Florian Wirtz finally scored his first goal of the season for Liverpool as the Reds beat Villarreal 4-3 to maintain their perfect UEFA Champions League record. The Germany international provided assists when Andoni Iraola's side saw off LASK and Brentford in the previous week.
As a result, he has directly contributed to goals in three consecutive games for Liverpool for the very first time. The 23-year-old has consistently faced criticism from all corners for his underwhelming spell at the Merseyside club, but his current form could be a springboard to a more consistent output in the final third.
The former Bayer Leverkusen star replaced Ronald Araujo, who scored Liverpool's second goal as they came from a two-goal deficit, at half-time. Iraola confirmed Wirtz, Alexander Isak and Bradley Barcola – who have all joined the club with over €120 million price tag – started the game on the bench for load management reasons.
Wirtz and co. will next face third-placed Brighton at Anfield as Fabian Hürzeler's men will hope to extend their impressive winning streak in Premier League to five games. The 2024/25 champions will then play against Xabi Alonso's Chelsea and the holders Arsenal.
Meanwhile, former Borussia Dortmund attacker Donyell Malen added a goal and an assist to his scintillating stats in 2026 as he helped AS Roma to a 4-0 victory over Slovan Bratislava. Ex-Bayer Leverkusen defender Mario Hermoso opened the scoring for the side from Italy's capital.
Fellow Serie A side Napoli earned their first points of the season with a roller-coaster 4-3 win over Bodø/Glimt, who had the ex-Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder Jens Petter Hauge as one of the scorers. Peter Bosz's PSV also recorded their first win on Tuesday night as former Freiburg striker Guus Til scored the only goal of the game away at Porto.
In the marquee game of the night, the holders PSG maintained their lead at the standings with a 4-2 success over Barcelona. Hansi Flick's side previously won all of their first 11 games in all competitions.
Despite having to make triple substitutions due to injuries, the Ligue 1 giants repeated their scoreline from Etihad Stadium. Lucas Hernandez, who won the competition with Flick's FC Bayern, scored his first goal since the 2023/24 season. Dani Olmo also suffered an early injury on the day he made his 100th Barcelona appearance.