Champions League talking points: Is this Arsenal's year? Which stars shone for their team?

Behold, the Chaaaaampiooooons! That sound you hear is our collective joy at the return of the UEFA Champions League, with Tuesday, Wednesday and now Thursday making up what's been a superb Matchday 1. We've had dramatic comebacks by Liverpool (against Atlético Madrid), Real Madrid (against Marseille), FK Qarabag (against Benfica) and Juventus (against Borussia Dortmund), impressive wins for Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, and upsets in the form of Union St.-Gilloise's win at PSV Eindhoven.

This is what you often get with Europe's elite club competition, and this week has provided plenty to talk about as the league phase kicks into gear.

ESPN experts Mark Ogden, Julien Laurens, Sam Tighe and Gab Marcotti offer their thoughts on Matchday 1, with more to follow after Thursday's matches, which include Newcastle United vs. Barcelona and Manchester City vs. Napoli.

Do Arsenal have the squad/talent/depth to finally win the Champions League this year?

Mark Ogden: Yes, but they're probably in the second bracket of teams capable of winning it, outside the real heavyweights -- basically the big clubs that have won it at least once before.

Arsenal have the squad, the individual players and the tactical discipline to go all the way, but I wonder if they have the belief that they can do it when the pressure is really on. There is also an issue with creativity when Martin Ødegaard is missing. Without him, everything goes out wide and Arsenal create nothing through the middle -- they need to resolve that if they are to win the competition.

Ultimately, they have the players now. They just need to go out and prove it.

Gab Marcotti: Sure, why not? They came pretty darn close last year, and spent a ton in the summer. Meanwhile, I'm not sure the other semifinalists got much better. Inter Milan and Barcelona went backwards, and we'll find out whether ditching Gianluigi Donnarumma for Lucas Chevalier in goal was as clever as Luis Enrique thought it was.

The Gunners are obviously much deeper and, in fact, Arteta literally has more than two options for each position. But that also presents a challenge. He's never been in this position before, and having emphasized chemistry and cohesion in the past, man management can be much harder when you have more choices.

- Ogden: Arsenal now possess the depth to win the Champions League
- Lindop: Isak the new star, but Salah still Liverpool's main man
- Is Mbappé quickest Real Madrid player to 50 goals? Not even close

Sam Tighe: The gut reaction to this is no, it's difficult to envision Arsenal winning the Champions League. After all, they've failed to get over the line in the Premier League in three successive seasons -- and winning this tournament is generally regarded as the "final" step.

It's easy to suggest that this team simply does not have the mettle to win club football's biggest prize, but consider the following: The Gunners made it all the way to the semifinals last season and could have conceivably reached the final, had it not been for Donnarumma's outrageous performance between the posts for PSG. They then added eight new signings to that squad, bulking up considerably in attack while retaining one of the best defenses in Europe.

Accepting that they'd still need a stroke of luck along the way, as every winner does, why couldn't this team go and do it?

Julien Laurens: The depth in their squad will make a big difference, for sure, in the Premier League and in the Champions League. But at the end of the day, Arsenal will win something if their superstars perform. Ødegaard, Bukayo Saka and William Saliba have to lead this team by playing at their best and delivering. If that happens, I still believe this team is better armed to be successful in Europe than in the league because this is a cup team. Due to their solidity defensively, they can beat anyone on their day, including the top European sides.

play

1:53

Moreno: Liverpool always believe they will score

Alejandro Moreno reacts to another late win for Liverpool after a dramatic 3-2 win vs. Atletico Madrid in the Champions League

After a big night of upsets, which outsider/minnow has the strongest chance of reaching the knockouts?

Ogden: Bodo/Glimt will be a problem for teams who'll have to travel into the Arctic Circle to face the Norwegian champions, as their run to last season's Europa League semifinals showed. But I think the outsiders with the best chance of making the knockout phase are Union St.-Gilloise. Brighton & Hove Albion chairman Tony Bloom is a driving force despite only being a minority shareholder at the club, and they won their first Belgian title for 90 years last season.

