What We Learned From Champions League Matchday Four as Holders Beaten

The Champions League has already thrown up big moments and shock results.

Europe’s elite competition often does.

The heavyweights of European competition doing battle across eight League Phase matches is certainly a highlight of the year and is always exciting.

The revamped structure of the tournament has given the so-called lesser clubs in the mix a better opportunity to put points on the board and earn cash for winning matches.

This season the likes of Bodo/Glimt, Celtic slayers Kairat Almaty and Pafos have the chance to face off against the biggest clubs on the continent and that often throws up big shocks and interesting contests.

Champions League matchday four brought big moments

But sometimes it is the well known giants of the game who put on a clinic and/or suffer at the hands of their opponents.

This week’s matchday four first round of games threw up a few intriguing results and individual performances.

And there were one or two unexpected finishes and a couple of red cards thrown in for good measure.

We at FootballBlog have opted to start with the current holders…

Bayern stun hosts PSG

PSG had a season to remember last term with their superstars finally winning the big one with a whopping 5-0 victory over Inter Milan in the final of this contest.

It is a trophy they’d love to hold onto this year and their defence, until matchday four, has been going swimmingly with three wins from their opening three.

They have beaten Bayer Leverkusen, Barcelona and Atalanta and found the net 13 times in three.

But they came up against Vincent Kompany’s Bayern Munich on Tuesday evening and were beaten at home in front of a stunned silent home support.

Luis Diaz hit a first-half brace within the first 30 minutes before Joao Neves reduced the deficit. PSG had a massive 25 shots on goal with 10 on target but they could not get the job done.

Even after going down to 10 men, Munich found a way to win and a massive three points on the road was taken.

Ballon d’OR winner Ousmane Dembele had equalised in the first-45 but he had his effort ruled out for an offside.

Luis Diaz night of chaos

As mentioned, Bayern went down to 10 men at the break after goal scorer Diaz was shown a straight red card for a high challenge on Achraf Hakimi.

The full-back looked to get away from his opponent only to see the Colombian frontman chop him down and get his leg caught between his own scissor challenge.

It was initially deemed a yellow by the referee but a lengthy VAR check – around five minutes of checks and double checks – would finally result in a straight red.

It did look a sore one and Diaz’s evening took a turn.

The forward had bagged a double for his team and put them on the road to their three points but he did then cause a nervy second-half which the Bundesliga giants would ultimately come through.

Liverpool win the big one

Liverpool’s form has been poor this season so far with manager Arne Slot’s tactics coming in for some criticism.

But on Tuesday it was the Reds who saw off Real Madrid at Anfield as they took three points and jumped up into sixth in the League Phase table.

Liverpool seem to have turned a corner at just the right time with Manchester City on the horizon and victories over Los Galacticos and Aston Villa last weekend built momentum for the club.

Their star men this term have not always performed and it was up to Alexis MacAllister to find the winner on Merseyside as his header sailed into the net just after the hour mark.

Madrid’s big guns fired blanks all evening but an interesting storyline was that former Red Trent Alexander-Arnold left his former stomping ground empty-handed with a smattering of boos from the home crowd adding insult to injury for the defender.

Mikel Arteta win rate improves further

Arsenal did what they’ve been doing best this season which was pick up yet another victory, this time on the road.

Despite not being a recognised out-and-out striker it was Mikel Merino who was the match winner vs Slavia Prague with a double to add to Bukayo Saka’s opener in their 3-0 rout.

Manager Mikel Arteta has a terrific Euro record and is one of the winningest coaches from English football to compete in Europe.

He may not yet have a trophy but he has a better record than Sir Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola.

The Gunners sit proudly alongside Bayern as the only side to win all four of their opening fixtures with 12 points at the top of the division.