Barelona's dark hour, Chelsea's ridiculous depth and other stories

Midweek football highlights include Chelsea's depth, Real Madrid's struggles, Barcelona's goalkeeper woes, and UEFA revoking San Siro's 2027 Rights

Marc Andre Ter Stegen's injury has forced Barcelona into panic, who will bail them out? (Photo credit: FC Barcelona)

It's a midweek packed with loads of football, from rescheduled Italian Serie A games to midweek fixtures in La Liga, the Carabao Cup in England, and the Europa and Conference League games. There’s so much to ponder from all these; let’s look at a few hot topics.

Chelsea’s ridiculous depth deserves attention.

Is Enzo Maresca building the new Galacticos at Chelsea? The quality of the players who filed out against Barrow in the EFL Cup on Tuesday night should get other teams in the league worried; it was a seamless 5-0 win with Chris Nkunku netting his first hat-trick in English football.

When Chelsea kept buying everything in sight during the summer, everyone wondered what they were trying to do. It's evident now that this Chelsea team is ready to compete; it's up to Maresca to maximize the quality available to him, as he boasts the deepest squad in the league.

What is wrong with Real Madrid?

Real Madrid appeared to have easily defeated Alaves in their midweek match on Tuesday night, but they ended the game in a state of panic as the visitors threatened to level the score.

Lucas Vazquez scored in the first minute to set the hosts on their way before Kylian Mbappe scored a beauty, his fifth straight game with goal involvement; Rodrygo scored the third early in the second half, but a late surge by Alaves rattled Real Madrid, and you wonder what would happen if they had time.

Is it time for the panic button in Barcelona?

With Ter Stegen injured and out for a long time, Barcelona has been all over the place looking for a stop-gap goalkeeper, with former Arsenal and Juventus goalkeeper Wojeich Szczesny under consideration.

The Pole retired from football over the summer, but he could be the man to salvage the situation at Barcelona. La Masia is another option; with youngsters always bailing the club out, it might be time again to look inward. Hansi Flick must flick his magic again.

Why are City players complaining?

After the 2-2 draw at the Etihad on Sunday, Manchester City players appeared rattled by Arsenal’s doggedness and couldn’t stay away from the media, calling out the Gunners and reeling in pain.

Granit Xhaka's dismissal at the Etihad in 2021 reduced Arsenal to ten men. The Gunners attempted to go toe-to-toe with City regardless, but they lost 5-0. Was that what Bernardo Silva and Manuel Akanji wanted again? You can’t fool someone all the time, right?

San Siro's 2027 Champions League final hosting rights are revoked by UEFA.

UEFA had earlier awarded the 2027 Champions League final hosting city to San Siro Stadium, home of Italian sides AC Milan and Inter Milan, but, in a statement on Tuesday, the ruling body has stripped the stadium of the rights.

Inter Milan appears to have abandoned the refurbishment plan they promised to complete by the end of 2026, leading UEFA to open the hosting rights. Milan last hosted in 2016, when Real Madrid beat Atletico on penalties to lift the trophy.