Champions League review: comebacks, thrashings and a Mauritanian first

A big week for… Still without the recovering Vincent Kompany, Bayern Munich are among the favorites to win the Champions League, which would be their first European title since 2019-20. René Marić’s side produced a dominant display at the Metropolitano, playing Atlético Madrid off the field in a commanding 2-0 win. Lennart Karl and Konrad Laimer made the difference, with Harry Kane providing Laimer with a fine assist in his first continental appearance since winning the Ballon d’Or. Bayern remain just outside the top eight, which guarantees automatic passage to the last 16, having won two and drawn two of their opening four matches.

It was also a massive week for Michael Carrick’s claim to the Manchester United job, as his side overturned a 2-0 half-time deficit to beat Roma 3-2. United have now won two, drawn two and lost none, enough to enter the international break in the play-off places.

Villarreal manager Iñigo Pérez warned that if visiting Paris Saint-Germain “smell fear, they won’t forgive you”, and evidently his players must have reeked of it. The reigning European champions redefined “scoring for fun” with an early onslaught, putting four goals past the sinking Yellow Submarine inside 17 minutes. PSG ultimately cruised to a remarkable 6-0 thrashing, with their five different scorers led by Fabián Ruiz, who scored a brace.

Inter got their campaign back on track with a commanding 3-0 win away at Feyenoord, a strong response to their defeat in the Milan derby. An eighth-minute strike from Yann Bisseck put the 2025 runners-up in front and they never looked back. “Football doesn’t always go to plan, but you have to respond, make the right changes and find a way to get back on track,” Inter coach Cristian Chivu said afterwards. One such change may be giving Djed Spence a greater role. Named player of the match on Tuesday after providing the assist for Bisseck’s opener, Spence has seldom featured in his first season, having made his first Serie A start only in Saturday’s defeat to Milan.

Como continue to win matches, as well as hearts and minds, and followed their 4-1 victory over Manchester United with an even more emphatic performance. Lens were the latest victims, with Como thrashing the French side 9-1. Cesc Fàbregas’s team continue to defy expectations in their first Champions League campaign. They sit fourth in Serie A and the Champions League tables.

Player of the week Aboubakary Koita, AEK Athens. While far from a vintage Real Madrid side, or even a vintage José Mourinho version of one, Los Blancos headed to Athens brimming with confidence. Madrid had won all six of their matches since play resumed after the international break, including a statement victory at the Camp Nou in late October. And yet, they seemed to have no answer for a player representing a nation ranked 110th in the world by Fifa.

Koita kept Madrid’s full-backs on their heels throughout a tireless 90-minute shift for AEK Athens. Having taken just two shots in his first 180 minutes of this season’s Champions League, the 28-year-old winger put Madrid on notice early on Wednesday. Koita collected the ball on the edge of the penalty area in the 12th minute and bore down on Marc Cucurella. He cut inside, twisting the left-back out of position, before driving a powerful effort between Thibaut Courtois and his near post.

It was the first Champions League goal scored by a player from Mauritania.

Madrid fought hard to equalize, with Jude Bellingham having one effort ruled out for a narrow offside before his clever left-footed finish caught Alberto Brignoli by surprise. The hosts held firm until the 75th minute, when Koita drew defenders towards him as he drifted towards the left corner before spotting a run from his left-back, Stavros Pilios. Koita threaded the ball into the defender’s path and Pilios coolly slotted it past Courtois.

Ultimately, Madrid had too much talent for AEK’s defence. Kylian Mbappé made no mistake, scoring his team’s second equalizer three minutes after Pilios’s effort. Federico Valverde had no intention of giving the hosts a happy ending, powering a long-range effort across goal and beyond the diving Brignoli. Nonetheless, it was a hard-earned winner forced by Koita’s brilliance at the other end.

Koita’s night ended on a sour note. Furious after being brought down as the final whistle blew, he earned a red card for telling the referee to “fuck off”, then remained on the pitch to plead his case.

An impressive hat-trick in its own way: a historic goal, an assist and a red card.

Club in focus: Fenerbahçe Recent history has cast Fenerbahçe as the ultimate nearly team, finishing second in every Süper Lig campaign since 2021-22. A poor start to the season prompted İsmail Kartal’s resignation, leaving Dirk Kuyt, who had joined the club only in June as Kartal’s assistant, to become caretaker manager.

Kuyt’s first European match in charge carried even greater significance given the visitors: Liverpool, with whom he became a legend.

“As soon as the draw came up, as a technical member of the staff I was really excited because everyone knows how much Fenerbahçe and Liverpool mean to me,” Kuyt said on the eve of the match. “Of course tomorrow will be a very, very special occasion for me. But at the stage we are in, I’m not the important person. It’s the club.”

A job well done for the club, then, as Fenerbahçe stormed back from 2-1 down with 20 minutes remaining. Former Derby County academy product Archie Brown made Liverpool pay, scoring the equalizer before setting up Vedat Muriqi’s winner. The defeat was Andoni Iraola’s first in European competition, although Liverpool remain comfortably placed to advance.

They said it Unai Emery has worked wonders at Aston Villa, taking the club from yo-yo status to consistent European qualification while establishing a reputation for developing and refining talent. After winning their first three matches of the Champions League campaign, a trip to the Camp Nou promised a stern test, but one Villa had arguably never been better prepared to face.

Barcelona entered with a heavily rotated backline amid injuries, yet were hardly tested. Villa were outshot 16-9 and managed just one effort on target as the hosts controlled the match. Lamine Yamal opened the scoring inside seven minutes, overtaking Mbappé as the highest-scoring teenager in Champions League history with his 14th goal. A second-half brace from Raphinha helped Barcelona overtake Emery’s side in the standings on goal difference.

“The test was definitely not in the level we want to achieve but there are a lot of things to learn, a lot of experience for the players and us,” Emery said. “It is giving me a lot of information to analyze [in order to] compete at this level. Overall, we are competing fantastically in the Champions League, although playing the match we played we have work to do to get to this level [of Barcelona].”

Indeed, Unai.

Villa ended the matchweek in the top eight, with a Premier League trip to Old Trafford awaiting on Sunday. Their next Champions League fixture is another away day, at Galatasaray on 24 November.

Looking ahead A few weeks off for the international break, although it hardly feels as if we have rebuilt any momentum since the last lumbering window. The competition resumes on 24 November with a hipster’s dream: Bodø/Glimt welcoming LASK, and Galatasaray hosting Aston Villa in the early kick-offs.

Later, Como and AEK Athens will look to boost their hopes of progress, while Real Betis will aim to rebound from their first league-phase defeat when they visit Slovan Bratislava. Kevin De Bruyne and Napoli will travel to Manchester City for a second consecutive autumn, with Massimiliano Allegri’s side struggling at the halfway point of the league phase.

On 25 November, Villarreal will hope to make amends for that putrid showing against PSG and get their qualification hopes back on track away at Slavia Prague. Carrick – or whoever replaces him – will face a test at Sporting CP, while Liverpool head to Club Brugge.