Liverpool's incredible start to the 2024-25 campaign continued on Tuesday evening, with Arne Slot's side recording a 4-0 victory over Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen to move to the top of the Champions League table.
Sporting Lisbon are second, meanwhile, courtesy of their standout 4-1 success over Manchester City, while third-placed Monaco's excellent start to their European campaign continued with a 1-0 success over Bologna.
Brest are in fourth, having beaten Sparta Prague 2-1 on Wednesday night to move onto 10 points, while Inter Milan sit fifth, with the Italian giants recording a 1-0 victory over Arsenal at San Siro. Barcelona have also been sensational this term, and the Catalan outfit moved onto nine points in the group with a 5-2 success over Red Star Belgrade, while seventh-placed Borussia Dortmund beat Sturm Graz 1-0. PSV Eindhoven and Dinamo Zagreb were also big winners on Tuesday, beating Girona and Slovan Bratislava respectively, while Celtic recorded a 3-1 victory over RB Leipzig. Lille played out a 1-1 draw with Juventus on Tuesday, but the reigning champions Real Madrid were beaten 3-1 at home to AC Milan, with the result seeing them drop down into 18th position in the overall table. Aston Villa suffered a 1-0 loss to Club Brugge on Wednesday, while Shakhtar Donetsk beat Young Boys 2-1, Red Bull Salzburg recorded a 3-1 victory over Feyenoord, and Atletico Madrid were 2-1 winners over Paris Saint-Germain. Atalanta BC also collected a valuable three points by beating Stuttgart 2-0, while the action concluded in Munich on Wednesday evening, as Bayern Munich beat Benfica 1-0 to move onto six points from four matches. Here, Sports Mole selects its Champions League Team of the Week from the fourth set of fixtures in the league phase of the competition.DEFENCE
It was always likely to be the case that Milan would need their goalkeeper to have a strong game at Bernabeu if the Italian outfit were to secure a positive result against Real Madrid, and Mike Maignan was brilliant between the sticks.
The 29-year-old made nine saves during a standout performance in the Spanish capital, while he was also calm and composed in possession of the ball, as Milan recorded one of their best wins in recent memory.
Barcelona's Jules Kounde was the standout defender in this round of action, with the Frenchman incredibly providing three assists from right-back; Red Star Belgrade just could not live with him in a wide area, as he continued to threaten with dangerous deliveries.
Denzel Dumfries is selected on the opposite side for his performance in Inter's win over Arsenal, with the Netherlands international in excellent form, winning four aerial duels and four tackles, playing a leading role in his side keeping a clean sheet.
The centre-back spots are awarded to Dinamo Zagreb's Raul Torrente and Milan's Malick Thiaw; the former was at his towering best in his side's 4-1 victory over Slovan Bratislava, winning two aerial duels and three tackles, while his use of the ball was also excellent.
Thiaw was another to put in a standout performance, with the 23-year-old on the scoresheet against Real Madrid, while he finished with a pass success rate of 86%, which is highly impressive for a visiting defender to Bernabeu.
MIDFIELD
Curtis Jones was brilliant in Liverpool's 4-0 win over Leverkusen and therefore simply had to be included in this side; the midfielder's pass for Luis Diaz to make the breakthrough was sensational, and he finished with a pass success rate of 90% at Anfield.
There also had to be a spot for PSV's Malik Tillman, who was excellent against Girona on Tuesday night; the 22-year-old got his name on the scoresheet in the four-goal win, while he also provided two assists. Girona just could not live with the midfielder, who actually had six shots during an all-action performance in the Netherlands.
The final midfield position is awarded to Heorhii Sudakov, with the 22-year-old scoring and providing an assist in Shakhtar's 2-1 success over Young Boys on Wednesday night; Sudakov was the best player on the pitch, completing four dribbles and producing 44 accurate passes.
ATTACK
Viktor Gyokeres was again in the headlines on Tuesday courtesy of his hat trick against Man City, with the Sweden international once again demonstrating why he is currently one of the most in-demand centre-forwards in world football.
The Sporting star is joined in this XI by another hat-trick hero, with Liverpool's Luis Diaz scoring three times against Leverkusen; the 27-year-old was at his best at Anfield, with the Bundesliga champions unable to deal with his pace and movement.
The final spot in the XI was so difficult to pick due to the competition in the final third, with Robert Lewandowski, Mohamed Salah, Raphinha, Sandro Kulenovic, Nicolas-Gerrit Kuhn and Oscar Gloukh all unfortunate to miss out on spots in the XI.
Karim Konate completes the side after scoring twice in Salzburg's 3-1 success over Feyenoord; the 20-year-old was a huge threat during the European affair, and he also hit the woodwork before being replaced in the final exchanges.
SPORTS MOLE'S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE LEAGUE TEAM OF THE WEEK
Sports Mole's Champions League Team of the Week (4-3-3): Maignan (Milan); Kounde (Barcelona), Torrente (Dinamo Zagreb), Thiaw (Milan), Dumfries (Inter); Tillman (PSV), Jones (Liverpool), Sudakov (Shakhtar); Diaz (Liverpool), Gyokeres (Sporting), Konate (Salzburg)
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