Kane shines ahead of the Ballon d'Or, PSG rallies behind Vitinha and Liverpool just keeps delivering goals

Some weeks in the Champions League, the scoreline tells the whole story. Other weeks, the storylines matter more than the result. Matchday 3 of the league phase belonged to the second category: PSG thrashed Barcelona 4-2, Harry Kane reminded everyone why he's the clear favorite for the next Ballon d'Or, and Liverpool kept proving it might be the most entertaining, and most vulnerable, team in Europe.

Let's start with the thriller in Munich. Bayern drew 2-2 with Arsenal in a match full of absences: Michael Olise, Joshua Kimmich and Jamal Musiala were all unavailable for the home side, while Bukayo Saka went off injured after just ten minutes for the visitors. Amid all that, Kane was decisive again. He delivered the long ball that Alphonso Davies converted for the 1-1 equalizer in the 35th minute, then won and scored the penalty that put Bayern ahead before Declan Rice leveled things in the end. Kane fired four shots on target and was the creator behind the only two occasions Bayern broke through Arsenal's defensive line with completed passes.

The match comes just days before the Ballon d'Or ceremony next Monday, and all signs point to Kane taking it home. He closed last season with 73 goals and eight assists in 65 appearances, won three trophies and led England to the World Cup semifinals. His teammate, and Wednesday's opponent, Declan Rice had no doubts about it.

He deserves it so much.Declan Rice

If Kane wins, it would be Bayern's first Ballon d'Or since Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in 1981 and the first for an Englishman since Michael Owen in 2001.

Vitinha, PSG's quiet engine

In PSG's 4-2 win over Barcelona, nothing came easy for the French side. Three starters had to leave the match injured within the first hour, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia suffered a torn ACL that cast a shadow over the night. Désiré Doué put PSG ahead, Barcelona equalized twice through Xavi Espart and Lamine Yamal, and Lucas Hernández scored an unlikely goal, his first in more than two years. But amid all that chaos, Vitinha showed up again: he completed 15 line breaking passes (12 of them under pressure from Barcelona's midfield), led the team in passes that broke both the attacking and midfield lines, and in the 81st minute, practically settled the match by himself.

Liverpool, impossible to get bored of

Liverpool beat Villarreal 4-3 after falling behind 2-0 before the half-hour mark, including a transition goal from Sergi Cardona. Alexis Mac Allister scored twice, young Rio Ngumoha set up both Ronald Araújo and Mac Allister, and Florian Wirtz completed the comeback. Andoni Iraola's side has now scored 12 goals in three matches since a painful 3-0 loss to Manchester City, but it has also conceded three goals in three of its last four matches. At the center of that fragility is Virgil van Dijk, still the team's leader in nearly every ball progression metric, but also more exposed than before at age 35.

I obviously tried, but it was a bad day at the office, personally.Virgil van Dijk

Amid all the goals on the night (74 in total across the matchday), one result stood out: LASK beat Sporting CP in Lisbon to secure its first official Champions League win in 61 years. Sasa Kalajdzic, the striker who had already made his mark at the World Cup with a header to equalize against Algeria, scored the 2-1 winner in the 63rd minute to seal a historic victory for the Austrian club.

El Clásico is on the horizon

While PSG continues to set the pace in Europe, Spain is heating up again. Real Madrid routed RB Leipzig 4-1 with goals from Arda Güler, Kylian Mbappé and Yan Diomande, pushing its tally to 33 goals in its first 12 matches of the season, even with Vinícius Júnior still searching for his best form. On the other side, Lamine Yamal remains unstoppable (10 goals and 10 assists this season) and Raphinha, despite missing a month through injury, already has 14 goals to his name. On Sunday at 4 p.m. ET on ABC, Real Madrid hosts Barcelona in the season's first Clásico, with the home side just three points off the LaLiga summit if they come away with the win.