UCL talking points, MD2: Who's to blame for Man United mess? Chaos bad for Madrid?
Which players and clubs shined in the Champions League? Gab Marcotti, Tom Hamilton and Sam Marsden weigh in on all the moments that mattered from Matchday 2.
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The UEFA Champions League returned with a big Matchday 2 this week, with blockbuster results up and down the league phase table and a whopping 78 goals across the 18 games: an average of 4.33 per game. Liverpool and Aston Villa scooped up big wins, Manchester City were humbled at home by Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and Real Madrid overturned road deficits to win in fine/dramatic fashion, and Bayern Munich scrambled to a 3-3 draw at minnows Viking in one of the wilder results of the round.
What to make of it all? ESPN FC writers Gab Marcotti, Sam Marsden and Tom Hamilton are here to break down the action.
- Reaction: Man City can't compete with PSG, Europe's gold standard - Kirkland: Real Madrid fight back, but a trophy seems far from reach - Ogden: Blame for Man United malaise shouldn't fall on Carrick
Tom Hamilton: It all depends how reactionary the executives are, and how sure they are in themselves and the plan they've put forward. The club has an astonishing ability of making poor decisions -- both on the field and off it -- but given they backed Michael Carrick with a two-year contract in May, unless they have a ready-made replacement lined up (Kieran McKenna, Eddie Howe, Antonio Conte or Julian Nagelsmann perhaps) there's little point changing the management. As Martinez said (though the players cannot remotely be absolved of blame here), the recruitment left the club short-changed: where's the left-back cover? Where's a 20-goal-a-season striker? Of the players they've signed, only Carlos Baleba looks like an improvement on what they had last season.
That said, unless there's improvement sooner rather than later, when the heat is on those in the corridors of power, to quote Logan Roy, often they decide it's "time for a blood sacrifice." If they pull this lever, the identity of the fall guy will be fascinating.
Martinez's rant could have a galvanising effect on the team and if that happens, then morale and results will improve. But if the team continue to underwhelm on the pitch -- and let's face it, their fixture list so far has been relatively kind -- then expect some kind of reckoning.
There's a sense of drift at United, and that really shouldn't be the case given the manager has been in charge for less than a year. So all we get is Carrick talking, and he's not the most inspiring figure. All he says -- rightly, from his perspective -- is how they finished last season strong and they want to build on it and it will take time. And while it's true they finished third, they didn't play particularly well, and a lot of it had to do with the Premier League's other big clubs changing managers. (It's not a coincidence that Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea all have new guys in charge.)
That message only takes you so far. Somebody needs to speak up (other than Carrick) and offer some accountability.
Why did they make the choices they made? What are their plans? What is the long-term thinking? And maybe get that across to the players too. Maybe it's Wilcox talking, maybe it's CEO Omar Berrada, maybe somebody else. But right now, the only message United fans (and players) are getting is from Carrick (dull and repetitive, but not really his fault) and from the pitch (bad).
Sam Marsden: United are in the same spiral they have been in for a decade. From the outside looking in, they're already damned if they do, damned if they don't this season because the squad is so far behind Europe's elite. Sticking with Carrick or sacking him is not going to change that any time soon. If I could explain in 100 words how they get back on track immediately, I would probably be wanted by the biggest clubs on the continent, but one thing remains as clear as ever: the problem starts at the top (ownership, director of football etc) and not with the coach or the players.
Hamilton: Not yet. Even when they went behind in the cauldron of the Ali Sami Yen Stadium, they barely blinked. Lamine Yamal could well end up being crowned the world's best player at the end of October when the Ballon d'Or winner is announced, but his form seems to be building game on game. His two assists were just spellbinding: the first a beautifully weighted cross to find Fermín López and then came a befuddling piece of skill as he danced past Eren Elmali to tee up Anthony Gordon. It's clicking nicely. "We played against players who know each other by heart," Galatasaray manager Okan Buruk said afterwards. "They are like a complete machine."
Barca are in their rhythm now, but the next five or so weeks will tell us a huge amount. They have Real Betis away on Saturday, then a trip to PSG next Tuesday before El Clasico and Real Madrid on Oct. 25. Aston Villa and Atletico are also waiting in November.
Marsden: I wouldn't expect much rest for Yamal soon. It's already clear the rules are different for him. He was the only Spain player to start all four games in the international break, and he continues to be overused by Barcelona.
Getafe last weekend would have been the perfect game to rest him ahead of the run Barça have coming up. He could at least have come off once Barça scored their fourth in Istanbul. Instead, you presume because he had not scored in either game, Flick left him on.
Perhaps the German coach didn't want to tinker with the attack too much after being left without the injured Raphinha, but his claim about more minutes being better for Yamal when training between games is not so intense doesn't seem to apply to any other squad member. That said, maybe he just leaves him on because he's so fun to watch.
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Like Tom said, that assist for Gordon's goal -- admittedly with a bit of luck -- was beautiful. If he's not the best player in the game right now, he's definitely the most fun. As for Barça, 43 goals in 10 games is a joke and they look superb, but let's hold off on anointing them the best team in the world for now. Next week's matches against PSG and Madrid will reveal a lot.
Marcotti: Yeah, I'm with Marsden here. The toughest challenges they've had thus far are Galatasaray away, Sevilla away and Athletic Bilbao at home. And without wanting to be overly mean, Galatasaray lost 4-0 to Trabzonspor heading into the break, while Sevilla had a bumpy summer (again) and Athletic Bilbao are mid-table. I'd suggest it's the next three games -- Betis (third in La Liga) away, PSG away and the Clasico -- that will tell us whether they really are this record-breaking juggernaut or whether they're merely very good.
