Continuing our series wrapping up intense matchweeks of the UEFA Champions, Europa, and Conference leagues, we recap the second week of European competition for the 2024-25 season.
Week two of European club football is in the books, and we have our first taste of both Europa League and Conference League action.
For this week’s edition of the Urban Pitch European Week in Review, we’ll take you through the top storylines in each competition, the moments that made us take notice, and some one-sentence reviews for the best games we saw across Europe.
Best of Tuesday
Leverkusen 1-0 Milan: Leverkusen aren’t slowing down anytime soon.
Arsenal 2-0 PSG: Arsenal are a serious threat to win the lot.
Barcelona 5-0 Young Boys: Pedri ran the show and Barça are a joy to watch.
Best of Wednesday
Lille 1-0 Real Madrid: Los Blancos have some serious issues to iron out.
Aston Villa 1-0 Bayern Munich: Jhon Duran is him.
Benfica 4-0 Atletico: What on earth happened here?
Best of Thursday
Porto 3-3 Man Utd: The clock is ticking for ten Hag.
Beşiktaş 1-3 Frankfurt: The scoreline here doesn’t tell the story.
Game of the Week
RB Leipzig vs. Juventus
It was a primetime matchup: Dušan Vlahović and Benjamin Šeško going band for band, VAR madness throughout, and a late winner. It was the perfect storm.
This game went next level insane right around the hour mark with the game level at 1-1. Loïs Openda was away behind the Juve defense, forcing goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio out to attempt to thwart him. Di Gregorio inadvertently handled the ball outside the box leading to a VAR review that saw him red carded.
The resulting free kick from Xavi Simons was hit ferociously in the direction of Juventus’ Douglas Luiz who, after just coming on, handled the ball as well, this time inside the box. VAR was once again called upon and the referee awarded a penalty to Leipzig that Sesko dispatched. Not even three minutes later, Vlahović popped up again to match Šeško with a brace of his own, this time a super strike from the edge of the box into the top corner… and breathe.
With less than 10 minutes to play, the 10 men of Juventus had their moment and it was Francisco Conceição who glided past two defenders and slotted a shot calmly into the corner to ensure the Old Lady maintained their unblemished UCL record through two games.
Top Storyline: Champions League
Clear Disparity Between Top Teams and the Rest
After two weeks, it’s become abundantly evident that the expanded league format with added games massively benefits the traditionally strongest clubs.
The financial power at the top of Europe’s best leagues has given them the platform to build squads with enough depth and quality to compete on all fronts. As the current landscape of the beautiful game continues to change, with teams and players asked to travel and play more than ever, clubs that have the most resources will continue to pull away from the pack and we’ll continue to see blowouts across the UCL.
This week, we saw goal margins of four, five, and six, and in the last matchweek, Bayern Munich dispatched Dinamo Zagreb by a score of 9-2.
Stade Brestois is the biggest outlier to this observation thus far. They currently sit 13th in Ligue 1 in the early stages of the 2024-25 season after a mighty third place finish last year to qualify for Champions League play. But while they struggle in the domestic league, they are absolutely flying in the Champions League. They sit joint top on six points and saw a resounding 4-0 win against Salzburg. Up next: A top-of-the-table clash with Bayer Leverkusen.
It remains to be seen if this trend will continue but as things stand, the blowouts are aplenty in the UEFA Champions League.
Top Storyline: Europa League
Manchester United’s Continued Struggles
The soap opera that is Manchester United FC rolled into Portugal this week and it was another brilliant match for the neutral.
Marcus Rashford looked in top form as his goal and assist gave United the lead in the first half, but in typical Red Devil fashion of late, that advantage evaporated quickly. Samu Omorodion came up massively for Porto with a brace to level the game, and United’s defense looked shambolic.
In a move that seemed more like resignation from manager Erik Ten Hag, Rashford went off at halftime and was replaced by Alejandro Garnacho. Not long after the game was turned on its head; from 2-0 down, Porto led 3-2, and a late red card for Bruno Fernandes made matters worse for United.
Harry Maguire’s header at the death to salvage an undeserved point will do little to paper over the cracks, and this Manchester United team who were touted as favorites to win this competition before the season started, could be at risk of not even making it to the knockout phase.
Top Storyline, UEFA Conference League
Chelsea Are Clear Favorites
Enzo Maresca’s men made easy work of the Belgian champions Gent on Thursday with a fully rotated starting eleven. The Chelsea boss had no need to turn to any of his players who put Brighton away at the weekend, yet the quality on display was still frightening.
Having Pedro Neto, Christopher Nkunku, João Félix, and Mykhaylo Mudryk as your fully rotated front four further emphasizes the disparity in resources and squad strength between some of the clubs in these competitions. To be frank, Chelsea could very well win it all without ever needing to use their best player, Cole Palmer.
Best Moments of the Week
Karim Adeyemi’s Night to Remember
The best individual performance of this week’s UCL came from Borussia Dortmund’s Karim Adeyemi against Celtic on Tuesday night.
Three beautifully taken goals and a penalty won in just over 41 minutes of the first half emphasized his and Dortmund’s superiority and set them on their way to a statement result.
It’s his fifth season playing in the UEFA Champions League at just 22 years old, and he is one assist away from matching his best-ever contribution tally after two games. Adeyemi loves this competition, evidenced by the fact that he’s scored as many goals in Europe’s elite competition as he has in the Bundesliga (11) in 20 fewer games.
Kevin Denkey Lights Up Thursday Night
Cercle Brugge’s Kevin Denkey saw Adeyemi’s performance and said, “hold my beer.”
The 23-year-old Togo forward became only the second player ever to be involved in five goals in a single Europa Conference League game. In just under 75 minutes he was a whirlwind, bagging a wonderful hat-trick, including a penalty that he won himself, while adding two assists to boot.
It was a showing worthy of the front pages and it may not be long before Europe’s elite come sniffing around if he continues to perform like this under the bright lights.
As Things Stand, Champions League
League Leaders: Borussia Dortmund (+9 goal differential)
Top Scorer: Harry Kane (4)
Assist Leaders: Joshua Kimmich, Jeremie Frimpong (3)
Bottom of the Table: Young Boys (-8 goal differential, 0 goals for)
As Things Stand, Europa League
League Leaders: Lazio (+6 goal differential)
Top Scorer: Samu (3)
Assist Leader: Rayan Cherki (2)
Bottom of the Table: Beşiktaş (-6 goal differential)
As Things Stand, Conference League
League Leaders: Cercle Brugge (+4 goal differential)
Top Scorer: Kevin Denkey (3)
Assist Leader: Kevin Denkey (2)
Bottom of the Table: Víkingur FC (-4 goal differential)
