Champions League Takeaway: An Old-School Real Comeback, Liverpool and Villa Hit Six, PSG's Perfect 45, Betis Rising & Everything Else

Hello Rank Squad!Champions League Takeaway returns for Matchweek Two of this season's League Stage, and if Tuesday was fun, Wednesday was an absolute madhouse. We open up by talking about Real Madrid's 4-3 win over Roma, from being 3-1 down with 15 to play, and not having played particularly well for much of it. A tale as old as time, but one that threw up plenty of food for thought.  From there it's onto Liverpool, who scored six against LASK - including a hat-trick from Bradley Barcola - but left something to be desired defensively. Plenty of positives, but much to discuss as well in terms of where Andoni Iraola's are and what they need to do going forward. In Part Two we discuss PSG's incredible first half as they dismantled Manchester City at the Etihad - going 3-0 up before the break in their most complete performance of the season. City did rally in the second half, but it was nowhere near enough - their midfield balance needs addressing if they're to go far in this competition, and yet it was PSG's performance that took the plaudits on their best night in a while. We also discuss Feyenoord's 3-2 win over Como, in a result that may raise some eyebrows, but probably shouldn't - this is a very exciting Feyenoord side in an electric atmosphere at De Kuip.As ever in Part Three we round things up with everything else, which leads on the chaotic game between Real Betis and Porto in Seville which gave us a bit of everything as the hosts won 3-2, Aston Villa's comprehensive 6-0 win over Fenerbahce which saw their new boys really starting to click, Stuttgart winning on the road at Slovan Bratislava, Shakhtar's 3-1 win from behind against AEK Athens at their temporary home of Stamford Bridge, and Bodø/Glimt going back to being giant-slayers as they beat a disappointing Borussia Dortmund in the Arctic Circle. It's Ranks! And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad! Champions League Takeaway returns for Matchweek Two of this season's League Stage, and we returned to plenty of chaos and action across all nine games on Tuesday. We open up by talking about Manchester United's 2-0 loss to Atletico Madrid and how predictable it felt that United performed in the manner that they did - Michael Carrick's seat looks hotter and hotter by the game at the moment. From there it's on to a less predictable story, because in Stavanger in Norway, Viking welcomed one of the pre-tournament favourites in Bayern and played out a very entertaining 3-3 draw in one of the bigger turn ups for the books so far - whilst Michael Olise made a Melon of the Week case. In Part Two we discuss Arsenal's ability to control games and turn up the pressure when they need to - something that was very evident in a 3-0 win over Lille with three second-half goals; as well as Barcelona's come-from-behind 4-1 win at Galatasaray, where they rode a touch of luck and pressed it home with a multitude of class. Lamine Yamal is doing some absolutely extraordinary things with a football right now. As ever in Part Three we round things up with everything else, which leads on the chaotic game at San Siro where Club Brugge beat Inter 4-3 thanks to a hat-trick from boyhood Milan fan Nicolas Tresoldi - narrative always rides on the wind. We also discuss Sporting's win at Lens, Villarreal finding some form with a 3-1 win over Napoli, Sabah's first ever Champions League win, and Brajan Gruda's screamer as Leipzig beat PSV 1-0. It's Ranks!  And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!After the thrills and spills of the international break, and after plenty of fun and excitement both on and off the pitch, top flight club football returns with a vengeance this weekend, and today we're taking a look at what we have to look forward to from players, fixtures and storylines that will define these next few weeks. Dean starts us off by picking out a few players who have underwhelmed somewhat in the opening weeks of the season, who might just be able to use this international break as a springboard to kickstart their club form into gear - we take a look at Viktor Gyökeres, Florian Wirtz, Sandro Tonali, Levi Colwill and Wesley Fofana in particular. Then, in Part Two, Dean talks us through two of the biggest matchups in the Premier League this weekend - for very different reasons. We dive into the off-pitch chaos that might engulf the battle at Anfield between Liverpool and Manchester City, off the back of the City verdict handed down during the last two weeks or so; but we also discuss a crucial clash between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, in a game, we are reliably informed, that is being called the 'L' Clasico on social media. Finally, in Part Three, Jack picks out three questions from the continent which need answering in this next chunk of the season - we discuss the scale of the task on Jose Mourinho's hands at Real Madrid, whether title races are sustainable in France and Germany - where Monaco and Borussia Dortmund lead the way, ahead of PSG and Bayern respectively - and if Roma's excellent start is a mere flash in the pan or a prelude to them competing for what would be their first Scudetto in a quarter of a century.  