That said, I don't see how Yamal's minutes can be good for him, mentally or physically. I hope Marsden's wrong when he suggests Flick left him on because he hadn't yet scored. Barcelona no doubt have a top sport science team who know what they're doing so I guess you have to trust in them.
Maybe he really is some sort of machine. But from the outside it doesn't look great.
Marsden: To answer the questions, yes and, probably, yes. The second is far from a given, of course, but they are huge favourites to win the Champions League. Not necessarily because of this win over Manchester City, mind. That three-goal lead and the eventual win flattered them in Manchester. City created and wasted far more chances, while PSG -- helped by their former goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma -- were much more effective in front of goal.
That said, despite downplaying anything that happens to PSG pre-Christmas, can I just shock you? Next week's game against Barcelona in Paris is the standout game of the league phase and the winners will absolutely, definitely go on to win the Champions League. Maybe.
Hamilton: I'm not sure if Sam was intending that Oasis pastiche, but I loved it. To be able to rest one of the world's best players (Khvicha Kvaratshkelia) and still dispatch a fired-up Manchester City, while taking any sting out of the emotion of the occasion, was testament to the champions mindset Luis Enrique has built at PSG. And Sam is right - they have the luxury of being able to operate in second gear for the start of the season in Ligue 1 and then spring into life when needed.
What Luis Enrique has achieved at PSG is to keep the team continually evolving. At some point they'll inevitably translate that over in the French league too. Europe will be on notice. That Barcelona game will be box office.
That said, in terms of talent, PSG are definitely better than last year going forward in the sense that they have more solutions. Ferran Torres is probably a better fit than Gonçalo Ramos. Maghnes Akliouche, in my view, is an upgrade on Bradley Barcola, and Mika Godts is hugely exciting. The midfield also should be getting better just by inertia as these guys grow: Warren Zaïre-Emery is 20, João Neves 22, Dro 18. Vitinha, at 26, is in his prime.
It's at the back where, maybe, you could quibble. I'm not a Matvei Safonov guy (at all) in goal, while Marquinhos is getting older. In terms of depth, Lucas Beraldo and Ilya Zabarnyi are nothing to write home about. All that said, on the other hand, one more season metabolizing Luis Enrique's brand of football: that's huge. So maybe they are better.
Marsden: I think that in the long run, the chaos will hurt Real Madrid. Roma were as poor at defending their lead -- and set pieces -- late on as they were impressive in taking the game to Madrid before then. Not all opposition will be as generous to Mourinho as his former team were. The banners of gratitude for the Portuguese coach before the game were one thing; conceding three goals between the 83rd and 90th minute was something else entirely.
Luckily for Mourinho, it's a problem he can park for now. Vinicius has been banned for four league games after being sent off for a hair pull in the win over Villarreal at the weekend. The picture could be very different by the time he's available for selection again if Madrid click without him.
Marcotti: The chaos hurts, of course it does. Real Madrid were at full strength against a Roma side without their first-choice keeper (it kinda showed) and who lost Manu Koné after 15 minutes and Paulo Dybala at half-time. In the 79th minute, they were losing 3-1, had managed a paltry 0.35 xG and three shots on target.
Mourinho is more comfortable than most in chaos, but that doesn't mean he'd rather choose chaos than coherence. When, at the hour mark, you're 3-0 down and you send on Endrick -- who had played five minutes of football this season and last started for the club in May 2025 -- you're definitely sending a message. (Not just to Vinicius, either...)
It's tempting to have sympathy for Mourinho when you take a step back because this team was built not with an idea of football in mind, but rather as a collection of Panini stickers. That's not down to him. On the other hand, some of his antics -- and the fact that club president Florentino Perez will neither hold him to account nor take any steps to actually build a team, rather than a collection of stars (just ask Alvaro Arbeloa or Xabi Alonso) -- makes it hard to have too much sympathy.
A word on Roma, while we're at it. They had a tougher time against Como than they did against Real Madrid. Conceding goals like that is frustrating and unacceptable, but the first 80-odd minutes were something else...
There is always drama around Madrid and Mourinho: bringing the two together is like leaving Rambo and John McClane on a desert island together and asking them to build a raft. It could sink, or it could lead to a fine old ship getting back on course. Perhaps chaos is the way to destabilise the Barcelona machine. Either way, it's going to be box office.
After being abject for so much of the match, Mourinho got his substitutes right and they changed the game. If you look closely, there's usually order inside chaos anyway.
Hamilton: Heading into the Fenerbahce match, Aston Villa's form had been poor this season, without a single home win. But that's to be expected after a summer of mass change both on and off the field. The North Stand is under redevelopment. A grand total of five people were dotted around the vast empty bank on Wednesday night: four builders on the night shift, and one camera operator high up in the last remaining seats waiting to be removed. It's all part of Villa's push to take the ground's capacity to over 50,000, but there's been a rebuilding job both on and off the pitch in recent times.
But against Fenerbahce, it all came together. Nicolas Jackson and Johan Manzambi were exceptional, while Fenerbahce looked tired and off the pace as Villa swiped them aside 6-0. Manzambi was a constant threat and opened the scoring, while Jackson grabbed two more before the break. Ross Barkley scored twice in the second half with Tammy Abraham adding a sixth. This will have brought joy to manager Unai Emery, who is overseeing this rebuild after a summer in which the team said goodbye to Ollie Watkins, Morgan Rogers, Lucas Digne, Emi Martinez and Youri Tielemens. The new-look Villa is starting to purr, with the brilliant Manzambi at the heart of this side.
