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4 takeaways from Wednesday's Champions League action

Albert Gea / Reuters

The continent's big boys pulled their weight Wednesday to complete Matchday 3 of the Champions League group stage, with Barcelona and Bayern Munich laying down the gauntlet.

Pep Guardiola's Manchester City was, oddly enough, fodder for Lionel Messi and Co., who put in another dominant performance at the Camp Nou.

And the good times keep rolling for Arsenal, which is looking more and more like an elite challenger.

Here are four major storylines from Wednesday's action:

Kimmich one of Europe's rising stars

One of Guardiola's lasting legacies at Bayern is Joshua Kimmich. The 21-year-old earned rave reviews during the Spaniard's watch, and played wherever Bayern had a need.

That required several appearances at centre-back, where Kimmich acquitted himself without much difficulty.

He's since returned to his more natural position in midfield, but under new manager Carlo Ancelotti, Kimmich has conversely explored a more offensive side to his game.

He has eight goals in his past 11 matches for club and country - a remarkable return for a player who had just three tallies in his entire career before the start of the season.

The latest of his exploits came in Wednesday's 4-1 win over PSV.

"We knew about his qualities in defence and in our build-up play. Now he's made his mark in attack," said 'keeper Manuel Neuer earlier in the season. "It's fantastic for us."

Kimmich has an incredible sense of timing. Part of his recent success is down to running into open channels and meeting the end of crosses. It's a bit how Filippo Inzaghi made his living for so many years.

The majority of Kimmich's goals are tap-ins, the result of being in the right place at the right time, but that kind of supplementary scoring is a boon to any title contender.

Individual mistakes cost Guardiola's City

City virtually inflicted defeat upon itself Wednesday, a combination of errors producing a nightmare of an evening at the Camp Nou.

Barcelona's hard enough to beat on a good day, but Guardiola's men certainly didn't seem up to the challenge on this occasion.

Fernandinho's unfortunate slip allowed Messi to score the first goal in a hat-trick performance, Claudio Bravo's red card for a blatant handball left City down to 10 men, Kevin De Bruyne's uncharacteristic giveaway led to the second goal, and an errant Ilkay Gundogan back-pass gifted another.

The quality of City's ball movement was simply horrendous.

It was a 4-0 humbling for the visitor, and although City has never looked worse under Guardiola this season, it's also a reminder that this project is indeed one in progress.

The manager made the bold decision to drop Sergio Aguero from the starting XI, but that isn't what cost City in the end. The risks of playing with a sweeper-keeper like Bravo were laid bare, and the absence of concentration was apparent. It was a night when City players clearly didn't - or couldn't - execute Guardiola's game plan.

This isn't a case of blowing up the whole operation. Individual mistakes can be fixed - and City has the right manager to do the repairing.

It's just ironic that Guardiola's re-education has begun in earnest at the house he helped build.

Arsenal's attack clicking

Arsene Wenger cracked a smile on the sideline as he discussed the 6-0 win over Ludogorets with assistant Steve Bould.

The Frenchman said last week that the vibes are good at the moment, and perhaps it hasn't been so positive in years. Arsenal is now on a seven-match winning streak in all competitions, and it hasn't lost a game in 11 outings.

The Gunners are simply doing what they have historically done best: scoring pretty goals.

Even without Olivier Giroud - the old-fashioned No. 9 who could frustrate and excite in equal measure - Arsenal is finding ways to bulge the net.

It's not of the pedestrian variety. Alexis Sanchez showed a touch of class as he executed a perfect chip over Ludogorets goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov, and then there's Theo Walcott, who's enjoying his own renaissance after years of disappointment. The England international thumped his seventh goal in six matches to continue a hot run of form.

Mesut Ozil, the so-called luxury player, struck his first professional hat trick to cap the night. The man tasked with assists has yet to provide many of note this season, but he's now hitting back at the critics who called for more goals. Ozil is playing higher up the field, getting more touches, and taking the majority of his shots inside the penalty area. A predominantly left-footed player, he even smashed in a half-volley with his right.

It's all working.

Napoli's struggles continue at the back

Maurizio Sarri has the biggest task of his managerial career on hand.

Dropping a 3-2 result to Besiktas when a win could've sealed a last-16 berth, Napoli suffered a third consecutive loss in all competitions.

The loss of Arkadiusz Milik is certainly a factor, but not the reason for the slide. It's too easy to label his absence as the problem.

Instead, Napoli's defence has cost the team any momentum gained from the beginning of the season.

It's perhaps no coincidence that these losses (against Atalanta, Roma, and Besiktas) came without centre-back Raul Albiol in the lineup, but even when he's present, the defence isn't rock-solid. There's a lack of pace and attention to detail in Napoli's ranks, Kalidou Koulibaly's slow reaction time and poor marking chief among the concerns.

Of course, it doesn't help to give away the ball cheaply. Jorginho mistimed a back-pass that gifted Vincent Aboubakar the first of his two goals, and it was that kind of mistake that killed the Partenopei.

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