78 Goals in One Champions League Matchday That Exposed All of Europe

Some Champions League matchdays stick in the memory because of one result. Others give you a full x-ray of where European football actually stands right now. This season's second matchday belonged to the latter category: 78 goals across 18 matches, an average of 4.33 goals per game, and storylines for every taste. Liverpool and Aston Villa ran up big scores, Manchester City got torn apart at home by PSG, Barcelona and Real Madrid both came from behind on the road, and Bayern were held to a 3-3 draw by a Viking side nobody saw coming.

United's Crisis Won't Be Fixed by Changing Managers

United conceded inside the first minute against Atletico Madrid and things only got worse from there. The 2-0 defeat nearly became a footnote after Lisandro Martinez publicly called out the front office, with sporting director Jason Wilcox taking the brunt of it, over the summer transfer business. Of everyone brought in over the summer, only Carlos Baleba looks like a genuine upgrade on last year's squad: there's still no backup left back and no striker who can be trusted for 20 goals a season. Michael Carrick, who signed a two year deal back in May, is under mounting pressure with every passing match. The thinking among analysts is that sacking him right now would make little sense unless the club already has a replacement lined up, with names like Kieran McKenna, Eddie Howe, Antonio Conte and Julian Nagelsmann floating around. The real problem, the argument goes, doesn't start on the touchline. It starts higher up, with the ownership and the sporting department who built this squad full of obvious holes in the first place.

Barcelona Cruises, But How Long Can Yamal Keep This Up?

Barcelona once again turned a tough away trip into a rout, winning 4-1 at Galatasaray in the hostile atmosphere of the Ali Sami Yen. Lamine Yamal provided two top class assists, one for Fermin Lopez and another, after a baffling piece of skill past Eren Elmali, for Anthony Gordon. Even the opposition had to tip its cap afterward:

We're playing against players who know each other inside out. They're like a perfectly assembled machine.Okan Buruk

The number that should worry Barca fans is a different one: Yamal has started 13 matches between club and country in just seven weeks, and Barcelona are averaging more than four goals a game so far this season, with 43 goals in 10 matches. The question isn't whether the team is clicking, because right now it clearly is. The question is whether that workload is sustainable for a player his age being pushed to the limit without a break. The schedule coming up, Betis, PSG in Paris and the Clasico against Real Madrid on October 25, will reveal a lot more about this Barcelona side's true level than any blowout win over opponents who, to be fair, aren't exactly at their best right now.

PSG Command Respect, Even If It Wasn't Quite the Rout It Looked Like

PSG raced out to a three goal lead early against Manchester City and left the home side looking second rate. Luis Enrique keeps insisting his team is better than the side that won the last two editions of the competition, and the quality on the field backs up part of that claim: more attacking options, and a midfield with Warren Zaire-Emery, Joao Neves and Dro that still has room to grow given how young they are. Still, there are caveats. Take out a missed penalty by Ferran Torres and City actually won the expected goals battle by a clear 2.57 to 1.05, a sign the gap between the two sides wasn't nearly as wide as the scoreline suggested.

Mourinho's Chaos and a Comeback That Changed Everything

Real Madrid went from trailing 3-1 to winning 4-3 in the final ten minutes in Rome, with Endrick (a goal and an assist) and Arda Guler (two assists) coming on around the 60th minute to flip a match that had been flat up to that point. Mourinho sent a clear message with those substitutions, especially to Vinicius Junior, who was pulled after an hour and has now gone eight matches without scoring for his club. The Brazilian, in fact, will miss four league matches through suspension after a recent red card. Drama and magic have always traveled together wherever Mourinho goes, and this return to the Bernabeu was never going to be any different.

Villa Go Big, Italy Struggles, and Sabah Makes History

Aston Villa, who hadn't won a home match all season, demolished Fenerbahce 6-0 behind a rampant Johan Manzambi and a brace from Nicolas Jackson before halftime. On the other side of the ledger, it was a miserable week for Serie A: Inter fell 4-3 to Brugge, Napoli lost 3-1 to Villarreal, Como went down 3-2 against Feyenoord, and Roma, despite leading for most of the match, ended up losing to Madrid. Four defeats in four matches and 14 goals conceded between them. And to close things out, a very different story: Azerbaijan's Sabah, founded only in 2017, picked up their first ever Champions League win by beating Slavia Praha 2-0, a reminder that in this competition, budget doesn't always decide the outcome.