Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Inter and Arsenal all maintained their 100 percent records with predictably facile victories but the big surprise is that Qarabag have also got two wins from two games.
Elsewhere, Chelsea got off the mark with a hard-fought win over Jose Mourinho’s Benfica at Stamford Bridge, but Liverpool suffered a tame 1-0 loss to Galatasaray at a raucous RAMS Park to cast considerable doubt on the strength of Arne Slot’s summer signings.
As usual, there were loads of other intriguing results, so how is everyone shaping up after matchday two? BALLGM ranks and rates all 36 participations in the 2025-26 Champions League below…
Previous update: September 19.
Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Inter and Arsenal all maintained their 100 percent records with predictably facile victories but the big surprise is that Qarabag have also got two wins from two games.
Elsewhere,Chelsea got off the mark with a hard-fought win over Jose Mourinho’s Benfica at Stamford Bridge, but Liverpool suffered a tame 1-0 loss to Galatasaray at a raucous RAMS Park to cast considerable doubt on the strength of Arne Slot’s summer signings.
As usual, there were loads of other intriguing results, so how is everyone shaping up after matchday two? BALLGM ranks and rates all 36 participations in the 2025-26 Champions League below…
Previous update: September 19.
As feared, Kairat look completely out of their depth in the Champions League. They have at least scored a goal, in the closing stages of their matchday-one loss to Sporting CP, but Tuesday’s 5-0 drubbing by Real Madrid means they’ve already conceded nine times in two games. Credit to Rafael Urazbakhtin’s players, there were plenty of positives to take from their first-half performance against Real, with a Kylian Mbappe penalty the difference between the two teams at the break. But once the Frenchman scored his second goal shortly after the interval, it was curtains for Kairat, who simply have to beat Pafos in their next game to have any real hope of making it out of the league phase.
Slavia Prague were always going to be up against it at San Siro on Tuesday evening and striker Vasil Kusj admitted that he and his team-mates were “given a university lecture” by Inter. On the plus side, they improved in the second half, after showing last season’s runners-up far too much respect in the first – as goalkeeper Jindrich Stanek conceded. Nonetheless, based on what we’ve seen so far from the Czechs, who blew a 2-0 lead at home to Bodo/Glimt in their opener, they’re going to struggle to pick up any more points before they travel to Cyprus to play Pafos on matchday eight.
Pafos demonstrated commendable resistance in holding Olympiacos to a draw despite playing with 10 for more than an hour of the game in Greece – but they were unsurprisingly blown away by Bayern Munich inside 34 minutes of Tuesday’s game at the Alphamega Stadium. Mislav Orsic did pull a goal back for the home side with a superb strike just before the break and they were far more competitive in the second half – but the Cypriots still ended up on the wrong side of a 5-1 scoreline. Of course, Pafos were never likely to get anything out of their game against Bayern and it was always going to be the case that they’d have to win away to fellow minnows Kairat on matchday three to give themselves even a glimmer of hope of qualifying for the knockout stage.
Ajax boss John Hetinga confessed that “the level was a little too high” for his team during Tuesday’s 4-0 drubbing in Marseille. He was referring solely to the game in question but there’s already a legitimate fear that the Eredivisie outfit are out of their depth in this season’s Champions League. Remember, they were comfortably beaten at home by Inter a fortnight ago, and it’s hard to see Ajax getting the 12 points they’ll need to make the play-offs. It would certainly be a huge surprise if they got anything from their matchday three trip to Chelsea, meaning the subsequent visit of Galatasaray to the Johan Cruyff Arena is already looking like a must-win game for the four-time champions of Europe.
Jose Luis Mendilibar was proud of his players even though they were beaten 2-0 by Arsenal at the Emirates on Wednesday night. “I think we were in it until the end at a very difficult ground,” the Spaniard told UEFA. “We believed in ourselves and we didn’t change our style of play, despite the fact that we were playing against a top side.” The fact of the matter is, though, that Olympiacos are not in a great position, primarily because of that disastrous draw at home to 10-man Pafos on matchday one – and they’re unlikely to add to their points haul when they next travel to Barcelona.
