penalty at Empoli keeps lackluster Napoli top of Serie A: Those who only look at results won’t care, but I assure you Antonio Conte does, which is why he said “anyone who has a headache can tell me and I’ll play someone else.” I’m not sure he was talking about anyone in particular (though Romelu Lukaku looked especially off the pace), but when Napoli play like this, he’s right to be concerned. A lot of the criticism is directed at Billy Gilmour, handed the playmaking role in Stanislav Lobotka’s absence. He wasn’t great, but this was his first league start. Let’s give him a bit of time, shall we?

Fenerbahce coach Jose Mourinho expressed frustration at local journalists on Sunday after his side lost ground on Super Lig leaders Galatasaray, claiming that he is “always” being asked about players that don’t play.

Fenerbahce were held to a 2-2 draw with Samsunspor in a game that saw his team concede a late equaliser.

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Asked by a reporter why certain players are not playing, Mourinho, who took on the Fenerbahce job this summer, said after the game: “I’m starting to learn what Turkey is. I’m surprised that you don’t ask why goalkeeper Irfan [Can Eğribayat] doesn’t play, I’m surprised that you don’t ask about [forward] Cenk Tosun, I’m surprised because you always ask about the players that don’t play.

“For me [Dušan] Tadić has been our best player for some matches, not because he scores important goals but because the balance he gives to the team, because of the organisation he has in his brain, because he doesn’t make positional or decision-making mistakes. If you don’t want me to play him, and play somebody who isn’t playing much, okay.”

Serbian forward Tadic started and scored his fifth league goal on Sunday. He has also registered four assists in eight league games so far this season.

“It’s difficult for me to give more reasons because I don’t want to analyse my players publicly,” Mourinho said. “I have to protect players and not to open too much about the reasons why this one plays and not the other.

“I understand it is your culture … You are crying every week for me to play [midfielder] Irfan Kahveci [who came on as substitute on Sunday] … sometimes players that you think are phenomenal players, they are not. Sometimes they make mistakes that are critical mistakes for the team.”

Jose Mourinho did not take kindly to reporters’ questions following Fenerbahce’s 2-2 draw at Samsunspor. Recep Bilek/Anadolu via Getty Images

Mourinho is looking to end Fenerbahce’s 10-year Super Lig title drought this season.

The club finished second in the Turkish league last season, losing one game all season but finishing three points behind eventual champion and fierce rivals Galatasaray.

Fenerbahce are fourth in the league this season, eight points adrift of Galatasaray, although Mourinho’s side has a game in hand.

The club are also competing in the Europa League this season and host Mourinho’s former club Manchester United on Thursday.

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta has said his team need to “eradicate” the ill discipline that has seen them pick up three red cards in eight Premier League games this season.

William Saliba‘s red card in the 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth followed those of Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard earlier this term.

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“Playing with 10 men always is an issue,” Arteta said at his news conference ahead of Arsenal‘s UEFA Champions League game against Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday. “The trust is, when you analyse it, three different very actions and the outcome of them, the reasons are very different.

“Regardless of that we cannot continue to play with 10 men at this level. We need to eradicate that, it’s clear. The reasons, how; it doesn’t matter. We have to focus.”

The loss to Bournemouth was Arsenal’s first of the campaign. In the previous games where Rice and Trossard were shown red cards, against Brighton and Manchester City, the north London side managed to earn a point.

Arteta added that his team needed to use the “pain” of their defeat as motivation for their upcoming games.

“We cannot continue to play with ten men, easier to say it then to get it done,” he said. “Specific moments. Reacting, we have a defeat. Very specific conditions as well.

Mikel Arteta said his team have to show more discipline after William Saliba was sent off in the first half against Bournemouth. Robin Jones – AFC Bournemouth/AFC Bournemouth via Getty Images

“Let’s move on, take that pain we have and use it tomorrow night.”

Club captain Martin Ødegaard and star winger Bukayo Saka both missed Arsenal’s trip to Bournemouth with injuries.

Arteta said Saka could return in time for Tuesday night’s game at the Emirates, though it comes too soon for the Norway international.

“They are closer. Both progressing well,” he said. “Martin not fit. With Bukayo let’s see how he is with the training session later on.”

Carlo Ancelotti has defended Jude Bellingham‘s Real Madrid form, saying the work he’s doing for the team this season is “more important” than scoring goals.

Bellingham hasn’t found the net in nine games for Madrid this season, after scoring 23 club goals in all competitions last campaign.

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The England midfielder’s role in the team has evolved since the arrival of Kylian Mbappé, starting on the right-hand side of the attack in Madrid’s 2-1 LaLiga win away at Celta Vigo on Saturday.

“We’re satisfied with his work, I’m very satisfied,” Ancelotti said in a news conference on Monday ahead of Madrid’s Champions League game with Borussia Dortmund. “He works a lot, he’s always present, he competes, he fights, he sacrifices himself.

“It’s true he hasn’t scored the goals he scored last year, but the surprise isn’t this year, the surprise was last year, when he scored lots of goals which nobody expected and helped us a lot. The problem this year isn’t that we’re lacking Bellingham’s goals.

“We’ve always scored goals, and we’ll always score, because we have talented players up front. For us, in this moment, the work he’s doing is more important than the goals the scored last year.”

Madrid host Barcelona in LaLiga in El Clásico on Saturday, three points behind the league leaders.

Mbappé scored against Celta — and has six league goals this season — and Ancelotti said he’s not concerned by criticism of the France international’s work off-the-ball.

“[I ask him] to score goals,” Ancelotti said. “I prefer him to score goals rather than pressing. The centre forward role hasn’t changed for us, I ask the same of Mbappé that I asked Karim [Benzema], to be ready when we win the ball, and try to make a fast transition.”

