UCL Matchday 2: Viking FK and PSG impress Man United a mess
The Chaaaaaampions! Europe's top competition returned with a ton of goals, a ton of big results and plenty to talk about. Let's start with the tiny Norwegian team that gave Bayern Munich a fright.
It is the way of the soccer world right now that competitions must get larger, with more teams, more matches per team and a much lower average reading on the jeopardy per match scale. Aside from the obvious wear-and-tear concerns, I don't really mind this development. (Maybe it's the American in me: I'm used to bloat.) I don't mind that the Euros have 24 teams, or that the Champions League has 36, or that the World Cup has 48 -- and that two-thirds of the competitors reach the knockout rounds in all of these tournaments. That has allowed for super-cool stories to develop. Ukraine snuck into the knockout rounds at Euro 2020 (amid growing geopolitical stress) and then upset Sweden . Slovenia and Slovakia eked out advancement in 2024, too, and nearly pulled upsets. And while a huge Champions League with a huge set of knockout rounds has allowed more time for struggling powers like PSG an
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