UCL Matchday 2: Viking FK and PSG impress; Man United a mess
The Chaaaaaampions! Europe's top competition returned with a ton of goals, a ton of big results and plenty to talk about. Let's start with the tiny Norwegian team that gave Bayern Munich a fright.
Champions LeagueUEFA Champions LeagueVIKING FKParis Saint-Germain
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It is the way of the soccer world right now that competitions must get larger, with more teams, more matches per team and a much lower average reading on the jeopardy per match scale.
Aside from the obvious wear-and-tear concerns, I don't really mind this development. (Maybe it's the American in me: I'm used to bloat.)
I don't mind that the Euros have 24 teams, or that the Champions League has 36, or that the World Cup has 48 -- and that two-thirds of the competitors reach the knockout rounds in all of these tournaments. That has allowed for super-cool stories to develop.
Ukraine snuck into the knockout rounds at Euro 2020 (amid growing geopolitical stress) and then upset Sweden. Slovenia and Slovakia eked out advancement in 2024, too, and nearly pulled upsets. And while a huge Champions League with a huge set of knockout rounds has allowed more time for struggling powers like PSG and Manchester City in 2024-25 to rebound from poor starts, it also allowed Bodø/Glimt to find their footing and eventually take down Manchester City, Atlético Madrid and Inter Milan, consecutively, while nearly making the quarterfinals last season.
I don't mind bloat as long as it allows for proper storytelling and extra world-building. In a world with tilted finances, where only a few teams are actually capable of winning the whole thing, a fun journey almost matters more than the eventual destination.
Matchday 1 of this year's Champions League concerned me a bit in that regard. There was still fun to be had -- Como ran away from RB Leipzig in their first ever European group stage game, Real Madrid outlasted Inter Milan in a battle of European royalty, and 11 of 18 matches featured at least four goals. Goals are fun.
- UCL Talking Points: Who's to blame for Man United mess? - Reaction: Man City can't compete with gold standard PSG - Kirkland: Real Madrid did win, but glory feels far away
Still, Davids weren't exactly scoring damage points on Goliaths. PSG, Barcelona and Bayern Munich beat Slovan Bratislava, Feyenoord and Bodø/Glimt by a combined 16-2, and debutants LASK, Sabah and Viking all lost by a combined 8-1. It was a foreboding start, a sign that maybe Europe's giants have even further distanced themselves from the pack. I'm a fan of storytelling, and that's the least fun story to tell.
Luckily, Matchday 2 gave us delightful plot twists and track meets.
It also took us to Norway.
Main characters of the week
Viking FK has lived a full club life since its founding in Stavanger in 1899: Early regional titles in the 1920s and 1930s; national titles in the 1950s, when that became a thing to aspire to; great spells (four straight titles in the 1970s); poor spells (relegation in 1986 and 2017); the requisite financial overextension in the 2010s (who among us).
On occasion, they've also enjoyed the glory of home European nights. They hosted Borussia Mönchengladbach (and drew 1-1) in the 1979-80 UEFA Cup, held Barcelona to a 0-0 draw in qualification for the inaugural 1992-93 Champions League) and walloped Sporting CP and drew with Werder Bremen in the 1999-2000 UEFA Cup. And in maybe the most famous night of the old Stavanger Stadion, they thumped Chelsea 4-2 in the 2002-03 UEFA Cup despite goals from Frank Lampard and John Terry.
Their current home, Viking Stadion, saw a win over Monaco in the 2005-06 UEFA Cup, plus a couple of fun victories in the 2022-23 Conference League. But after Tuesday, it's also the place where Viking hung three goals on -- and frustrated the hell out of -- Bayern Munich.
You have to take your victories where you can find them early in an eight-game Champions League league phase campaign, where the results aren't incredibly consequential and the surprises are minimal. But Viking vs. Bayern was an absolute blast. Viking ran the "score on your first shot" play -- every team should try that, it works out great for you -- and then went up 2-0 late in the first half. Bayern charged back because Bayern always charge back, but after a gorgeous Konrad Laimer-to-Luis Díaz goal gave the German giants the lead, Michael Olise got a red card, and it pretty visibly flipped the momentum in the match.
Herman Haugen headed in a tying goal over an unsuspecting Alphonso Davies (who probably should have been more suspecting), and Peter Christiansen forced a Jonas Urbig save in extra time. The stats for the game as a whole were one-sided (xG: Bayern 3.3, Viking 0.7), but when the match ended Viking appeared most likely to score next.
THIS GAME HAS EVERYTHING! 🍿 Viking grab a last-minute equalizer against Bayern ⏰ Watch the #UCL on @ParamountPlus 📺 https://t.co/RG22Z265hf
The Norwegian style of play might be the most aesthetically pleasing in the world at the moment: a mix of optimism and organization in attack, and a willingness to leave yourself a little exposed in the back. Bodø/Glimt have mastered this style and translated it well to European competitions -- they beat Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday to make it six straight home wins in the Champions League or Champions League qualification -- and Viking's first two Champions League league phase matches have featured 10 combined goals and a draw their fans will be talking about for ages.
