Champions League Power Rankings: PSG, Arsenal and Barcelona pull away from the pack

PSG
What can’t they do? Barcelona are hot on their heels, but after marching into Manchester and going ahead 3-0 in the first half, PSG are still the team to beat. — 2-0
2

Barcelona
I’m convinced that Barcelona are conceding the first goal for fun to make the game more interesting for themselves. When Lamine Yamal can defy physics while dribbling, what can you do to stop them? — 2-0
3

Arsenal
Easing into the first half before blowing away the opposition in the second half, it’s clockwork for Arsenal. It’s easy to take it for granted how easily they dispatch teams in their path. — 2-0
4

Real Madrid
Pure box office. On Jose Mourinho’s return to Roma, he was honored and then spotted them a few goals before Real Madrid pulled off an epic comeback. This is a flawed team, but flawed Real Madrid sides usually win this competition. 2 6-2
5

Liverpool
Did Bradley Barcola finally arrive with his hat trick in Austria? Only time will tell but Liverpool needed this victory where they hung a crooked number. 2 2-0
6

Sporting CP
Luis Suarez is now the club’s all time leading goal scorer in UCL play and for good reason. They haven’t missed a beat since he took over and could go on quite a run. 3 2-0
7

Bayern
It seemed like Bayern would get away with a poor performance if not for a moment of madness where Michael Olise threw the ball in the face of a defender to get sent off. Vincent Kompany will want to clean that up, but there are cracks in this defense. 2 1-0
8

Manchester City
The us against the world mentality can only go so far for City, as when they couldn’t hold possession facing PSG, Enzo Maresca’s system crumbled. Is this the start of a trend? 4 1-1
9

Real Betis
This team is just never out of a game. Betis used all their attackers to keep Porto at bay and are off to a flying start from it. 5 2-0
10

Atletico Madrid
Atleti let United be the makers of their own downfall, and that shows growth from the club. That’s also easier to do scoring within the first minute of the game. 3 1-1
11

Stuttgart
Away from home, Stuttgart maintain their perfect start. There will be harder matches than Slovan Bratislava away, but six points from two matches makes those easier to manage. — 2-0
12

Aston Villa
The birthday boy, Johan Manzambi, opened the scoring, and Villa hung six on Fenerbahce. They still gave up too many chances defensively, but the attack has found their feet. 3 2-0
13

Como
Nico Paz can do a lot of things, but he has struggled as a striker for the club, and it showed in the loss to Feyenoord. This is something Como can bounce back from, but it’s going to be tough sledding. 5
14

Borussia Dortmund
We know that going away to Bodo/Glimt is tough, and Dortmund couldn’t create anything in their match. 2 1-1
15

Inter
It was not a good day to be an Italian club in UCL play. Inter attempted a comeback, but it became a story of too little too late while falling to Brugge. 1
16

Shakhtar Donetsk
Four points from two matches is a good start for Shakhtar as they were able to lean on support from the London crowd at Stamford Bridge. 6 1-0
17

Roma
For as well as Roma did scoring, the defense needs to take a long look at themselves after allowing a Madrid comeback. — 0-1
18

Manchester United
Lisandro Martinez said everything you need to know. This club has issues, and they’re in freefall. Already on a winless run of five matches, it is going to get worse before it gets better at United. 8 1-1
19

RB Leipzig
They needed a missed penalty to get the job done but it all still counts the same. 6 1-1
20

Club Brugge
Nicolo Tresoldi is the name of the day, with the 22-year-old netting a hat trick. Set to be the next star to come out of the club, Brugge are right where they usually are in this competition, giving everyone else fits. 9 1-1
21

Villarreal
Winning wouldn’t have been too surprising but coming back from going a goal down to score three unanswered on Napoli is impressive. 6 1-1
22

Lens
The goodwill from a strong opening day performance has faded. It’s clear this isn’t the same team who were able to push PSG last season and they now need to figure out their identity. 3 2-3
23

PSV
This is becoming quite a poor start for the Dutch side. You don’t expect someone as experienced as Ivan Perisic to miss from the spot, and they never recovered. 3 0-1
24

Fenerbahce
Maybe when Ismail Kartal said he was quitting at the end of matchday one, the club should’ve let him? 6 0-1
25

Porto
Losing to City is understandable, but Betis not so much as Porto, could find themselves out of contention for the playoff round before the month comes to an end if this continues. 2
26

Feyenoord
Hadj Musa has the makings of a star as he was unplayable in Feyenoord’s win over Como. The Como defense doesn’t allow many chances so just an impressive result. 8 1-1
27

Napoli
Italy’s very bad day continued. The Italian side need Scott McTominay back in the lineup as soon as possible. 3 0-2
28

Bodo/Glimt
Taking down Dortmund at home is exactly the kind of professional performance that you expect from Bodo/Glimt and just why they can never be counted out of a match. 8
29

Galatasaray
No one can actually defend Barcelona, but you do need to score more goals. 3 0-2
30

Sabah
Getting their first Champions League win under their belts is a great moment. It’s a long road to the second but you can’t get two wins without getting one first. 1
31

Viking
The roller coaster of emotions from going ahead by two goals in the first half, then falling behind to draw level late, is epic stuff. 2 0-1
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