The smart management and recruitment that Bloom has overseen at Brighton is now beginning to bear fruit. Overall, Belgian club football is enjoying a resurgence -- Club Brugge made it to the round of 16 last season -- and that is largely down to several teams now being part of multi-club ownership groups and favorable visa regulations in Belgium. They are getting better players and coaches as a result, and Union's 3-1 win at PSV was a statement of that.

Marcotti: I watched nothing of Bodo/Glimt, Slavia Prague, Olympiacos, Pafos and Union St.-Gilloise before this week, so take this with a massive grain of salt. (But I watched loads of Qarabag ... just kidding, no, I did not.) It's hard to crown somebody on the basis of 90 minutes, but the fact that Qarabag went and got three points on the road to a Pot 2 side like Benfica is pretty huge. Especially when you consider that, other than whoever plays Kairat Almaty, it's the longest away trip of the competition, which means wins at home aren't out of the question.

Tighe: I'm going for Pafos. Let's get carried away, shall we?

Laurens: For me, it's Qarabag. They showed against Benfica, in Lisbon, how well they could play and how resilient they are. They have a strong collective, as well as decent individual quality from all over the world. Their manager, Qurban Qurbanov, has been in charge for 18 years and the way he outsmarted and outplayed Bruno Lage and Benfica to come back and win the game on Tuesday is a credit to his tactical abilities.

But surely their biggest asset in this Champions League is their home advantage. Teams will have to travel all the way to Baku in Azerbaijan -- or 3,000 miles and a three-hour time difference from London -- to face them. So good luck to F.C. København, Chelsea, Ajax and Eintracht Frankfurt on their travels there!

play

1:10

Leboeuf: PSG were perfect vs. Atalanta

Frank Leboeuf praises PSG's performance vs. Atalanta after an emphatic 4-0 win in the Champions League.

Best individual performance you've seen in MD1 (so far)?

Ogden: Has to be Marcos Llorente. Anyone that names his dog Anfield because of his goals record at Liverpool has to back it up whenever he goes back there, and guess what? The Atlético Madrid star bagged two more goals at Anfield while playing at right back on a night when Diego Simeone's team were so unlucky not to come away with a 2-2 draw, losing eventually to Virgil van Dijk's stoppage-time winner.

Llorente doesn't score many goals -- before last night, he had scored five Champions League goals in his career, including two at Anfield in 2019-20. Now he has seven, with more than half of them coming on Liverpool's home turf. Weird, but amazing all the same.

Marcotti: I'll go with Kenan Yildiz. I'm very tempted to pick his Juventus teammate Dusan Vlahovic for the way he came on and wrecked everybody, showing just how silly some clubs were in their obsession with the likes of Benjamin Sesko and Viktor Gyökeres when he was sitting there, waiting for a transfer last summer. But then I see Yildiz's goal and I remember Alessandro Del Piero, I remember that the kid is just 20 years old and scored an equally good goal at the weekend, and it's hard not to pick him. Oh, he also served up an assist and hit the post.

- Karlsen: Who are the breakout U21 UCL players you don't know yet?
- Johnson: A reminder of how the Champions League format works
- 2025-26 Champions League: Full fixtures schedule for league phase

Tighe: My choice is Ryan Gravenberch. OK, Liverpool left it late to win again, but this one wasn't like the others. Unlike in Premier League play, where despite racking up 12 points from four games, the Reds have looked downright dysfunctional -- and perhaps even tactically broken -- in the very early stages of this season, this opening Champions League 3-2 win over Atlético Madrid was superb.

Powering it was Gravenberch, who was so dominant in midfield, there were moments where he looked like he was playing at 2x speed compared to everyone else, bar Dominik Szoboszlai. Perhaps it was the sheer range of his influence that stood out the most: Early on he popped up in the box to exchange passes and tee up Mohamed Salah for a goal; then later he somehow ended up as the last man, cleaning up a loose ball and recycling it.

This Liverpool team needs peak Gravenberch to stay stable. Atleti found that out the hard way.

Laurens: I'll choose Kylian Mbappé because once again, the striker saved the day and carried Real Madrid. It is happening pretty much in every game so far this season. This is his team now, and he is their guide. Nobody knows where the Merengues would be without him, but we all know that they would not be with five wins in five games in all competitions.

