The Champions League returned earlier this week and the four English sides participating in the group stage of the competition- defending champions Man City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle, had mixed fortunes.
UEFA Champions League
Newspaper Player Ratings Bayern vs Man Utd 4-3 Champions League September 2023- Kane, Hojlund
Here is a look at the player ratings for Bayern v Manchester United from the likes of Bild, L’Equipe and Diario AS following their UCL clash on 19 September, 2023.
Bild player ratings Bayern 4-3 Man United 2023/24 UCL
(note- 6 very bad rating, 1 very good in this system)
Diario AS paper player ratings FCB 4-3 MUN
AS thought Onana and Lisandro Martinez didn’t deserve a rating. Three stars for Bayern’s attacking trio of Sane, Musiala and Gnabry.
xG Man City vs Red Star Belgrade 2023 Champions League Attendance 50,204 | Expected Goals Stats MCFC 3-1 Crvena Zvezda
Here is a look at the xG (expected goals) stats from Manchester City vs Red Star Belgrade (Attendance of 50,204 at the Etihad on 19 September, 2023)
37 shots in total for City in this game- their 22 in the first half against Red Star is also a record for most shots by a team in the opening half of a CL fixture since data began to be kept in the mid 00’s.
At half time, City had 22 shots; Red Star had just 1, and the latter lead 1-0. City eventually won 3-1 though. There were plenty of chances created- Haaland could have had a hat trick on another day.
xG Man City 3.88-0.51 Red Star shots map (Actual score MCFC 3-1 Crvena Zvezda)
0-1 Bukari goal vs Man City xG 0.28
1-1 Alvarez goal vs Red Star xG 0.24
2-1 Alvarez second goal vs Red Star xG 0.04
3-1 Rodri goal vs Red Star xG 0.07
Man City vs Red Star 3-1 Match Stats for comparison
(MCFC match stats on left; Red Star stats on right)