playGab MarcottiCloseGab MarcottiSenior Writer, ESPN FCGabriele Marcotti is a senior soccer writer for ESPN.com. Read his archive here and follow him on Twitter: @Marcotti., Sam Marsden, Tom HamiltonCloseTom HamiltonSenior Writer• Joined ESPN in 2011 • Covered two Olympics, a pair of Rugby World Cups and two British & Irish Lions tours • Previously rugby editor, and became senior writer in 2018Multiple AuthorsOct 14, 2026, 08:30 PM ETOpen Extended ReactionsThe UEFA Champions League returned with a big Matchday 2 this week, with blockbuster results up and down the league phase table and a whopping 78 goals across the 18 games: an average of 4.33 per game. Liverpool and Aston Villa scooped up big wins, Manchester City were humbled at home by Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and Real Madrid overturned road deficits to win in fine/dramatic fashion, and Bayern Munich scrambled to a 3-3 draw at minnows Viking in one of the wilder results of the round.What to make of it all? ESPN FC writers Gab Marcotti, Sam Marsden and Tom Hamilton are here to break down the action.- Reaction: Man City can’t compete with PSG, Europe’s gold standard – Kirkland: Real Madrid fight back, but a trophy seems far from reach – Ogden: Blame for Man United malaise shouldn’t fall on CarrickQ1.
Manchester United conceded in the first minute at Atletico Madrid and it didn’t get any better from there, with the 2-0 defeat followed by something even worse: a player (Lisandro Martínez) calling out executives (in this case, Jason Wilcox) for their shoddy work in the summer. The club is a mess from top to bottom, and manager Michael Carrick is surely feeling the heat. Can he coach them through this, or is the club’s best hope yet another early-season reset?Tom Hamilton: It all depends how reactionary the executives are, and how sure they are in themselves and the plan they’ve put forward. The club has an astonishing ability of making poor decisions — both on the field and off it — but given they backed Michael Carrick with a two-year contract in May, unless they have a ready-made replacement lined up (Kieran McKenna, Eddie Howe, Antonio Conte or Julian Nagelsmann perhaps) there’s little point changing the management.
As Martinez said (though the players cannot remotely be absolved of blame here), the recruitment left the club short-changed: where’s the left-back cover? Where’s a 20-goal-a-season striker? Of the players they’ve signed, only Carlos Baleba looks like an improvement on what they had last season.That said, unless there’s improvement sooner rather than later, when the heat is on those in the corridors of power, to quote Logan Roy, often they decide it’s “time for a blood sacrifice.” If they pull this lever, the identity of the fall guy will be fascinating.Martinez’s rant could have a galvanising effect on the team and if that happens, then morale and results will improve. But if the team continue to underwhelm on the pitch — and let’s face it, their fixture list so far has been relatively kind — then expect some kind of reckoning.play2:31Was Martinez’s Man United statement ‘premeditated’?Gab Marcotti: Lisandro Martinez is part of the problem (note the way he defended Dominic Solanke at the weekend), but his words could be part of the solution.
Many are reading it as simply him being unhappy with the signings in the summer and making it all about Wilcox. But it goes beyond that.There’s a sense of drift at United, and that really shouldn’t be the case given the manager has been in charge for less than a year. So all we get is Carrick talking, and he’s not the most inspiring figure. All he says — rightly, from his perspective — is how they finished last season strong and they want to build on it and it will take time.
And while it’s true they finished third, they didn’t play particularly well, and a lot of it had to do with the Premier League’s other big clubs changing managers. (It’s not a coincidence that Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea all have new guys in charge.)That message only takes you so far. Somebody needs to speak up (other than Carrick) and offer some accountability.Why did they make the choices they made? What are their plans? What is the long-term thinking?
And maybe get that across to the players too. Maybe it’s Wilcox talking, maybe it’s CEO Omar Berrada, maybe somebody else. But right now, the only message United fans (and players) are getting is from Carrick (dull and repetitive, but not really his fault) and from the pitch (bad).Sam Marsden: United are in the same spiral they have been in for a decade. From the outside looking in, they’re already damned if they do, damned if they don’t this season because the squad is so far behind Europe’s elite.
Sticking with Carrick or sacking him is not going to change that any time soon. If I could explain in 100 words how they get back on track immediately, I would probably be wanted by the biggest clubs on the continent, but one thing remains as clear as ever: the problem starts at the top (ownership, director of football etc) and not with the coach or the players.Q2. Barcelona rallied from a losing position to yet again romp to a big win, this time over Galatasaray, 4-1 away from home. We’re worried about Lamine Yamal — 13 starts for club and country in the last seven weeks makes us worry he’s going to burn out before the business end of the season — but more than that, Barca are still averaging over four goals per game this long into the 2026-27 campaign.
Are they ever going to slow down? Can anyone slow them down?Hamilton: Not yet. Even when they went behind in the cauldron of the Ali Sami Yen Stadium, they barely blinked. Lamine Yamal could well end up being crowned the world’s best player at the end of October when the Ballon d’Or winner is announced, but his form seems to be building game on game.
His two assists were just spellbinding: the first a beautifully weighted cross to find Fermín López and then came a befuddling piece of skill as he danced past Eren Elmali to tee up Anthony Gordon. It’s clicking nicely. “We played against players who know each other by heart,” Galatasaray manager Okan Buruk said afterwards. “They are like a complete machine.”play1:31Flick praises Yamal after Barcelona’s comeback win vs.
GalatasarayThere are longer-term concerns around the workload. FIFPRO’s briefing before the World Cup was alarming to say the least: players are at a greater risk of burnout than ever before, so Yamal’s minutes need to be managed. This is, in theory, where the strength of their squad and Hansi Flick’s juggling skills will be managed.Barca are in their rhythm now, but the next five or so weeks will tell us a huge amount. They have Real Betis away on Saturday, then a trip to PSG next Tuesday before El Clasico and Real Madrid on Oct. 25.
Aston Villa and Atletico are also waiting in November.Marsden: I wouldn’t expect much rest for Yamal soon. It’s already clear the rules are different for him. He was the only Spain player to start all four games in the international break, and he continues to be overused by Barcelona.Getafe last weekend would have been the perfect game to rest him ahead of the run Barça have coming up. He could at least have come off once Barça scored their fourth in Istanbul.
Instead, you presume because he had not scored in either game, Flick left him on.Perhaps the German coach didn’t want to tinker with the attack too much after being left without the injured Raphinha, but his claim about more minutes being better for Yamal when training between games is not so intense doesn’t seem to apply to any other squad member. That said, maybe he just leaves him on because he’s so fun to watch.Like Tom said, that assist for Gordon’s goal — admittedly with a bit of luck — was beautiful. If he’s not the best player in the game right now, he’s definitely the most fun. As for Barça, 43 goals in 10 games is a joke and they look superb, but let’s hold off on anointing them th
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