Champions League Takeaway: Amorim Stuns City, Liverpool Stay Perfect, Milan Maul Madrid & Everything Else

Champions League Takeaway: Amorim Stuns City, Liverpool Stay Perfect, Milan Maul Madrid & Everything Else

Hello Rank Squad!

It's time for Champions League Takeaway, your midnight feast of Champions League content - after one of the wildest weeks we have seen in the competition in recent times.

We start for a change, with Tuesday's games, opening with Sporting's huge 4-1 win over Manchester City - a parting gift from Ruben Amorim to the Jose Alvalade as City were cut open in transition again. Was it as bad as it looked? Maybe not, but the blue half of Manchester have some valid concerns, whilst the red half are ready to welcome their new manager with open arms.

Then it's on to Anfield, where Liverpool maintained their perfect record in the competition with a 4-0 win over Xabi Alonso and Bayer Leverkusen thanks to a Luis Diaz hat trick, and some more excellent half-time tweaks from Arne Slot, who got it right yet again.

Real Madrid were stunned at home by Milan, where Paulo Fonseca's use of Rafael Leão was next to perfect, and the questions about how Kylian Mbappé has unbalanced this team remain burning bright. Can Carlo Ancelotti turn this around or are the obvious holes in the defensive line too big to fill with superstars alone?

We round up the rest too: Celtic re-announced themselves in the competition with a big win at home to Leipzig, BVB dug out another win in their mini-resurgence, Malik Tillman starred as PSV beat Girona 4-0, Lille and Juventus shared the spoils in France, Monaco stayed hot with a late win in Bologna, and Dinamo Zagreb smashed four past competition whipping boys Slovan Bratislava.

Then in Part Two, we're onto Wednesday's action, which begins with Inter's narrow win over Arsenal that cemented them as genuine favourites and continued to pile the questions on Mikel Arteta about how to get the best out of this (admittedly depleted) Gunners side.

Also up for discussion is PSG's devastating late loss to Atletico Madrid and how the Parisiens just seem to lack confidence the moment anything goes against them, despite a bright start here; and Aston Villa's fatigued 1-0 loss to Club Brugge that will be headlined by a weird penalty call, but in reality was a pretty reasonable result - Villa were outplayed in Belgium.

We finish with a roundup of the rest of the Tuesday games - Barcelona hitting five in Belgrade against Crvena Zvezda as their front three continues to shine; Bayern's hard-fought but well-deserved win over Benfica; another clean sheet for Atalanta as they won 2-0 in Stuttgart; a first win for RB Salzburg as they shocked Feyenoord at De Kuip; Brest's third win from four as the Pirates set sail for Prague and plundered more points against Sparta; and Shakhtar Donetsk's Sudakov-inspired victory over Young Boys.

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.

Episoder(444)

Ranking the Best World Cup Narratives

Ranking the Best World Cup Narratives

Hello Rank Squad! We thought that with less than 100 days to go now until the World Cup begins this summer, it was time to start to take a look at the tournament in earnest - and the storylines on the...

4 Mar 1h 16min

The Truth: Could Spurs Actually Get Relegated?

The Truth: Could Spurs Actually Get Relegated?

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in the studio to look at what is going down at the bottom of the Premier League table, where one of the great names of English Football has been dragge...

27 Feb 45min

Champions League Takeaway: Vini Buries Benfica, Brave Juve Fall Short, Atalanta Turn It Round & PSG Eke Monaco...Just

Champions League Takeaway: Vini Buries Benfica, Brave Juve Fall Short, Atalanta Turn It Round & PSG Eke Monaco...Just

Hello Rank Squad! It's the second Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Wednesday's action from the Second Legs of the Playoff Round of the competitions - where the final four teams b...

26 Feb 48min

Champions League Takeaway: Bodø/Glimt Make History, Sørloth Shines for Simeone, Newcastle Finish the Job & Leverkusen Dull Olympiacos

Champions League Takeaway: Bodø/Glimt Make History, Sørloth Shines for Simeone, Newcastle Finish the Job & Leverkusen Dull Olympiacos

Hello Rank Squad! It's the first Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Tuesday's action from the Second Legs of the Playoff Round of the competitions - where our next four teams booke...

25 Feb 47min

The Truth: Which Clubs are the Best Scouts in Each Position?

The Truth: Which Clubs are the Best Scouts in Each Position?

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in the studio to look at which clubs are best at scouting in certain positions - not just good at picking off the best in the world for huge fees, but ...

20 Feb 44min

Champions League Takeaway: Newcastle Go Supersonic, Brugge Fight Back, Brilliant Bodø/Glimt & Everything Else

Champions League Takeaway: Newcastle Go Supersonic, Brugge Fight Back, Brilliant Bodø/Glimt & Everything Else

Hello Rank Squad!It was nice to get back to thinking about the football itself on Wednesday, as the action on the pitch returned to centre stage. Dean and Jack are back together to discuss the four ga...

19 Feb 55min

Champions League Takeaway: Sometimes the Football is Secondary

Champions League Takeaway: Sometimes the Football is Secondary

Hello gang,Sometimes the events in games are overshadowed by more insidious ones that dominate the headlines. This is one such occasion, and so it didn't feel particularly right to talk about the foot...

18 Feb 13min

The Truth: Are Set Pieces Hurting Football's Entertainment?

The Truth: Are Set Pieces Hurting Football's Entertainment?

It's time for The Truth!Sam and Dougie are back in the studio to look at the proliferation of set pieces across the entirety of the Premier League's clubs this season, and the impact that it is having...

13 Feb 52min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
forklart
aftenpodden-usa
popradet
stopp-verden
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
det-store-bildet
rss-gukild-johaug
nokon-ma-ga
dine-penger-pengeradet
fotballpodden-2
hanna-de-heldige
aftenbla-bla
rss-espen-lee-usensurert
rss-ness
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-dannet-uten-piano
frokostshowet-pa-p5
bt-dokumentar-2