Champions League power rankings: PSG remain a joke - but who is catching them?
It was largely business as usual in matchweek four of the Champions League as Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona kept on scoring and Arsenal and Bayern Munich returned to winning ways while remaining unbeaten. But the story of the round belonged to Como, who made history by beating Lens 9-1 away from home and equalling the record for the most goals scored in a single Champions League game.
Cesc Fabregas's impressive side now sit fourth in the league phase standings, behind PSG, Real Madrid and Arsenal. Meanwhile, there wasa frustrating defeat for Liverpool at Fenerbahce, but Manchester United produced a stunning comeback tobeat Roma and potentially save Michael Carrick's job, with Matheus Cunha scoring twice on a remarkable night at Old Trafford.
We compiled our 36-team power rankings by combining team's previous performance in the Champions League, their results in the competition so far, and the likelihood of them going all the way this season. Agree or disagree with our standings?
Let us know and have your say in the comments below. Paris Saint-Germain Results: 6-1 vs Slovan Bratislava, 4-2 v Man City, 4-2 v Barcelona, 6-0 v Villarreal Fixtures: Roma (h), Aston Villa (a), Como (a), Galatasaray (h) The reigning champions are making a mockery of suggestions that they are slow starters in the Champions League.
Luis Enrique's back-to-back champions finished outside the top eight in both of their previous successes but have started this campaign on fire in Europe. PSG were 4-0 up after just 17 minutes at Villarreal, and that was without Ousmane Dembele and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
The French champions will be without the brilliant Georgian for the rest of the season after he suffereda ruptured ACLbut they remain the team to beat. Barcelona Results: 5-1 v Feyenoord, 4-1 v Galatasaray, 2-4 v PSG, 3-0 v Aston Villa Fixtures: Sabah (a), Manchester City (h), Sporting (a), Como (h) Defeats to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League and Real Madrid in LaLiga ended their winning start under Hansi Flick and perhaps raised the same concerns over whether their defence holds up come the knockout stages.
But Lamine Yamal is arguably the world's best player on current form and Raphinha isn't too bad, either. The Brazilian made it an astonishing 19 goals and three assists in just 13 matches across LaLiga and the Champions League with his double in the 3-0 win over Aston Villa at Camp Nou.
Arsenal Results: 1-0 vs Napoli, 3-0 v Lille, 2-2 v Bayern Munich, 2-1 v Slavia Prague Fixtures: Borussia Dortmund (h), Real Madrid (h), Real Betis (a), Sabah (h) Mikel Arteta's got the result they needed in Prague, even if a difficult second-half performance made it a bit of a struggle. An entertaining draw last time out at Bayern Munich, who have such a strong home record, gave a good account of whether the Premier League champions can take the next step against a heavyweight side in the business end of the Champions League.
Noni Madueke was on target in Arsenal's win in Prague(PA) ↔️ 4. Bayern Munich Results: 5-0 v Bodo/Glimt, 3-3 v Viking, 2-2 v Arsenal, 2-0 v Atletico Madrid Fixtures: Lille (a), Slavia Prague (h), Manchester United (a), Real Betis (h) Bayern returned to winning ways with a professional win against Atletico Madrid - and the big surprise was that Harry Kane was not on the scoresheet.