Jose Mourinho left Stamford Bridge with a lot of “positive feelings” – and not just because he received a warm reception from the fans of former club Chelsea. Benfica played quite well in west London and arguably deserved a draw. The problem for the Eagles, though, is that they still don’t have any points on the board – mainly due to their disastrous defeat at home to Qarabag on matchday one that led to club president Rui Costa sacking Bruno Lage and replacing him with Mourinho – and not one of their remaining six fixtures is a ‘gimme’. The onus, then, is very much on ‘The Special One’ to work his old magic to give Benfica a chance of getting out of the league phase.
PSV coach Peter Bosz was feeling upbeat after this week’s 1-1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen, as his side had come from behind in Germany to pick up their first point of the competition. However, it’s a little difficult to sharehis optimism about qualifying for the knockout stage. PSV may have been better against Bayer than they were during their shocking loss at home to USG, but their fixture list is tremendously tough. The Dutch champions may have reached the last 16 last season but there’s now a distinct possibility that they won’t win a game this season, after losing so many important players during the summer.
Just two rounds into the league phase and Copenhagen are already in trouble. A draw at home to Bayer Leverkusen was hardly a disaster but it was undeniably a missed opportunity for the Danes, who were 2-1 up as the game entered injury time, and it ramped up the pressure on FCK going into their crucial matchday-two meeting with Qarabag. It was essentially a must-win game for Jacob Neestrup’s men but they lost it badly, slumping to a 2-0 defeat after a dreadfully toothless display. Consequently, Copenhagen simply have to defeat Borussia Dortmund at Parken next time to put themselves back in contention for a play-off place.
After the intoxicating high of upsetting PSV in Eindhoven on their Champions League debut, USG were brought crashing down to earth by Newcastle on matchday two. The Belgians didn’t play terribly at Lotto Park. They had more shots than their visitors, and just as many on target, but they let themselves down defensively and gave away two penalties on the night. So, unless Sebastien Pocognoli shores up the defence, USG are going to struggle to pick any points from their remaining games, given they still have to face the likes of Inter, Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich.
Kasper Hjulmand has made a solid start to his Bayer Leverkusen tenure, with his team undefeated in five games in all competitions – thus justifying the decision to bring Erik ten Hag’s reign to an incredibly premature end. However, Leverkusen need to start winning games in the Champions League because a second consecutive draw against a team they were meant to beat, PSV on this occasion, means their hopes of reaching the knockout stage are already hanging by a thread. Still, they’d definitely accept another draw in their next outing – against PSG!
A second consecutive 2-2 draw for Bodo/Glimt but the matches produced wildly contrasting emotions. The Norwegian newcomers were ecstatic after coming from two down with just 12 minutes to go to snatch a point away to Slavia Prague, whereas they were left heartbroken by Jostein Gundersen’s 89th-minute own goal against Spurs, with coach Kjetil Knutsen admitting that his team had paid the price for failing to kill a game that they were leading 2-0 at the midway point of the second half. Still, the players have rightly taken a huge amount of encouragement out of their performance against a Premier League team and while the odds remain stacked against them in terms of qualifying for the knockout stage, they should at least travel to Turkey for their next game against Galatasaray cautiously optimistic of springing a surprise.
Rui Borges insisted Sporting CP were “proud, not disappointed” after Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to Napoli at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, with the coach pointing out that the genius of Kevin De Bruyne was the only real difference between the two teams. There were certainly plenty of positives for the Portuguese to take out of the performance but the fact of the matter is that the Lisbon outfit can ill-afford to drop points when they are there for the taking. Sporting’s matchday-three meeting with Marseille is already looking like a campaign-defining game for the champions of Portugal.
What on earth are we meant to make of Eintracht Frankfurt! The Germans kicked off their campaign with a sensational 5-1 rout of a much-fancied Galatasary side. However, on Tuesday night, they lost by the same stunning scoreline to Atletico Madrid. On the plus side, Jonathan Burkardt scored again but the striker’s goal was the only positive on a chastening night for Frankfurt at the Metropolitano. Indeed, they were arguably lucky to only lose by four goals, given the insipid nature of their display. All of a sudden, then, things are looking a little bleak for Frankfurt, who play Liverpool, Napoli, Atalanta and Barcelona in their next four games.
A final scoreline of 4-1 was a little harsh on Athletic Club, who were forced to commit men forward during the final stages of their second-half fightback against Borussia Dortmund. However, there can be no denying that the better side won – or that the Basques are in a bit of bother.Ernesto Valverde freely admits that the onus is now very much on him to “find answers” to his team’s problems– and preferably before they face surprise package Qarabag on matchday three. If Athletic don’t beat the Azerbaijani outfit at San Mames, they’ll be at real risk of an early elimination.
