Matchday three of the Champions League group stages can often prove to be a pivotal stage of the campaign, and it was no different this time around as some of Europe's biggest teams went head to head.
Borussia Dortmund produced arguably the result of the round with a 4-0 win over Atletico Madrid to take control of Group A, while Barcelona's 2-0 triumph over Inter Milan saw them move clear in Group B.
Tottenham Hotspur's hopes hang by a thread in that group after they only managed a draw with PSV Eindhoven, and fellow Premier League side Manchester United also endured a disappointing result as they were outclassed at Old Trafford by Juventus.
There was better news for Manchester City and Liverpool, though, with City producing a hugely impressive 3-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine and Liverpool beating Red Star Belgrade 4-0 at Anfield.
The result was enough to take them top of Group C courtesy of Paris Saint-Germain's late equaliser at home to Napoli.
Here, Sports Mole selects its best XI from all 16 games on matchday three.
Despite 10 teams keeping clean sheets in midweek there were not many standout goalkeeping performances. Fernando Muslera gets the nod for us having made six saves in Galatasaray's 0-0 draw with Schalke 04, while Inter's Samir Handanovic, Valencia's Neto and Roma's Robin Olsen were also in the running.
There was huge competition at left-back, though, with Jordi Alba, Andrew Robertson and Alex Sandro all in contention. It just so happened that two of Dortmund's star performers were competing for the place too, and Achraf Hakimi wins the race after producing three assists in the win over Atletico. Teammate Raphael Guerreiro was his closest rival for a place in the team, having come off the bench to score twice in that same game.
Bayern Munich's Rafinha also featured at left-back, but his versatility means that there is a place for him on the opposite flank in this XI courtesy of his assist and clean sheet in the 2-0 win over AEK Athens. He is joined in the back four by Galatasaray defender Ozan Kabak, who defied his 18 years of age to produce a fine performance in the draw with Schalke.
Liverpool may have hit four past Red Star Belgrade, but their two representatives in this team are both defensive ones. Joe Gomez was assured and commanding when called upon at Anfield, winning a game-high eight aerial duels to beat the likes of Matthijs de Ligt, Giorgio Chiellini and Abdou Diallo to a place in the team.
Fabinho also excelled on his first Champions League start for the club, winning six aerial duels himself and making nine tackles to provide the base for Liverpool's dominant performance at Anfield and narrowly edge out Dortmund's Axel Witsel for a place in the team.
Arguably the game of the week saw Lyon draw 3-3 at Hoffenheim in a topsy-turvy encounter, where 21-year-old midfielder Tanguy Ndombele was the standout performer and capped his man-of-the-match display with a goal.
Man City's David Silva continued his fine form with another classy display in the win over Shakhtar, scoring once and hitting the woodwork twice as Pep Guardiola's side became the first English team to ever win away to Shakhtar.
Silva's teammate Raheem Sterling just misses out on a place in this XI to Hoffenheim's Andrej Kramaric, who scored twice in the draw with Lyon to hold off competition from the likes of Mohamed Salah, Yacine Brahimi, Cengiz Under and Jesus Corona.
PSG's Neymar earns his place in the team for the second matchday running having embarked on a mammoth 12 dribbles in an attempt to turn the game against Napoli in his side's favour, while Roma's Edin Dzeko also retains his place in the team from matchday two.
The Bosnian striker produced arguably the standout performance of the entire matchday with two goals and an assist against CSKA Moscow to lead the line ahead of Luuk de Jong, Roberto Firmino and Karim Benzema.
Barney Corkhill
