Aston Villa are the surprise leaders of the Champions League table after the third game week, with Unai Emery's side winning all three of their matches in the 2024-25 competition, scoring six times and not conceding a single goal.
The 1981-82 European Cup winners beat Bologna 2-0 on Tuesday night, while Liverpool also made it three wins from three with a 1-0 success over RB Leipzig, and Manchester City thumped Sparta Prague 5-0 at the Etihad Stadium.
Arsenal were also triumphant, albeit only just squeezing past Shakhtar Donetsk courtesy of a 1-0 win.
Monaco were the big winners on Tuesday, beating Red Star Belgrade 5-1, while the reigning champions Real Madrid came from two goals behind to record a 5-2 victory over Borussia Dortmund in a repeat of last season's final.
Elsewhere, AC Milan beat Club Brugge 3-1, Girona were 2-0 winners over Slovan Bratislava, Stuttgart triumphed 1-0 at Juventus, while Sporting Lisbon recorded a 2-0 victory over Sturm Graz; there was just the one draw on Tuesday night, with PSV Eindhoven holding Paris Saint-Germain.
On Wednesday, the standout result saw Barcelona thump Bayern Munich 4-1, while Lille were 3-1 winners at Atletico Madrid, with the French outfit making it back-to-back successes over sides from the Spanish capital.
Celtic claimed a welcome point away to Atalanta BC, while Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 1-1 draw by Brest in France; Feyenoord beat Benfica 3-1, Dinamo Zagreb were 2-0 winners over Red Bull Salzburg, while Inter Milan recorded a 1-0 victory over Young Boys.
Here, Sports Mole selects its Champions League Team of the Week from the third set of fixtures in the league phase of the competition.
DEFENCE
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Kasper Schmeichel is unfortunate to miss out between the sticks after his excellent performance in Celtic's 0-0 draw with Atalanta, but the standout goalkeeping performance of the set of fixtures came from a player who was actually on the losing side.
Indeed, Mattia Perin was outstanding for Juventus in their 1-0 loss to Stuttgart, making nine saves in total, and it would have been a more comprehensive win for the German outfit had the 31-year-old not been in excellent form.
A three-man defence simply had to include Monaco's Wilfried Singo, who came up with a goal and an assist in his side's 5-1 win over Red Star Belgrade. The 23-year-old was defensively strong, but his best work came down the other end, also finishing with a pass success rate of 92%, which included one key pass.
There is also a spot for Girona's Miguel Gutierrez, who was the star of the show in the Catalan side's 2-0 win over Slovan Bratislava; the left-back was on the scoresheet, while he completed four dribbles and made three tackles during an all-action performance.
The defence is completed by Stefan Ristovski, who came up with two assists in Dinamo Zagreb's 2-0 win over Salzburg; the 32-year-old completed 36 of his 40 passes in what was an impressive victory, including four key passes.
MIDFIELD
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There was a lot of competition in midfield this week, but there had to be a spot for Takumi Minamino, who scored twice and provided an assist in Monaco's huge win over Red Star Belgrade, with the 29-year-old putting in an outstanding performance.
Milan's Tijjani Reijnders also makes it after coming up with a brace in his side's home success over Club Brugge, with the 26-year-old putting in an excellent midfield display, finishing with a pass success rate of 95%.
Matheus Nunes, meanwhile, was outstanding in Man City's big win over Sparta Prague, with the Portugal international coming up with two assists and a goal at the Etihad Stadium. The 26-year-old also had three successful dribbles and won three tackles, putting in one of his best performances for the club since his arrival.
The final position in midfield goes to Feyenoord's Antoni Milambo, who scored twice against Benfica on Wednesday evening, with the 19-year-old making a huge impression, also finishing the match with four successful dribbles, and he is a player to watch for the future.
ATTACK
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There was also serious competition for spots in the final third of the field, but there was never any danger of either Vinicius Junior or Raphinha missing out after both players scored hat tricks during the third week of Champions League action.
Vinicius, who is the favourite for the Ballon d'Or, netted a second-half treble in Real Madrid's comeback-win over Dortmund, with the Brazilian simply having too much quality for the BVB defence in what was a stunning second-half performance.
Raphinha, meanwhile, was also in red-hot form on Wednesday, scoring three times against Bayern to continue his excellent start to the season, and the two attackers are now preparing to go head-to-head in El Clasico on Saturday night.
The final attacking spot in the XI is handed to a certain Erling Haaland, who came up with two goals in Man City's 5-0 win over Sparta Prague; Haaland's first of the night was a quite staggering effort, as he somehow managed to find the back of the net with an acrobatic effort.
SPORTS MOLE'S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE LEAGUE TEAM OF THE WEEK
Sports Mole's Champions League Team of the Week (3-4-3): Perin (Juventus); Ristovski (Dinamo), Singo (Monaco), Gutierrez (Girona); Minamino (Monaco), Reijnders (Milan), Nunes (Man City), Milambo (Feyenoord); Raphinha (Barcelona), Haaland (Man City), Vinicius (Real Madrid)
