Soccer's main characters after UCL Matchday 3: Kane, Van Dijk, El Clasico

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  Bill ConnellyOct 22, 2026, 11:20 AM ET

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  Bill Connelly is a writer for ESPN. He covers college football, soccer and tennis. He has been at ESPN since 2019.

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By the time they were going for their third straight Champions League title in 2017-18, Real Madrid had mastered the art of easing in. In 2016-17, they finished behind Borussia Dortmund in their group and constantly needed their trademarked, late-game Real Madrid magic to secure points before igniting in the knockout rounds. For the three-peat, they finished second in their group behind Tottenham Hotspur, but mostly rolled in the spring again.

Paris Saint-Germain have certainly learned that you don't have to look your sharpest early on. Two seasons ago, in their first of what is currently a two-year title streak -- and in the first year for the expanded league phase structure -- they narrowly beat Girona in their first match and then lost three of their next four matches before finally starting to click into place in December. They won their next five Champions League matches by a combined 18 goals, knocked off top-seeded Liverpool in penalties in the round of 16 and ... mostly rolled from there.

You can play with fire without getting burned, but Luis Enrique has decided he really doesn't want to. PSG started far better last year, winning four of their first five league phase matches, and this fall they've been all business: After a 6-1 tuneup against Slovan Bratislava to start, they've beaten Manchester City and Barcelona, each by multiple goals. They were winless in their first four matches in all competitions in this campaign, but when the Champions League began, so did their season.

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Along with a 2-2 draw between Arsenal and Bayern Munich, PSG's 4-2 win over Barcelona was the most noteworthy result of Champions League Matchday 3, even if Khvicha Kvaratskhelia's ACL tear cast a bit of a pall on the proceedings. But five teams continued their perfect starts -- PSG, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Real Betis -- and all of the most likely candidates to win next week's Ballon d'Or made exciting plays.

The league phase keeps rolling, but here are soccer's five main characters as we move past Matchday 3.

Main character No. 1: Harry Kane's closing argument

The voting for this year's Ballon d'Or, which will be awarded this coming Monday, closed a while ago. While the prediction market odds were shifting toward Barca's Lamine Yamal for a while, they appear to have homed in on Bayern Munich's Harry Kane as the likely winner, and justifiably so. He simply had the best year of anyone, winning three trophies, leading England to the World Cup semifinals for a second time and -- oh yeah -- scoring 73 goals with eight assists in 65 total matches. Yamal had only 25 and 20, respectively, in the same period. England teammate (and Wednesday adversary) Declan Rice declared him incredibly deserving, and just in case there was any lingering doubt, Kane put his skill set on display once again in Bayern's 2-2 draw with Arsenal.

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Klinsmann: Draw damages Bayern Munich more than Arsenal

The match itself was impacted by absences. Bayern's Michael Olise (red card suspension), Joshua Kimmich (family bereavement) and Jamal Musiala (injury) missed the match, and Arsenal's Bukayo Saka left with injury 10 minutes in. Bayern's Luis Díaz also left with what he later called a minor injury late in the match, and manager Vincent Kompany was even a question mark for the match due to both illness and a hip issue.

These are two of the deepest teams in the world, however, and both lineups still featured plenty of star power. Alphonso Davies ostensibly played on the left wing instead of at left back for most of the evening, and he made the most of the opportunity, getting on the end of a long pass and sending an equalizing goal past David Raya in the 35th minute.

The sender of that beautiful long pass? Kane.

Who both set up and converted the penalty that put Bayern ahead (until Rice's late equalizer)? Kane. That was one of four shots he put on goal, and while Bayern only managed to break Arsenal's defensive line twice with completed passes, Kane was the passer on both. Bayern aren't used to getting anything less than three points at home, but in this case, playing with a short-handed squad against a team that thumped them 3-1 in last year's league phase, a draw was a pretty solid result.

Bayern will visit third-place Freiburg in Bundesliga action on Sunday, and then we'll find out if Kane's Ballon d'Or time has arrived. He would be Bayern's first winner since Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in 1981 (justice for Robert Lewandowski) and the first English winner since Michael Owen in 2001.