It was only going so well for Club Brugge. Having stunned Monaco on matchday one, the Belgians were on course to make it two wins from two games thanks to Christos Tzolis’ sweet strike against Atalanta. However, a rush of blood to the head from Nordin Jackers resulted in a penalty that completely changed the course of the game at the New Balance Arena and the visitors ended up coming out on the wrong side of a 2-1 scoreline after conceding twice in the final 16 minutes. With Brugge unlikely to get anything out of their upcoming clashes with Bayern Munich and Barca, the matchday-five trip to Lisbon to take on Sporting CP is already looking like a potential decisive game for Nicky Hayen’s men.
Monaco boss Adi Hutter was rightly thrilledwith his team’s performance in their 2-2 draw with Monaco – particularly as they were missing several players through injury. Monaco rode their luck at times and needed a late penalty from Eric Dier (of all people!) to claim a precious point but this was a stirring show of fighting spirit from a team upset by USG on matchday one. Consequently, Monaco can approach their next game, at home to Tottenham, with a lot more belief. The subsequent clashes with Bodo/Glimt and Pafos, though, will likely decide whether they realise their stated objective: a top-24 finish.
Winning even just one game looked like a tall order for a team that finished bottom of last season’s Europa League table. However, Qarabag already have six points on the board after just two rounds of action. Their come-from-behind victory over Benfica in Lisbon was obviously one of the biggest shocks of matchday one, making their follow-up win over Copenhagen far less surprising. But the scale of Qarabag’s achievement really shouldn’t be downplayed. The Azerbaijanis aren’t a 10-men-behind-the-ball team either. They play good football, attack as much as they can and in Leandro Andrade and Abdellah Zoubir have some talented players. We’ll be honest: we gave Qarabag no chance of making the play-offs before the tournament began and it remains highly unlikely – but if they were to get something from their next game, away to Athletic Club, we’d have to revise that opinion!
Galatasaray’s infamous fans brought the noise even before Tuesday’s clash with Liverpool, with several supporters letting off fireworks outside the Reds’ hotel the night before the game in Istanbul, and, to the immense credit of Okan Buruk’s players, they produced a performance at RAMS Park worthy of such a raucous atmosphere. It may not have been pretty but the fit-again Victor Osimhen, who scored the game’s only goal from the penalty spot, was a constant threat and Gala’s backline was brilliant. It was all a far cry from the criticism which followed the abysmal 5-1 loss at Eintracht Frankfurt on matchday one and, looking at Gala’s next few games, against Bodo/Glimt, Ajax, USG and Monaco, they might actually be in without a shot of qualifying directly for the last 16, by the time they run into the likes of Atletico Madrid and Manchester City.
Villarreal left it late against Juventus, with Renato Veiga’s headed equaliser only arriving in the final minute of normal time. However, the Yellow Submarine were good value for their 2-2 draw. Indeed, Dani Parejo felt that they should have actually won the game, while coach Marcelino said his players have proven against Spurs and Juve that “they can compete with anyone”. Certainly, if Villarreal were to even claim another draw from their next game, against Manchester City, they’d approach their remaining five games – four of which are definitely winnable – with real optimism.
Ivan Juric was absolutely ecstatic after Atalanta’s win over Club Brugge – and one can totally understand why. The Croatian coach has big shoes to fill in Bergamo, after the departure of club legend Gian Piero Gasperini for Roma, and La Dea have taken a little while to get going this season. Truth be told, they weren’t great on Tuesday evening either and had they not been gifted a penalty by their Belgian opponents, they might well have slumped to a second successive Champions League loss. As it was, Lazar Samardzic stuck away the spot-kick before Mario Pasalic nodded in a late winner to kickstart Atalanta’s campaign. If they follow up this come-from-behind win with another victory at home to Slavia Prague next time out, the 2024 Europa League winners will be feeling optimistic about their chances of reaching the knockout round.
We thought that Marseille would be one of the teams to watch in this season’s Champions League and they’re already showing why. After an unlucky 2-1 loss at Real Madrid in their opening game, during which they failed to make the most of their numerical advantage, Roberto De Zerbi’s risk-taking team routed Ajax 4-0 at a typically raucous Velodrome on Tuesday. Marseille’s first-half performance was particularly impressive – and not just from an offensive perspective. As De Zerbi said, their pressing and overall work-rate were both outstanding. However, it’s already clear that forwards Igor Paixao, Mason Greenwood and the evergreen Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are going to be a problem for opponents – and might just put OM in a position to challenge for a top-16 finish.