It's Ranks!  And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad! In all truth, this isn't really an episode we wanted to be doing this week - we love talking about the beautiful game, and seeing the best players in the world do what they do best, and neither of us is going to sit here and pretend to be an expert in football litigation and financial matters, although Jack will always do the reading. But after Manchester City were found guilty by the Premier League's independent commission of 114 of the 115 charges levelled against them, it felt wrong to really do anything else. This is perhaps the most seismic piece of football news that we've seen in many a long year. We've tried to do it the Ranks way - looking at the big questions that follow such a landmark decision. What happens next in the process? How do the appeal mechanisms work? What could the punishment feasibly be based on other cases? Is this financial system actually fit for purpose? Could there be a mass exodus? What is the institutional damage to the Premier League's reputation? And what the hell happens when City walk out at Anfield for that first game back?We've tried to work through it all as best we can, and deal with an incredibly complex situation with the seriousness it deserves, whilst attempting not to bore you to death with litigation jargon - fingers crossed! It's (sorta) Ranks! And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!It's the beginning of the first ever three week international break in the middle of a season, so it felt like a good time to give you the down low on what you should be watching as we turn over the first page in the new international chapter after the summer's World Cup. We talk through some of the biggest storylines, including the USMNT's youth injection, France and Germany's new starts under Zinedine Zidane and Jürgen Klopp respectively, Roberto Mancini's return to the Italian National Team, Lionel Messi's farewell game with Argentina, England starting over with Tuchel, and the start of AFCON 2027 qualification for good measure. Jack also has a list of games for you to keep an eye on in Part Three; and before all that, in the opening gambit, there's the return of Things We Love where we discuss Hull City's start, the Premier League's parity, goals in all the Serie A games, Roma's hot start, and Barcelona's fluid, flowing, fun attack. It's Ranks!  And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!There's a lot of negativity being thrown around at the moment in the football space (and much of it justifiably so), but today we thought we'd try and flip that narrative a little bit by picking out our star performers from across the season so far, and bring a little positive energy to the sphere whilst we're doing so. We pick out five of the best from the Premier League and the European continent in Parts One and Two (with some honourable mentions for good measure), and whilst we're very much aware that everybody's subjective lists will be different - as the two of ours would be - we hope that we've made good cases for the players we've picked out as lighting up the beautiful game in what we've seen so far. Then, in Part Three, Jack walks us through a couple of other names who maybe haven't quite made it as far onto the mainstream radar as the bigger names selected in the first two segments, and who might not keep this up for an entire season, but are worth keeping an eye on nonetheless - because they've had their own phenomenal starts to the new campaign, and might be ones we're talking about when it comes to next summer or beyond. It's Ranks!  And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad! Three days of Champions League action are now all wrapped up, and what an night we had on Thursday to pull it to a close for around a month - consider the appetite firmly whetted! We start at Old Trafford, where Manchester United were expected to beat newcomers Sabah pretty comfortably, and they did - scoring four without reply to give themselves a much needed confidence booster and get some minutes into the legs of some squad players too. Over in Italy, on the shores of the lake, Como were making their European debut and they did so in style, beating Leipzig 4-1 in front of a manic crowd, and playing some glorious football whilst they did so - Cesc Fabregas' young team were absolutely exceptional, and once Martin Baturina set them on their way, they looked very comfortable under the brightest of lights. In Part Two, we take a look at the rest of the action - Bayern sticking five past last year's fairytale club, Bodø/Glimt, but only once goalkeeper Nikita Haikin picked up an unfortunate injury just before half time; Slavia Prague and Lens playing out one of the most madcap games you'll see all year, with the French visitors stealing all three points at the death in a crazy 3-2; Fenerbahce and Roma sharing the spoils in Istanbul, and then the Fener manager quitting in his post-match press conference; and Sergiño Dest at the heart of all the drama as PSV and Shakhtar drew 1-1 in Eindhoven. And breathe...It's Ranks!  