Europe’s heavyweights made winning starts to the Champions League, with Arsenal’s result in Naples standing out. Martin Odegaard’s goal earned a 1-0 win over Napoli, and Mikel Arteta felt his side deserved a bigger margin. For Napoli, it was a third straight defeat in all competitions, and the night worsened when goalkeeper Alex Meret went off injured. Max Allegri said Alisson Santos will be out for a while as pressure continues to build around his team’s poor start.

Liverpool opened with a 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid at Anfield, Alexis Mac Allister scoring the decisive goal. There was encouraging news afterward for Andoni Iraola, who said Bradley Barcola and Cody Gakpo do not have long-term injuries. Manchester City were comfortable 2-0 winners at Porto thanks to two Erling Haaland goals, while Real Madrid beat Inter 2-1 with Kylian Mbappe and Federico Valverde on target.

Paris Saint-Germain made the most emphatic statement of the night, thrashing Slovan Bratislava 6-1 to begin their title defense, with Ferran Torres scoring a hat-trick. Aston Villa edged Club Brugge 3-2 in another entertaining game.

Away from the action, Liverpool completed the signing of 17-year-old Samuel Martinez from Atletico Nacional, with the forward set to join in 2027. Tottenham, though, were dealt a setback after Mykhailo Mudryk was ruled out for up to two months with an ankle injury during his loan spell.