I am a total sucker for stories like this.
And while we're celebrating teams that do everything possible to increase the pure entertainment value of the early stages, let's shout out Club Brugge, the watchability kings. So far they've lost 3-2 to Aston Villa and beaten Inter 4-3, and really, Tuesday's win undersold the amount of quality opportunities created: both teams underachieved against xG.
In 18 league phase matches since the start of 2024-25, they've scored multiple goals seven times and allowed multiple goals 10 times. They've won a match while allowing three, and they've drawn a match while scoring three. They are speed horses for this competition, and they are appreciated.
We're used to PSG taking their time shifting into gear in a given season. Luis Enrique has loads of both stars and incredible teenagers to give minutes to, and he knows he doesn't really have to find or lean on his best 11 until the spring. A few early losses won't exactly hurt them in Ligue 1, and two years ago they won the Champions League despite at one point going winless for four straight league phase matches.
Luckily, they know how to shift into gear.
In their past five matches on each side of the international break, they've won five matches by a combined 16-5. Enrique's still rotating like crazy -- 20 different guys have started in these five matches -- but PSG's ridiculous depth almost requires him to, and everyone's contributing. Ousmane Dembélé has three goals and four assists in four starts in this span, Ferran Torres has five goals, newcomer Maghnes Akliouche has two goals and an assist, Désiré Doué (who's still only 21, by the way) has a goal and two assists. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia hasn't contributed much, but PSG has still turned into a wrecking ball.
They seemed to have a point to prove Wednesday in Manchester.
TWO IN TWO MINUTES FOR PSG 😮💨 Désiré Doué with the goal and the assist 🔥 https://t.co/OKjsesexlN
Visiting fellow petrol staters Manchester City, who are staring potentially epic penalties in the face, PSG went up 2-0 within 15 minutes thanks to goals from Doué and Dembélé and got a third from midfielder Vitinha before halftime. After Erling Haaland pulled one back for the home team, Akliouche put away an eventual 4-2 win with a goal in the 62nd minute.
City had won eight straight matches in all competitions and had humiliated Liverpool 3-0 at Anfield over the weekend, but PSG basically scored an early-round knockout. The xG figures favored City (2.6 to 1.8), but that can be pretty common when one team takes an early lead. At the time of Vitinha's goal, PSG had attempted eight of the match's 10 shots with a higher volume of touches in the attacking third. They were incredible, and they didn't need long to put the match away.
In a way, Manchester United's 2-0 away loss to Atlético Madrid was like just about any other United match in 2026-27, in that the underlying stats that are usually pretty predictive weren't at all. Their xG differential was +0.8 in their 2-0 loss to Hull City to kick off the Premier League season, and in three matches with near-even xGDs, they've lost once with two draws. They're sixth in the Premier League in xG differential but 13th in the table, and at the time of Leny Yoro's 74th-minute red card in Madrid, they trailed 1-0 with a plus-0.4 xGD. (Atleti also ran the "Score on your first shot" play. I'm just saying, it's a great play!) The match turned one-sided after that.
Poor fortune and random, debilitating mistakes are wrecking United's season when they really don't look too poor on paper.
Now, I know that other clubs have invested more than Manchester United in recent years, legally and illegally, and Martinez also made an interesting point about not "[staying] with what you did last season" because opponents always adjust. But despite the Premier League generally losing its mind from the perspective of cumulative transfer fees, I'm never going to see "completely rebuilding your midfield for €173.2 million," as United did this past summer, as a lack of investment or a simple "run it back" approach. United brought in Carlos Baleba, Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans in to address last year's biggest question mark; that's a pretty big change! And they've spent €1.1 billion in transfer fees alone over the past five years. A competent organization should be able to build a perfectly stable team with that.
Even if it's not really a lack of investment, though, United have definitely suffered from a lack of a plan, and it's made competent investment nearly impossible. There's been no ideological consistency in their managerial hires, and their common lineup this season includes two guys who signed or debuted for Louis van Gaal, one for Jose Mourinho, two for Ole Gunnar Solskjær, two for Erik ten Hag, three for Ruben Amorim and one for Michael Carrick. That's a diverse set of influences, and it can't be a surprise when a lack of a plan produces a lack of cohesiveness. But I guess none of what I'm saying is all that original, is it?
There are nine leagues with multiple Champions League entries this season. Three of them are averaging at least 2.0 points per game among their teams in the field: England's Premier League (2.4), Spain's LaLiga (2.4) and Germany's Bundesliga (2.0). After a perfect 5-for-5 in the wins department in Matchday 1 (followed by a 3-for-3 performance in the Europa League), the Premier League gave away some points this week thanks to the clubs in Manchester.
Four more leagues are averaging at least 1.0 points per game among their teams: France's Ligue 1 (1.5), Portugal's Primeira Liga (1.5), the Netherlands' Eredivisie (1.0) and Norway's Eliteserien (1.0). Hell yeah, Norway. Hanging out with the big boys.