Madrid are unbeaten in LaLiga this season, but haven’t always convinced — including against Celta — while rivals Barça beat Sevilla 5-1 on Sunday.

“We aren’t 100%, obviously,” Ancelotti said. “We’ve got good results, but we have to improve in terms of our play, and little by little, we will… We have to defend better, as we did last year. Right now the team is less solid, and we’re working on that.”

The winter transfer window won’t reopen in Europe for a while yet, but there are plenty of moves in the works and gossip swirling around. Transfer Talk brings you all the latest buzz on rumours, comings, goings and, of course, done deals!

TOP STORY: Zirkzee eyes Old Trafford exit

Manchester United forward Joshua Zirkzee is already open to leaving the club in January, according to Calciomercato.

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It is reported that the 23-year-old, who arrived at Old Trafford in July for a fee of £36.5 million from Bologna, wants to return to Italy, having previously turned down the chance to remain there during the last transfer window.

While AC Milan are said to have no interest in bringing the Netherlands international to the San Siro, Juventus are one of the clubs that could make a move amid belief that Zirkzee fits the profile of the type of forward they are looking for. The Italian outlet says that an approach for a potential loan deal could be made in January, but it is unclear whether United would be willing to let him leave without lining up a replacement first.

Zirkzee’s record of one goal in 11 matches across all competitions this season has compounded a difficult start to life in England, and his recent form has also seen him lose his place in manager Erik ten Hag’s starting XI to Rasmus Hojlund — scorer of the winning goal in Saturday’s 2-1 comeback victory over Brentford.

Joshua Zirkzee has been linked with a move back to Italy just three months after joining Manchester United. Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images

PAPER GOSSIP

– Chelsea are interested in Eintracht Frankfurt forward Omar Marmoush, reports Team Talk. The Blues are reportedly “heavily scouting” the 25-year-old, though they could face competition for him from both Liverpool and Arsenal, who are also keeping an eye on his progress. Marmoush has been one of the standout performers in Europe this season, with nine goals and four assists from the opening seven Bundesliga matches.

– Several “top clubs” from the Premier League are keeping close tabs on VfB Stuttgart forward Jamie Leweling, reports Sky Sports Deutschland’s Florian Plettenberg. Interest in his signature is believed to have increased following his debut for the Germany national team and, while the 23-year-old is contracted at the Bundesliga club until 2028, a release clause in his contract allows him to be signed for a fee of around €25m next summer.

– Arsenal are keen on Brentford forward Bryan Mbeumo, according to Football Insider. The Gunners are reported to be plotting a move for the 25-year-old having been impressed by his start to the season, during which he has scored six goals in six Premier League games. It is believed that an offer worth at least £40m would be required to land the Cameroon star.

– Free agent defender Simon Kjaer is hopeful of reuniting with former manager Stefano Pioli at Al Nassr, reports Gazzetta dello Sport. The 35-year-old Denmark international, who left AC Milan when his contract expired in the summer, is said to be working hard to achieve fitness amid hopes of returning to football.

– Talks over a new contract are ongoing between Paris Saint-Germain and the representatives of left-back Nuno Mendes, says Nicolo Schira. PSG are said to be working on a new four-and-a-half-year extension that would secure the 22-year-old’s future at the Parc des Princes until the summer of 2029. He has made six appearances across all competitions so far this season.

Manchester City‘s contentious last-minute winner against Wolves in the Premier League on Sunday was both correctly ruled and deserved reward for his players’ patience, manager Pep Guardiola said.

With City seemingly heading to a frustrating 1-1 draw at Molineux despite their dominance of possession, John Stones headed a 95th-minute corner past Wolves goalkeeper José Sá.

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Referee Chris Kavanagh first disallowed the goal as City midfielder Bernardo Silva was close to Sa, but the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) deemed he was not blocking the line of vision and Kavanagh rescinded his decision.

“Bernardo isn’t disturbing the position … Sá had the perfect vision. The taker from Phil [Foden] and the header were magnificent,” said Guardiola, who wildly celebrated the 2-1 win that briefly put City top of the league until Liverpool earned a 2-1 win against Chelsea.

“We are not used to winning games at the end, like [former manager] Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool where it happened many times. It is a good flavour for us,” Guardiola added.

City had 78% possession against a Wolves side fighting for their lives at the bottom of the table and desperate to hang on once they had taken an early lead.

“With 11 players in the penalty spot, literally it is so difficult,” Guardiola said, recalling that his team had lost at Molineux last season. “But we were patient … We are who we are and that is so nice.”

He was, however, sympathetic to his opponents.

“We have been in that position, when you lose at the end. But this is the game,” Guardiola said. “We played the way we want to play and it is a joy to be here, to score in the last 50 seconds and go top of the league.”

Pep Guardiola wildly celebrated Man City’s late winner over Wolves. Nigel French/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images

With Sparta Prague up next in the Champions League on Wednesday, Guardiola said he did not think injured defender Kyle Walker or midfielder Kevin de Bruyne would be ready.

“We have a few days’ training, but don’t think so,” he said.

Match-winner Stones, who also scored a crucial last-minute equaliser against Arsenal last month, was thrilled with his headed goal from a corner and said the team had been working hard on set pieces.

“Hopefully this is the start of many more. It is a vital part of the game at both ends of the pitch and really pleasing for me personally to get the winner after such a difficult game,” he said.

“I thought it had been chalked off. I tried to speak to the ref but he had a lot of people around him. For me it is the right call. Obviously I am going to be biased but I thought it should stand.”