Kane isn't a stranger to awards. Name another person who has won the Premier League Golden Boot, the World Cup Golden Boot, Bundesliga Player of the Season and the Millwall Young Player of the Year award and has also been named a member of the Order of the British Empire -- you can't. But between the overbearing presence of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo over individual awards, and the fact that he has only recently played for a team that regularly wins hardware, Kane has yet to finish in the top three of the Ballon d'Or voting. And now he'd be a deserving winner at 33.

It's a pretty remarkable tale for a player who has spent 15 years honing weaknesses into strengths and becoming a better and better player.

Main character No. 2: Vitinha's perfect role

At a broad level, nothing really went right for Paris Saint-Germain against Barcelona on Tuesday. Three starters had to be subbed off injured in the first hour, and superstar Khvicha Kvaratskhelia tore his ACL. Ferran Torres, thrust into action when Ousmane Dembélé came out after 20 minutes, created three great opportunities, but hit the post once and had two efforts saved. Désiré Doué scored to give the Parisiens a first-half lead, but Xavi Espart equalized early in the second half, and Lamine Yamal, looking as dangerous as ever, equalized for Barca again after PSG got an unlikely goal from Lucas Hernández (his first in over two years).

As ever, however, PSG had Vitinha.

If you told me the Line-Breaking Passes statistic was invented specifically to measure Vitinha's greatness, I'd believe you: He had 15 of them against Barca, and 12 were completed while under pressure from Barca's relentless midfield. He actually led PSG in both passes that broke the attacking line (eight) and passes that broke the midfield line (six), and he trailed only Doue in total carry distance (250 meters) as well. And in the 81st minute, with the buzz from Yamal's goal having not completely worn off yet, Vitinha went into "I'll do it myself" mode.

Vitinha remains the hinge for PSG's absurd successes; considering the injuries and constant shuffling up front, you could make an easy case that he's their most important player. And that just makes me madder at Roberto Martinez.

I covered a majority of Portugal's matches at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and I was pretty excited about it considering how much I've come to enjoy Vitinha's PSG play; he's a brilliant ball progressor with a take-charge streak, somehow making him a combination of Pedri and Steven Gerrard. But he was mostly ineffective in the World Cup. While he averaged about the same number of touches as he does for PSG, Portugal's refusal/inability to progress the ball with purpose meant that he was mostly working the ball horizontally.

Some players are simply better for club than country, or vice versa, so Vitinha's struggles don't have to mean anything specific. But man, is it hard to believe that; Portugal featured three of Vitinha's PSG teammates (João Neves, Nuno Mendes and Gonçalo Ramos), plus three members of a Manchester City team that loved possession and occasionally sexy ball progression as much as PSG (Rúben Dias, Matheus Nunes, Bernardo Silva). But none of the team's infinite number of creatives seemed to match their club levels and while it makes me a bit of a broken record, it's hard to ignore the other main subplot for Portugal's World Cup disappointment: Martinez's insistence on playing Cristiano Ronaldo up front.

Portugal's attack got consistently gummed up as Ronaldo walked around, slowed the attack down whenever he was on the ball and contributed nothing to pressing structures. Almost insultingly, Vitinha was subbed out of every match and averaged only 76.2 minutes per appearance; Ronaldo finished four of five matches and averaged 88.2 minutes.

Even in the recent international break, with Martinez out and Ronaldo playing a minimal role before his petulant walk-out, Vitinha's role was relatively un-PSG-like. He contributed more in attack, with far more shots and expected assists, more ball recoveries and more line-breaking passes received but far fewer overall touches.

Ronaldo alone wasn't impacting his role, but Portugal was certainly more effective without him. Thank goodness the Ronaldo era is finally over ... right? RIGHT??

Well, whatever. At least we get to see Vitinha in full glory in the Champions League.

Main character No. 3: Virgil van Dijk and Liverpool's ongoing rebuild

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Leboeuf hails Ngumoha after Liverpool's comeback vs. Villarreal

Maybe Sir Alex Ferguson's most impressive trait was his ability to regenerate a roster. His vaunted Class of 1992 certainly drove a lot of United's success in the late-1990s and 2000s, but United finished in the top three of England's first division for 21 consecutive seasons and only once went more than one year without a title. (That was at the start of the Roman Abramovich era at Chelsea, when the Blues barged into what had been a two-team title picture with United and Arsenal. United responded to a three-year drought with three consecutive titles.)