The France star scored two more goals on Tuesday against Marseille, taking his tally to the season to six in five matches, and he also ranks first in Europe for touches in the opposition box, shots and shots on target so far this campaign. At 26, he has already reached 57 goals in the Champions League, as many as Thomas Müller and only behind Raúl (71), Karim Benzema (90), Robert Lewandowski (105), Lionel Messi (129) and Cristiano Ronaldo (140).

play

1:56

Moreno: Dortmund conceding late is nothing new

Alejandro Moreno says 'this is who Borussia Dortmund are' as they concede a last minute equaliser against Juventus.

What else did you want to call out during Matchday 1?

Ogden: Which of Real Madrid's two star right backs can be trusted when it matters? Trent Alexander-Arnold's slow start at Madrid hit another bump in the road with a hamstring injury against Marseille that could keep him out for two months, while his replacement Dani Carvajal earned himself a red card -- and suspension -- for a headbutt on goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli late in the second half.

Both Alexander-Arnold and Carvajal are world-class right backs with Champions League-winning pedigree, but Alexander-Arnold has had a bad 12 months with injuries, and that will be a concern for Alonso. Carvajal, who is 34 in January, has also had a tough time with fitness problems, but he also now has to deal with a suspension after losing his discipline against Marseille.

Marcotti: What's up with Vinícius Júnior? It was less than a year ago that everyone was convinced Vini Jr. was definitely going to win the Ballon d'Or. Including the player himself and Real Madrid, of course, and we all know what happened when they found out that wasn't the case.

Since Alonso arrived -- and including the Club World Cup -- the Brazil star has lasted 90 minutes just once. And, of course, he was benched for Rodrygo against Marseille. You wonder if this pattern continues and he and Rodrygo (who played on the right the last couple years but is obviously a natural left-sided forward) will continue to alternate. Especially if Franco Mastantuono (who is excellent and showed it again against Marseille) continues to make the right flank his own.

Maybe it's true what everyone suspected (but Alonso always denied) that Real Madrid wanted to move on Rodrygo over the summer. Now that he's staying, Alonso rightly wants to get a contribution out of him, and that means putting him on the right, especially if Vini Jr. gives off his all-too-familiar "I-don't-feel-like-tracking-back" vibes.

There's a contract extension looming for Vini Jr., as well as a World Cup. At what point does this begin to rub him up the wrong way? And how confident must Alonso be in his own authority if he's willing to make these decisions?

Tighe: Dortmund gonna Dortmund. The game clock reads 93 minutes and Borussia Dortmund are 4-2 up at Juventus on the opening night of this season's Champions League. Hell of a result, right?

Wrong. And wrong in the most painfully Dortmund way possible.

In the next three minutes, they would contrive to concede twice and throw away two points. First, Ramy Bensebani tries to be a little too cute in the corner, gives the ball away, and seconds later Vlahovic has the ball in the net. A minute later, most of Dortmund's team are caught upfield, allowing Juve to counter, Vlahovic to cross and Lloyd Kelly -- yes, Lloyd Kelly -- beat an offside trap that looked like it had been staggered on a mountain face and head home an unchallenged equaliser.

Even by BVB's standards, this defied belief.

Laurens: I just love that Champions League football is back, and back with a bang. Tuesday and Wednesday were epic with the second half of Juventus vs. Borussia Dortmund,, the drama at the Bernabéu, the newcomers' performances, Arteta's winning coaching, Liverpool's late winner and Michael Olise's brilliance for Bayern against Chelsea.

We have seen amazing goals already like the ones from Karim Adeyemi (Dortmund vs. Juventus), Anouar Ait El Hadj (Union St.-Gilloise vs. PSV Eindhoven), Sondre Brunstad Fet (Bodo/Glimt vs. Slavia Prague), Yildiz (Juventus vs. Dortmund) and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (PSG vs. Atalanta). We have had plenty of nutmegs -- hello, Nicolas Pépé, Cole Palmer, Noni Madueke and Mastantuono! And we've had a proper keeper blunder (sorry to Villarreal's Luiz Júnior, for his error against Tottenham). And we still have more action to come on Thursday night with Kevin De Bruyne's return to the Etihad as Napoli visit Manchester City, an explosive Newcastle date with Barcelona at St. James' Park and plenty more goals to come!