Newcastle beating USG hardly constituted a shock – but the manner of the victory certainly came as a welcome surprise for the club’s fans. The Magpies have struggled to score goals this season’s Champions League, so for them to hit four in Belgium was remarkable. The scoreline perhaps flattered Eddie Howe’s team a tad but they defended well throughout and were clinical in attack, with Anthony Elanga particularly impressive. Granted, the remainder of Newcastle’s games are highly unlikely to be quite so straightforward but they will doubtless take a huge amount of confidence out of the club’s biggest-ever win in the Champions League proper.
After a winning start to their Serie A campaign, Juventus have now drawn their last four games in all competitions. Obviously, the 4-4 thriller in Turin with Borussia Dortmund was one point gained, given the Bianconeri were trailing by two goals in injury time. However, the 2-2 draw with Villarreal at El Madrigal was very much a case of two points dropped, as Juve were one up with just seconds of normal time remaining. “The team gave everything they had,” coach Igor Tudor acknowledged, “but we know we shouldn’t have conceded the equaliser. We are a team with strengths and weaknesses.” So, who knows what to expect from Juve in their next match, away to Real Madrid?!
The one thing we can definitely say about Borussia Dortmund is that they don’t lack a cutting edge – and we’re not just talking about Serhou Guirassy here. The striker has only scored one of the eight goals BVB have racked up in their two games so far. Admittedly, things got a little nervier in the second half of their 4-1 win over Athletic Club than they should have done but, unlike against Juventus on matchday one, Dortmund didn’t throw away two points. As a result, Niko Kovac’s men will be in a decent position if they next go to Denmark and beat Copenhagen – particularly as they still have home games to come against Villarreal and Bodo/Glimt.
Tottenham have not played particularly well during their first two games. They were lucky to eke out a 1-0 win over Villarreal on matchday one and needed a late own goal to claim an undeserved draw at Bodo-Glimt on Tuesday. However, manager Thomas Frank is right when he says that four points from a possible six represents a “fine start” for Spurs on their return to the Champions League. As the Dane proudly pointed out, there’s nothing wrong with his side’s mentality, as they proved by coming from 2-0 down in Norway, and if they can get something in Monaco before beating Copenhagen in north London, Tottenham will be sitting pretty at the halfway point of the league phase.
It’s all change at Atletico Madrid! Diego Simeone was coming under intense pressure after the Rojiblancos’ worst-ever start to a Liga season under the Argentine but they scraped a late win over Rayo Vallecano last week, routed Real Madrid in the derby on Saturday afternoon and then hammered Eintracht Frankfurt on Tuesday night. Star striker Julian Alvarez has obviously been key to Atleti’s revival but what will really please Simeone is that other players are also chipping in with goals, including a seemingly and suddenly revitalised Antoine Griezmann. Atleti’s fixture list remains far from straightforward but one imagines that they’ll now be looking forward to putting it up to Arsenal on matchday three.
On Sunday evening, Antonio Conte was warning Kevin De Bruyne not to cross him, after the Belgian expressed his frustration at being subbed in Napoli’s disappointing Serie A loss at AC Milan. Three days later, the combustible coach was singing the veteran playmaker’s praises, after De Bruyne created both of Rasmus Hojlund’s goals in the crucial 2-1 win over Sporting CP. Napoli certainly aren’t firing on all cylinders just yet, while Conte’s record in the Champions League is surprisingly poor, but a rather soft set of fixtures offers the Italian titleholders an opportunity to target automatic qualification for the last 16.
Chelsea proved by beating Benfica that they can win games without Cole Palmer but that was probably the only truly impressive aspect of their 1-0 victory at Stamford Bridge. The Blues are simply not the same side without their talismanic No.10, which is shocking, really, when one considers just how much money they’ve spent over the past few years. Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo in midfield are both excellent, but a lot of their forwards look average, while the centre of defence is weak. Losing yet another player to a red card against Benfica (Joao Pedro) suggests that they’ve also got a problem with discipline – not that it will stop them qualifying for the knockout stage, of course.
