With a long layoff between the first two Champions League matchdays, we're beginning to see some cracks in our contenders, with Bayern Munich and Manchester City both dropping points. Real Madrid rode a roller coaster past Roma, and a new tier is separating itself as Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona, and Arsenal have been a step ahead of everyone to kick off the league phase. Manchester United have gone back to being a crisis club thanks to Leny Yoro being sent off in their loss to Atletico Madrid, and it's gotten worse with Lisandro Martinez calling out the front office of the club following the match. It's warranted criticism, as the squad's return to Champions League play should be better than what we've seen, but they aren't alone in big sides struggling.
Meanwhile, Club Brugge, Bodo/Glimt, and Sporting CP should be shedding their dark horse statuses in this tournament. Sure, they may not come from leagues that regularly win this competition, but they've been able to give any team in the world fits when they show up to play, as the league phase has presented more opportunities for clubs like them to progress deeper into the competition.
It was a rough day for Italian sides as all three lost their matches on Matchday 2, but in this week's edition of the rankings, let's see who joined them in falling and who rose up the rankings.
Biggest Movers
9
Club Brugge
11
AEK Athens
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | What can't they do? Barcelona are hot on their heels, but after marching into Manchester and going ahead 3-0 in the first half, PSG are still the team to beat. | -- | 2-0 |
| 2 |  | I'm convinced that Barcelona are conceding the first goal for fun to make the game more interesting for themselves. When Lamine Yamal can defy physics while dribbling, what can you do to stop them? | -- | 2-0 |
| 3 |  | Easing into the first half before blowing away the opposition in the second half, it's clockwork for Arsenal. It's easy to take it for granted how easily they dispatch teams in their path. | -- | 2-0 |
| 4 |  | Pure box office. On Jose Mourinho's return to Roma, he was honored and then spotted them a few goals before Real Madrid pulled off an epic comeback. This is a flawed team, but flawed Real Madrid sides usually win this competition. | 2 | 6-2 |
| 5 |  | Did Bradley Barcola finally arrive with his hat trick in Austria? Only time will tell but Liverpool needed this victory where they hung a crooked number. | 2 | 2-0 |
| 6 |  | Luis Suarez is now the club's all time leading goal scorer in UCL play and for good reason. They haven't missed a beat since he took over and could go on quite a run. | 3 | 2-0 |
| 7 |  | It seemed like Bayern would get away with a poor performance if not for a moment of madness where Michael Olise threw the ball in the face of a defender to get sent off. Vincent Kompany will want to clean that up, but there are cracks in this defense. | 2 | 1-0 |
| 8 |  | The us against the world mentality can only go so far for City, as when they couldn't hold possession facing PSG, Enzo Maresca's system crumbled. Is this the start of a trend? | 4 | 1-1 |
| 9 |  | This team is just never out of a game. Betis used all their attackers to keep Porto at bay and are off to a flying start from it. | 5 | 2-0 |
| 10 |  | Atleti let United be the makers of their own downfall, and that shows growth from the club. That's also easier to do scoring within the first minute of the game. | 3 | 1-1 |
| 11 |  | Away from home, Stuttgart maintain their perfect start. There will be harder matches than Slovan Bratislava away, but six points from two matches makes those easier to manage. | -- | 2-0 |
| 12 |  | The birthday boy, Johan Manzambi, opened the scoring, and Villa hung six on Fenerbahce. They still gave up too many chances defensively, but the attack has found their feet. | 3 | 2-0 |
| 13 |  | Nico Paz can do a lot of things, but he has struggled as a striker for the club, and it showed in the loss to Feyenoord. This is something Como can bounce back from, but it's going to be tough sledding. | 5 | |
| 14 |  | We know that going away to Bodo/Glimt is tough, and Dortmund couldn't create anything in their match. | 2 | 1-1 |
| 15 |  | It was not a good day to be an Italian club in UCL play. Inter attempted a comeback, but it became a story of too little too late while falling to Brugge. | 1 | |
| 16 |  | Four points from two matches is a good start for Shakhtar as they were able to lean on support from the London crowd at Stamford Bridge. | 6 | 1-0 |
| 17 |  | For as well as Roma did scoring, the defense needs to take a long look at themselves after allowing a Madrid comeback. | -- | 0-1 |
| 18 |  | Lisandro Martinez said everything you need to know. This club has issues, and they're in freefall. Already on a winless run of five matches, it is going to get worse before it gets better at United. | 8 | 1-1 |
| 19 |  | They needed a missed penalty to get the job done but it all still counts the same. | 6 | 1-1 |
| 20 |  | Nicolo Tresoldi is the name of the day, with the 22-year-old netting a hat trick. Set to be the next star to come out of the club, Brugge are right where they usually are in this competition, giving everyone else fits. | 9 | 1-1 |
| 21 |  | Winning wouldn't have been too surprising but coming back from going a goal down to score three unanswered on Napoli is impressive. | 6 | 1-1 |
| 22 |  | The goodwill from a strong opening day performance has faded. It's clear this isn't the same team who were able to push PSG last season and they now need to figure out their identity. | 3 | 2-3 |
| 23 |  | This is becoming quite a poor start for the Dutch side. You don't expect someone as experienced as Ivan Perisic to miss from the spot, and they never recovered. | 3 | 0-1 |
| 24 |  | Maybe when Ismail Kartal said he was quitting at the end of matchday one, the club should've let him? | 6 | 0-1 |
| 25 |  | Losing to City is understandable, but Betis not so much as Porto, could find themselves out of contention for the playoff round before the month comes to an end if this continues. | 2 | |
| 26 |  | Hadj Musa has the makings of a star as he was unplayable in Feyenoord's win over Como. The Como defense doesn't allow many chances so just an impressive result. | 8 | 1-1 |
| 27 |  | Italy's very bad day continued. The Italian side need Scott McTominay back in the lineup as soon as possible. | 3 | 0-2 |
| 28 |  | Taking down Dortmund at home is exactly the kind of professional performance that you expect from Bodo/Glimt and just why they can never be counted out of a match. | 8 | |
| 29 |  | No one can actually defend Barcelona, but you do need to score more goals. | 3 | 0-2 |
| 30 |  | Getting their first Champions League win under their belts is a great moment. It's a long road to the second but you can't get two wins without getting one first. | 1 | |
| 31 |  | The roller coaster of emotions from going ahead by two goals in the first half, then falling behind to draw level late, is epic stuff. | 2 | 0-1 |
| 32 |  | Games like playing Shakhtar are games that you need to win to stay alive. | 11 | 1-1 |
| 33 |  | It's Arsenal. What are you going to do? | 5 | 0-2 |
| 34 |  | Making history in the worst way by losing to Sabah isn't what anyone would've wanted. | 4 | 0-2 |
| 35 |  | They scored three times. That's good! But ... it wouldn't matter conceding six. | 3 | 0-2 |
| 36 |  | Two games played, one goal scored and nine conceded. Thanks for coming. | 1 | 0-2 |
