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A Star Is Born in the UCL 💙
Plus, a former Gunner great turns back the clock.
Tommy Stewart
November 26, 2025
Hail GFOP!
Chelsea’s Estêvão became the president, prince and messiah of Stamford Bridge yesterday, letting Barcelona’s defense, and fellow 18-year-old phenom Lamine Yamal, know that he’s the one who knocks. A 3-0 win against the La Liga champions even had Enzo Maresca smiling, something that can’t be said for his former boss Pep Guardiola. City’s second-string XI were stunned in their 2-0 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen, whose most fluid attacking moves were all led by the USMNT’s German-born creator, Malik Tillman. 🏆
ii. The CONCACAF capital of the world yesterday, however, was in the Arctic Circle, where Juventus won 3-2 against Norwegian kings Bodø/Glimt with the USMNT’s somewhat forgotten man, Weston McKennie, heading home Juve’s second score, before Canada’s Jonathan David sealed the win in stoppage time with his first goal since August. Then, 2,255 miles away in the south of France, Tim Weah assisted 36-year-old Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for Marseille’s winner over visiting Newcastle. 🇺🇲 🇨🇦
v. If yesterday’s statement win at Stamford Bridge left you wondering about Chelsea’s chances of catching Arsenal, or if you’re still trying to make sense of WTF is up with Pep’s City side, let Rog and Rory Smith walk you through the biggest recent storylines in the Premier League. You can watch that here. 📺
vi. Speaking of Rog, make sure to join him and James Horncastle today for “Big Match Breakdown LIVE” on YouTube at 5 p.m. ET immediately after the whistle blows on this afternoon’s round of UCL games. Come be with us. 🍻
PS - Arsenal’s 15-year-old Max Dowman says, “Hold my juice,” with this absolutely beautiful finish.🧃
Cheers,
Tommy Stewart
A Star Is Born at Stamford Bridge ⭐️
Chelsea 3-0 Barcelona 🏴 🇪🇸
Chelsea had a frustrating Goldilocks start last night after their first two goals were disallowed, but they got it just right in the 27th minute when chaos in a busy six-yard box resulted in Jules Koundé putting the ball into his own net. Just before halftime, Barca captain Ronald Araújo rightly saw a second yellow for a clumsy challenge on Marc Cucurella, the same voluminous-haired Spaniard who kept Lamine Yamal quiet throughout the game. Stamford Bridge was already fervent, but when Brazilian wunderkind, Estêvão, weaved through to score a generational “Where were you?” goal 10 minutes into the second half, it truly erupted. He joined an exclusive club alongside Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland, becoming the third teenager to score in each of his first three Champions League starts, aged just 18 years and 215 days old. The Blues’ Big No. 9™️, Liam Delap, knocked in his first of the season to make it three on the night, simultaneously putting Barcelona to bed with 20 minutes to go.
Man City 0-2 Bayer Leverkusen 🏴 🇩🇪
Former Brentford keeper Mark Flekken perpetually frustrated the home side throughout yesterday’s match, making nine saves on his return to the Etihad, which helped Leverkusen’s USMNT maestro Malik Tillman orchestrate both goals in the third-placed German side’s surprising win. Pep Guardiola made 10 changes from his team’s 2-1 defeat to Newcastle at the weekend, but even when he called on the cavalry, led by Erling Haaland, Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki, Flekken was unmovable, crucially blocking the Norwegian in a one-on-one. Although claims that Haaland makes City a “one-man side” are exaggerated, without him, they’re increasingly looking overexposed.
Marseille 2-1 Newcastle 🇫🇷 🏴
It started so well for Newcastle in Marseille’s gladiatorial Orange Vélodrome with Harvey Barnes extending his weekend antics against City with a decisive sixth-minute strike that silenced the 67,000 French fans. But Roberto De Zerbi’s assortment of vagabond footballers are currently going toe-to-toe with the mighty PSG in Ligue 1, and the more the match went on, the fewer answers Eddie Howe’s Magpies had for USMNT winger Timothy Weah and Premier League main-character-of-yore, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. After a few near-misses, the 36-year-old former Arsenal forward finally broke through at the start of the second half with a near impossible finish. Then, just four minutes later, Weah provided Auba his brace at the near post, and with it his eighth goal in 10 games against Newcastle.
Elsewhere in the Champions League:
Ajax 0-2 Benfica, Galatasaray 0-1 Union SG, Borussia Dortmund 4-0 Villarreal, Bodø/Glimt 2-3 Juventus, Slavia Praha 0-0 Athletic Club, Napoli 2-0 Qarabağ FK
Let’s Head to Brussels to Meet Union SG 🇧🇪
In their inaugural UCL season, Brussels’ Royale Union Saint-Gilloise impressively beat European regulars Galatasaray in an away side’s idea of “hell” yesterday. Located in the south of Belgium’s capital, in an area known as Vorst (“Forest”), their rapid emergence under Brighton and Hearts owner, Tony Bloom, is a footballing fairytale. Les Unionistes only returned to the Belgian Pro League after 48 years away in 2021, and they ended one of the longest droughts in European football back in May by winning the league for the first time in 90 years.
