There were lots of goals and lots of unexpected results on the second matchday of the Champions League group stages with Arsenal and Chelsea among the high-profile casualties. Here we take a look at the biggest stories behind this week's action.
LA MASIA GIVES BEREFT BARCA A BOOST
Xavi departs, Pedro is sold. Lionel Messi is injured and cannot play for two months while Andres Iniesta limps off. These are strange days for Barcelona who are made to cope with fewer and fewer high-class la Masia graduates by the week.
For a team who cannot field any new signings until January, their mounting injuries could have proven to be problematic - especially in light of a malfunctioning youth system which is not capable of bulking out the squad as easily as in previous years. The successive graduations of Carles Puyol, Xavi, Victor Valdes, Iniesta, Gerard Pique, Cesc Fabregas, Messi and Sergio Busquets are unmatched in football history and it is perhaps inevitable that the well ran dry.
Crucially, though, Sergi Roberto and Munir el Haddadi came up with the goods when needed. Sergi has been around the Barcelona first-team picture for quite some time without making much of an impact but is playing well as a frequent deputy for Dani Alves.
He picked the right time to score his first Champions League goal since December 2011, and only his second overall, when equalising on a tough night against Bayer Leverkusen. His crucial breakthrough speared the Germans' resistance and gave Barca the platform to go for the kill.
It was Munir's piece of magic inside the area which prompted Luis Suarez's late winner; an assist forged in la Masia and evoking a certain No. 10 missing on the night.
With Aleix Vidal and Arda Turan ineligible until January, Luis Enrique is relying on homemade solutions to see them through this difficult period.
CITY STILL RELIANT ON 'FIRST WAVE' SIGNINGS
It seems in 2015 we have come to appreciate Vincent Kompany as a great defender due to his absences for Manchester City as much as his presence in the backline. Since seeing him limp off against Juventus, Kompany's team-mates have succumbed to defeats to the Italian champions, West Ham and Tottenham and largely failed to impress again in the Champions League defeat of Borussia Monchengladbach on Wednesday.
With Kompany, they look unstoppable. However, while Nicolas Otamendi, Martin Demichelis and Eliaquim Mangala have indeed struggled to form partnerships in Kompany's absence it is the lack of meaningful impact for City's other recent signings which will cause as much concern for coach Manuel Pellegrini.
It was again up to Sergio Aguero to make sure of the points for City, bailing them out as he did by winning and converting a late penalty.
Kompany was signed in 2008, before the Abu Dhabi money kicked in, David Silva came on board in 2010 with Yaya Toure and Aguero was bought in 2011. Due to the wages City pay, they don't tend to lose many players to better clubs as evidenced by their retention of Silva and Aguero, in particular, through the years.
However, that Pellegrini is still wholly reliant on City's 'first wave' signings and the club have not been able to find players of similar impact is both concerning for the coach and an indictment on their ability to attract the top names to supplement what is already on the books.
Big money was spent on this team in the summer, following a period of parsimony due to Financial Fair Play restrictions. While Kevin de Bruyne has looked sharp in the Premier League, with plenty of goals already scored, City still look incapable of doing the business without their long-standing core.
Building a team to win the league twice has cost the Abu Dhabi group over £1bn. To make inroads in the Champions League could cost twice that amount unless some value for money is demonstrated.
SHREWD PORTO DO IT AGAIN IN THE TRANSFER MARKET
Alex Sandro, Jackson Martinez and Danilo left Porto over the summer for around €100m between them. Porto replaced Martinez and Danilo with two free signings in Maxi Perreira and Pablo Daniel Osvaldo. Furthermore, two of last season's key men, Casemiro and Oliver Torres, have also departed for Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid respectively after their loan deals expired. That's at least five of last year's team gone and needing to be replaced.
You could be forgiven for thinking that Porto might make a slow start domestically and in the Champions League. Not so. Julen Lopetegui's men followed up their O Classico defeat of arch-rivals Benfica a couple of weeks ago with a hugely impressive 2-1 win over Chelsea on matchday two in the Champions League.
Porto have done it again; showing the way when it comes to not only selling but replacing talent. While Osvaldo has yet to find form or fitness, with his path to the first team blocked by the formidable Vincent Aboubakar, Maxi has slotted in well at right back and is performing at his usual aggressive best. The form of newly-signed midfielders Giannelli Imbula and Andre Andre, who scored the opener here, has meant that Casemiro and Torres have scarcely been missed so far.
Elsewhere Iker Casillas has done well while Tecatito Corona will prove to be a shrewd acquisition once he settled among a broadening Mexican contingent at the club.
It will, however, be Yacine Brahimi and Ruben Neves who will lead Porto through their next set of twin objectives; winning titles and being sold for big money. The Algerian talisman is playing the football of his life and has been hugely influential in the Champions League so far while Neves belies his 18 years with performances of increasing confidence and authority.
BENFICA STUN SIMEONE AND ATLETICO
While Olympiacos's defeat of Arsenal at the Emirates could be described as a massive shock, the Gunners enter every match with that propensity to do something very 'Arsenal' - such as lose 3-2 to a side who themselves had lost their last 12 games in England. Meanwhile, BATE Borisov were at home while upsetting Roma and Rudi Garcia's ineptitude for coaching tasks in the Champions League - three wins in 20 - is well documented.
With that in mind, it was Benfica's overturning of Atletico Madrid at Vicente Calderon which was the biggest surprise of matchday two. Diego Simeone's has recast a previously shambolic side in his own image - organisation, aggression and a distaste for conceding goals.
Atleti had not conceded one at their famous old ground in this competition since March 2014 and you'd have to go back a year further than that to find their last defeat on home soil - February 2013 against Rubin Kazan in the Europa League. All in all they had won 21 of their previous 24 home European games before Wednesday.
Simeone has made Atletico Champions League mainstays as well as contenders for domestic titles but there is a softness in their bellies of late that belies the fire put into them by the Argentine. The goals they gave up against Benfica - who nonetheless deserve immense credit for the manner in which they executed this victory - were lax and bore the hallmarks of slipshod defending. That is very un-Simeone.
The defeat came on the heels of a weekend defeat to Villarreal in la Liga, where they are already off the pace, with Real Madrid to play at the weekend. As subtly as Simeone forged Atletico as one of Europe's finest sides, they are slipping back down the pecking order and would do well to repeat their 4-0 hammering of their city rivals at the weekend.
LEWANDOWSKI AND PEP BENEFIT FROM CHANGE OF MINDSET
The numbers are scarcely believable. Robert Lewandowski has scored 10 goals in his last five halves of football. He has scored 10 of Bayern Munich's last 13 goals including seven in a row in the Bundesliga in matches against Wolfsburg and Mainz. He has discovered another level - beyond even Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Pep Guardiola has set his attack up in a more Lewandowski-friendly way and it has benefitted his centre forward. The Poland captain was occasionally asked to play left-wing last season and was even a substitute to be brought on after a 'false 9' had run the opposition backline into the ground.
Guardiola, though, has gone back to basics with Lewandowski and has been rewarded not only with a goal flood but better all-round performances from the No. 9. There is nothing revolutionary about his methods either. He has deployed Kinglsey Coman and, especially, Douglas Costa wide of Lewandowski and the 27-year-old has been allowed to gorge on crosses. The stationing of Thomas Muller close to the front line, too, has helped prevent Lewandowski being isolated.
Guardiola has found the formula to get the best out of Lewandowski. With Borussia Dortmund to face at the weekend, can he now do the same for Mario Gotze?
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