As even Pep Guardiola learned, keeping a title-level roster going, without loyalty and age eventually producing a tired lineup -- and without burning out -- is ridiculously hard. For all of Manchester City's spending advantages (legal and otherwise), Guardiola resigned last spring after pulling only a 43% Fergie (nine straight top-threes). After six titles in seven years, staleness overtook City in 2024-25, and they needed a huge burst of January spending to pull off a distant third place in the Premier League race. They improved only marginally last season, though they've started this season beautifully, despite epic noise, under Enzo Maresca.

West of Manchester, Liverpool is pulling off an even more awkward transition. They're on their third manager in four seasons, and of the 16 players who started at least eight matches during their semi-surprising 2024-25 Premier League title run, nine are gone, and three more are at least 30 years old. Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo give them a solid base of players who are both in their prime and have been around a while, but age in both attack and defense forced Liverpool to regenerate, and two summers in, we're still seeing almost frantically up-and-down results.

Their scoring has improved by 23% this season in all competitions, from 1.77 goals per game to 2.18. Two of last season's disappointing signings -- Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz -- have started to contribute at a more consistent level, with six goals and four assists between them. For all the scrutiny piled onto him, Wirtz leads his team in ground duels won (37), chances created (28), shot attempts (25), line-breaking passes received (157), line-breaking passes in the attacking third (26) and ball recoveries (48), and he now has a goal and two assists in his past three matches. Beyond Wirtz and Isak, however, Andoni Iraola's frequently aggressive tactics have produced opportunities for just about everyone in a red shirt: Ten players have scored at least one goal, and 11 have at least one assist.

Liverpool are playing fun ball again and have scored 12 goals in three matches since a disappointing 3-0 loss to Manchester City. They've also allowed three goals in three of their past four matches. Five of their 11 matches this season have featured at least four combined goals. This is great for neutrals, but it's also a sign that defensive fragility is their next issue to address.

That brings us to the Virgil van Dijk conundrum. The Liverpool legend remains a vital cog in buildup play and ball progression -- he's first on the team in touches, passes completed, passes received, progressive carries, progressive passes, line-breaking passes, aerial duels, you name it. He's also 35 and a bit more error-prone, and Iraola's high risk profile means he's getting exposed a bit more in transition.

Tuesday's match against Villarreal began with one of the biggest errors of Van Dijk's Liverpool tenure.

Sergi Cardona scored a beautiful transition goal to put Villarreal up 2-0 before the 30th minute, too, but Liverpool's attacking prowess eventually won out. Mac Allister scored a pair of goals, teenager Rio Ngumoha assisted goals for Ronald Araújo and Mac Allister in probably the best match of his career, and Wirtz put away an eventual 4-3 win in transition.

This was all of Liverpool's upside and downside in the extreme, and it made them more difficult than ever to evaluate. Their moments of brilliance gave them three points after devastating errors dug them a hole. Van Dijk was poor -- "obviously I tried, but it was a bad day at the office personally," he told the media afterward -- but it didn't end up mattering. I'm not sure how much longer this period of Liverpool transition lasts, and I'm not sure how much longer Van Dijk's excellent traits outweigh age, but hey, at least the Reds are entertaining as hell.

Main character No. 4: Sasa and the first-timers

We once again saw plenty of goals in this week's Champions League action -- a delightful 74 in 18 matches, over two per team. Manchester City casually knocked in five without Erling Haaland against AEK Athens, while seven scored four, including Galatasaray in a campaign-saving comeback against Lille, Como in the latest humiliation of Manchester United and Liverpool and Napoli in matching 4-3 wins over Villarreal and Bodø/Glimt, respectively. Hell, five more scored three goals. Aston Villa moved to nine points and 12 goals with a 3-1 win over Viking, and the ever-watchable Club Brugge chugged right along, 3-0, over Lens. Hell, Bayern even coaxed a match with four total goals out of Arsenal.

We're going to focus on someone else, though. While most of these matches will be forgotten six months from now -- hey, I enjoy the league phase perfectly fine, but there's definitely an "endless content with minimal jeopardy" aspect to it -- LASK's win over Sporting CP will end up part of club lore.