Although Brussels is famous for chocolate, it’s also known as the political capital of Europe and the home of NATO, something this inclusive club is cognizant of, with their "Anti-fascist Unionist for Life" motto. More importantly, though: when they score at the Stade Joseph Marien, it goes off in Vorst with this 1983 Italian disco hit, “Vamos a la playa.”
Today’s Matches Worth Faking a Meeting for 📺
Arsenal vs. Bayern Munich (TODAY, 3 p.m. ET, Paramount+) 🏴 🇩🇪
Arsenal and Bayern Munich are the Premier League and Bundesliga’s top sides and the evenly-matched favorites to win the UCL. There will be a smorgasbord of attacking talent on display at the Emirates today, but both Mikel Arteta and Vincent Kompany’s virtually flawless units are built on almost impenetrable defenses: in all competitions Bayern have only conceded 11 to Arsenal’s six this season. The Gunners’ sleep paralysis demon, Harry Kane, has 15 goals against them, and his warpath will be aided by the absence of Gabriel, who is reportedly out for “weeks.” While the north Londoners haven’t beaten the Bavarians in their last five meetings, they’re a different beast to previous incarnations.
Liverpool vs. PSV Eindhoven (TODAY, 3 p.m. ET, Paramount+) 🏴 🇳🇱
Although Liverpool have lost seven of their last eight Premier League matches, like Batman, their new nihilism may better suit these moody UCL nights, where they’ve won three of four. The last of those victories was an impressive 1-0 dismantling of Real Madrid, in which Florian Wirtz looked something like the $157-million player the Reds signed in the summer. Mo Salah’s drop-off has been a major concern, but if he starts, he can become the first African player to reach 50 Champions League goals today. Meanwhile, Teemu Arne Slot, Peter Bosz (Google him), has led PSV to the top of Eredivisie by six points, and although USMNT forward Ricardo Pepi has predominantly featured as a substitute this season, he’s scored in three of his last four UCL matches, including a goal against Liverpool last season.
PSG vs. Tottenham (TODAY, 3 p.m. ET, Paramount+) 🇫🇷 🏴
PSG’s treble-winning aura has slightly slipped, because unlike last season, they’re in the midst of a Ligue 1 dogfight with Marseille, and in their last UCL outing, they were beaten at the Parc des Princes by a 10-man Bayern. Luis Enrique, however, remains typically defiant and believes his side will be “dominant” against Thomas Frank’s now fragile five-man low-block that held so much hope as a remedial contrast to Ange-Ball, before cracks formed and then chasmed against Arsenal on Sunday. Since Ousmane Dembélé picked up the Ballon d’Or, he’s had injury issues, missing the last three weeks with a calf problem that sadly for Spurs fans, seems to have fixed itself for this fixture.
Atlético Madrid vs. Inter Milan (TODAY, 3 p.m. ET, Paramount+) 🇪🇸 🇮🇹
While Argentine compatriots, Atlético Madrid’s Julián Alvarez and Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martínez, have lifted the World Cup together as Messi’s supporting cast, for their clubs they are kings, with Alvarez scoring nine in his last 13 UCL matches, and Martínez a ridiculous 12 in 11. Christian Chivu’s Inter have won four in four in the Champions League this season, while Diego Simeone’s side have two victories and two losses, although they’ve been victorious in their last five in La Liga. Both sides have shared trauma, reaching and losing in the final of this competition in the last decade, but at this point in time, they’re both fourth in their respective leagues, making it a perfect UCL matchup.
🗓️ You can find the full list of today’s UCL fixtures here.
News & Notes from Around Football 🗞️
Good afternoon to the least surprising news of the day.
Seems PSV could learn a thing or two from Sean Dyche.
Meet the man who managed the same club for 33 years and cleaned windows on the side.
Pop quiz: What do Raheem Sterling and Brighton’s Solly March have in common?
One player’s quest to give an all-time middle finger by making it to the World Cup.
It’s been 1,029 days and counting since this guy started in goal, which he’s totally fine with.
For those who’ve ever wondered, “What was football like during WWII?”
And finally, this week’s top “Hang It in the Louvre” contender.
Who Played There? 🤔
It’s time for “Who Played There?” where we pick a classic Champions League lineup and you fill in the missing player. This week we’re asking if you can correctly identify who was Arsenal’s center-midfielder when they lost 5-1 to Bayern Munich on 3/6/2017 in the second leg of the round of 16 at the Emirates?
Email us (or reply to this newsletter) with who you think the missing player in the starting XI is for a chance to win a much-coveted MiB patch!
Congratulations to Dustin Marks, who was the first to correctly identify Liverpool’s missing center-back when they lost 3-1 to Real Madrid in the 2018 Champions League final. The answer was Dejan Lovren, which might explain the score that night.
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