Erling Haaland was not a happy man on Wednesday evening. The Norwegian No.9 had maintained his outstanding start to the new season by netting twice against Monaco but Manchester City had failed to take home all three points and Haaland described his side’s performance in their 2-2 draw at the Stade Louis II as “not good enough”. He had a point, too. City created more than enough chances to have won the game but nobody else in attack was as clinical as Haaland (and not for the first time this season), while the back-line remains disturbingly brittle. Bottom line: Pep Guardiola has a lot of work to do. City 2.0 have yet to fully convince.
As expected, Inter picked up a routine win over Slavia Prague at San Siro on Tuesday night, with captain Lautaro Martinez netting twice in his team’s 3-0 victory and strike partner Marcus Thuram picking up his second successive man of the match award. With their next two games against Union SG and Kairat, the Nerazzurri might well have guaranteed themselves at least a play-off place by the midway point of their league-phase campaign – at which point their calendar gets a whole lot tougher. Still, after back-to-back Serie A losses last month, new coach Christian Chivu has done a good job steadying the ship with four wins in a row in all competitions. Inter might not be as strong as they were under Simone Inzaghi (not yet, at least) but they’re likely to remain awkward opposition.
Arne Slot was given some very expensive new signings over the summer and Liverpool made a flawless start to the season. However, all of the late winners they scored papered over the cracks in the Reds’ revamped side, which were first exposed by Crystal Palace on Saturday, and then again against Galatasaray on Tuesday night. Liverpool will, of course, come good. They’ve got far too many quality players to continue producing such disjointed displays and let’s not forget that the ridiculously forgiving nature of the new Champions League format means they won’t be remotely at risk of suffering an embarrassingly early elimination. Still, a positive response is required in Frankfurt next time out.
Where would Real Madrid be without Kylian Mbappe? As far as the fans are concerned, it doesn’t bear thinking about. Of course, Xabi Alonso would have had sufficient star quality at his disposal to see off Kairat even if he’d been shorn of the services of his talisman – but they only cruised to victory in Kazakhstan because of Mbappe, who hit a hat-trick to take his tournament tally to five goals in two games, before Eduardo Camavinga and Brahim Diaz netted in the dying minutes. Fair to say, then, that we’ll only find out how much work Alonso has to do at the Santiago Bernabeu after they face Juventus and Liverpool in their next two Champions League games.
Barcelona were presented with a glorious chance to make a statement against an under-strength PSG on Wednesday evening. They didn’t take it – and that was in spite of the fact that they deservedly went 1-0 up on a side missing its captain, entire first-choice forward line and a key midfielder. Losing at home to the defending champions is obviously not a disaster, particularly at this stage of the ludicrously elongated league phase, but the 2-1 loss to PSG will have left Hansi Flick with plenty of food for thought because of the way in which his side lost complete control of the game after half an hour of play at Montjuic. As the German said, Barca are not yet on the champions’ level.
There’s just no stopping Harry Kane at the moment. The England international was deployed as a No.10 against Pafos and still scored twice, taking his tally in all competitions this season to a ridiculous 17 goals in just nine appearances. From Vincent Kompany’s perspective, though, the most pleasing aspect of the 5-1 win in Cyprus was the performance of Nicolas Jackson, who scored one goal and set up another as he looks to recover his match sharpness. All things considered, Bayern are in rude health right now, and we can’t wait to see them in action against PSG and Arsenal in November to see just how good they really are.
Arsenal were by no means brilliant against Olympiacos. There were times during a nervy second half when it felt like they might be punished for their profligacy. However, Arsenal still ended up keeping yet another clean sheet in a second consecutive 2-0 win in the Champions League. Much tougher tests lie in wait but the Gunners have made a very professional start to their European campaign and it would be a huge surprise if they don’t cruise directly into the last 16 – especially as captain Martin Odegaard is showing signs of a long-awaited return to form.n
PSG have made an ominously impressive start to the defence of their Champions League title. After taking Atalanta to the cleaners in their opener at the Parc des Princes, Luis Enrique took his team to Barcelona and managed to beat the Blaugrana without Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Marquinhos and Joao Neves. Their magnificent midfielder Vitinha and fantastic full-backs Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes unsurprisingly played pivotal roles but the real revelations were youngsters Senny Mayulu and Ibrahim Mbaye – two teenagers that suggested PSG’s squad is even stronger than we thought, which does not bode well at all for the pretenders to their throne.
