Let’s start at the Emirates, where Arsenal didn’t just beat Bayern they dismantled them.
Bayern came in unbeaten, walking around like the best team in Europe. By full time, that badge of honour was lying somewhere on the North Bank.
Arsenal did it the Arsenal way under Arteta:
- Set piece dominance: No Gabriel Magalhaes? No problem. Jurrien Timber steps into the role and scores the kind of routine Arsenal have basically trademarked at this point.
- Lennart Karl, remember the name: 17 years old, playing like he’s been here for a decade. The goal was pure class and, honestly, Bayern must be kicking themselves after missing out on Florian Wirtz and then watching this kid ball out against them.
- Midfield control: Declan Rice and Eberechi Eze didn’t just play well they ran the entire game. They throttled Bayern’s rhythm, killed transitions, and set the tempo like metronomes.
- Wide chaos: Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli tore into Bayern’s high line. Martinelli’s goal, leaving Manuel Neuer stranded in no man’s land, was borderline disrespectful.
Arteta called Bayern the best team in Europe before the game. After this? Arsenal sit top of the new group-stage table with a 100% record. If you’re looking for the real “best team in Europe” right now… it might just be them.
PSV stun Liverpool: Anfield feels the pressure
At Anfield, the mood is very different.
Arne Slot is now being called “Arne Lost” nine defeats in 12 will do that to you. But you have to give PSV their flowers here.
Peter Bosz set his team up superbly:
- No panic, no long-ball nonsense just progressive, quick passing, slicing through Liverpool.
- They exploited exactly what Slot has been moaning about: Liverpool’s vulnerability to direct play and balls in behind.
- Veteran Ivan Perisic nails an early penalty, Guus Til finishes a textbook counter, and then super sub Couhaib Driouech comes on and bags two, the first off a rebound from Ricardo Pepi’s shot.
For PSV, this was only their third away win in 26 Champions League trips. For Liverpool, it was an unravelling.
You can feel the split in the pundit world too:
- Steven Gerrard stayed respectful: not calling it a “crisis” out of loyalty, but openly admitting the team is struggling.
- Jamie Carragher… did not hold back. Calling Konate’s performance so bad that it’s “a sackable offence” to keep picking him is as brutal as it gets.
This isn’t just a sticky patch for Liverpool. This feels like a team caught between eras.
Benfica revive, Ajax sink deeper
In Amsterdam, two fallen giants faced off and only one looked remotely like they remember how to be big.
Benfica beat Ajax 2 – 0 and, honestly, it flattered Ajax:
- Samuel Dahl scores from what else a second ball from a corner, exactly the kind of situation Ajax have been failing to defend all season.
- Ajax have now conceded 17 of 34 goals from set pieces. That’s not bad luck. That’s structural.
Jose Mourinho, in full pantomime-villain mode, chalks up yet another Champions League win over Ajax his seventh.
After the game he celebrates by planting a kiss on Wesley Sneijder’s forehead and then calling him “the fatty guy” in that classic, chaotic Mourinho way.
Benfica snap a run of six straight Champions League defeats. Ajax stay anchored to the bottom. Under caretaker Fred Grim, they look anything but grimly solid more like totally lost.
Player of the Week: Estevao, the kid who lit up Chelsea Barca
Estevao, Chelsea. No debate.
Chelsea vs Barcelona in Europe is pure cinema from Ronaldinho’s no backlift magic in 2005 to peak Messi. The 2025 reboot will be remembered for a Brazilian teenager in blue.
A few things to underline:
- Estevão is only three months older than Lamine Yamal, but has already racked up around 100 senior appearances.
- On this stage? He completely overshadowed Yamal.
- His goal jinking through defenders and smashing it home was one of those moments where you sit back and think: oh, this guy is different.
And remember: this was the same week Kylian Mbappe scored four, Vitinha hit a hat-trick in a 5 – 3 PSG Spurs madness, and Randal Kolo Muani scored twice against his parent club.
And still, somehow, the week belonged to Estevao. That tells you the level.
Maradona remembered, Napoli grind, and the word “crisis”
In Naples, Antonio Conte’s Napoli beat Qarabag 2 – 0 on the fifth anniversary of Diego Maradona’s death.
Scott McTominay opened the scoring (yes, McTominay, at Napoli, what a timeline), and Conte made it clear: this one was about honouring Diego.
In a season where Napoli are absurdly sitting 20th and trying to claw their way back, this felt like a small step in the right emotional direction, if not a full footballing reset.
What’s next: City wobble, Madrid wait, Barca sweat, Sporting fly
Pep Guardiola rolled the dice with 10 changes and got punished, losing 2–0 to Bayer Leverkusen. City look shaky, and now they’ve got three Premier League games before travelling to the Bernabeu to face Real Madrid on 10 December.
- City need wins just to stay in the top eight of this bloated new format.
- Real Madrid, coached by Xabi Alonso and fresh off a wild 4 – 3 win over Olympiakos, feel like a storm waiting to happen again by the time Pep arrives.
Barcelona, meanwhile, are 18th in the table. Read that again. Eighteenth.
- Hansi Flick’s ultra high line got chewed up by Chelsea’s physicality.
- Eintracht Frankfurt, down in 28th, now come to the Camp Nou needing a win to survive. If Barca mess this up, the pressure on Flick goes from loud to deafening.
And then there’s Sporting. Quietly, efficiently, they’ve crashed the VIP section of Europe:
- Sitting in the top eight.
- Just hammered Brugge 3 – 0.
- And now they head to Munich to face a wounded Bayern side.
- Luis Suarez the Colombian striker, formerly of Watford is proving a clever, hard running replacement for Viktor Gyokeres.
If Sporting go to Bavaria and get a result, we’re not calling them a “surprise package” any more. We’re calling them contenders.
This is why we love this competition. One week and everything flips:
- Bayern humbled.
- Liverpool exposed.
- Benfica reborn.
- Ajax unraveling.
- A new Brazilian star at Chelsea.
- City uneasy.
- Barça in trouble.
- Sporting dreaming big.
If this is just the group stage “league phase”, imagine what the knockouts are going to look like.