And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad! It's time for your second helping of Champions League Takeaway this week, in what will be a three course meal. Wednesday's action brought a heap of storylines for us to dig into, starting in Part One with Andoni Iraola's first ever Champions League game as a manager, which his Liverpool side turned around to win 2-1 at Anfield over Atletico Madrid. We also take a look at a red-hot Barcelona, who scored five goals for the fourth time this season already (they've played five games), and where Raphinha continued to state his case as the No 9 that they needed all along - the Brazilian is absolutely on fire right now. Then in Part Two we look at the other four games, starting with Arsenal's impressive win at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, where Martin Ødegaard scored his FOURTH goal of the season already to down Max Allegri's Napoli, in a game where Arsenal should and perhaps should have been out of sight long before. We touch on reigning Champions PSG, who torched Yaya Toure's Slovan Bratislava 6-1 and discuss how final form Ferran might be a problem under Luis Enrique, as well as examining Sporting's 3-1 win over Galatasaray which left both sides with some questions to answer, and Ermedin Demirovic's hat-trick which saw Stuttgart over the line against newcomers Viking and gave Sebi Hoeneß some selection dilemmas to think about. It's Ranks!  And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad! It's the return of Champions League Takeaway for a new season - your midnight feast of all the action from the Champions League. As the competition returned, we were treated to a classic at the Bernabeu, with Jose Mourinho playing host to the side with which he won the tournament in this very stadium, and then beat them 2-1 in a classic encounter between Real Madrid and Inter. Manchester City's impressive form continued with a 2-0 win away at Porto, who looked like tricky opposition on paper and proved it on pitch, whilst Aston Villa got their first goal and win of the season in any competition as they beat Club Brugge 3-2, in a topsy turvy encounter that was a heap of fun to watch. For the second time in the space of five days, Troy Parrott was Real Betis' hero, scoring the winner as Los Verdiblancos announced their return to this competition with a victory over Lille, in another great game that was somewhat spoiled by the sending off of Ethan Mbappé for the hosts; Borussia Dortmund just about shaded an all-yellow encounter with Villarreal which saw Serhou Guirassy notch a brace and join some pretty illustrious company; and AEK Athens beat LASK 1-0 thanks to an absolutely gorgeous free-kick from Răzvan Marin. Two more of these to come this week gang as we analyse all the action from the return of the big one, so we'll see you again tomorrow! It's Ranks!  And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!  After a very chaotic Deadline Day, we thought it was for the best that we discussed all of the biggest stories to come out of the window before it slammed shut. We start with Manchester City's deal for Enzo Fernandez, which equals the British Transfer Record set by Alexander Isak, and also makes Enzo the first player ever to have two separate £100m+ transfers in their career. We discuss too the deal that City struck to bring Iliman Ndiaye to the Etihad, as well as how Chelsea tried to replace Enzo - before the Lamine Camara deal fell through, something we get to later in the episode.  Following that, we talk through Spurs' deadline deals for Mykhailo Mudryk and Tosin Adarabioyo from Chelsea and whether they are risks that are worth taking, as well as Matias Fernandez-Pardo's transfer from Lille to Newcastle United which seems like it fits exactly what Matthias Jaissle is trying to do at St. James' Park. In Part Two, we discuss why Liverpool fans should be excited about the addition of Bradley Barcola from PSG, even at a big fee; as well as Villa's own young addition from Paris in the shape of Ibrahim Mbaye; before chatting through Gabriel Jesus' switch from Arsenal to Barcelona, the saga involving Flo Balogun and the move to Everton, Chelsea 'signing' Honest Ahanor before he went off to Crystal Palace on loan, and the tug-of-war between Sunderland and Crystal Palace for the services of Malik Fofana. And finally, Jack walks us through a few of the more interesting moves across the rest of Europe in Part Three, looking at Ethan Nwaneri's move to Borussia Dortmund, Fiorentina signing Pedro Gonçalves from Sporting on loan, Harvey Elliott joining Valencia (and it's knock on effects), Guela Doue signing for Bayer Leverkusen for a big fee, and Lille's Bouaddi replacement in Maurits Kjaergaard.  It's Ranks!  And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.