LASK won their first Austrian Bundesliga crown in 61 years last spring, and while they've spent plenty of time in the Europa League and Conference League of late, a win over Celtic in August (they came back from 3-0 down after the first leg) qualified them for the Champions League for the first time in, well, 61 years, back when it was the European Cup. They've beaten Inter Milan, Sporting CP, Werder Bremen and other bigger names in previous tournaments, but on Wednesday they scored their first official Champions League win. And a familiar name played a major role.

You may have last seen Sasa Kalajdzic during one of the wildest sequences of the World Cup. After Algeria scored a shocking 100-pass goal to take a late 3-2 lead on Austria in the final matchday, in a match in which both teams would advance with a draw, the stoic Kalajdzic used his 6-foot-7 frame to head in an equalizer moments later. It was his first goal for Austria since overtime in the Euro 2020 round of 16. The guy knows his moments. And in the 63rd minute in Lisbon on Wednesday, he put LASK ahead 2-1. They would lead the rest of the way.

Kalajdzic has suffered three ACL tears in recent years, and he has enjoyed only one season with double-digit goals since he scored 10 for Admira Wacker Amateure in Austria's Regionalliga East 10 years ago. But no one can accuse him of failing to make memories.

Main character No. 5: El Clasico

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Moreno: Flick needs to address Yamal's performance vs. PSG

In the late 2000s, the Premier League's money cannon began to reap dividends. Between 2005-09, English teams took 12 of the 20 spots in Champions League semifinals, six of 10 in the finals and won the title in 2005 (Liverpool over AC Milan) and 2008 (Manchester United over countrymate Chelsea). Sustained brilliance from Manchester United and Arsenal, plus a Roman Abramovich-backed charge from Chelsea, gave England a seemingly permanent place atop the soccer hierarchy.

That dominance came to a (temporary) halt, however, at the hands of two Spanish giants. Between 2009-18, either Barcelona or Real Madrid won seven of 10 Champions League titles, and English teams made only four finals appearances with one win (Chelsea over Bayern in 2012). Barcelona's playing style became the model for nearly every monied team in the world, give or take, and Real Madrid overwhelmed opponents with talent and late-game magic.

In 2026, the Premier League has grown as dominant as ever. Five different English teams have made the Champions League finals since 2019 (three have won), and English teams have won the past two Europa Leagues (it was an all-English final in 2025) and three of the past four Conference Leagues.

Granted, PSG's own financial dominance has conquered the Champions League the past two years -- and handed Barcelona their first loss of the season on Tuesday -- but Spain's dynamic duo might be ready to disrupt England's gravitational pull a bit more. Especially if Yan Diomande is ready to do a little bit more of this.

I'm not sure it's possible to strike a ball any sweeter than that.

Real Madrid were at their most attractive in the second half, getting goals from Arda Güler, Kylian Mbappé and Diomande on their way to a 4-1 romp over RB Leipzig. They've scored four goals in six of their 12 matches this season -- 33 in all -- and Vinícius Júnior hasn't even gotten going yet. They got xG'd to hell in a 1-0 loss to Real Betis in September (20 shots, 3.5 xG, zero goals), and they got Atletico'd in a 2-1 Madrid derby loss, but they've won 10 matches, and a win over Barcelona in the first El Clasico of the season on Sunday would pull them to within three points of the top of LaLiga. For all of the great headlines Barca have earned to start the season, Real Madrid aren't far behind.

Barca have earned those headlines, by the way. Lamine Yamal just played on a losing team for the first time since April 8, and he still managed to do this.

Raphinha missed a month of action after playing the best ball of his life, and Barcelona kept scoring loads of goals without him. Yamal already has 10 goals and 10 assists in all competitions, and Raphinha has 14 and three, respectively. Anthony Gordon, with his three lungs, was born to play for Hansi Flick, while Fermín López, Karim Adeyemi and Gabriel Jesus have combined for 13 goals. And Barca's midfield depth is so ridiculous that Flick was able to bring Gavi and Rodri off the bench on Tuesday. They fell to PSG, and Flick's high-wire style will always leave them a bit vulnerable in the back. But they play the most seductive and watchable ball in the world, and I think they're allowed one loss every six months.

In other words, Sunday's El Clasico (Sunday, 4 p.m. ET, ABC) could be something else.