🚨 SHOCK Real Madrid exit as Man City on alert, Liverpool target's contract talks delayed, Chelsea striker interest, UCL round-up, & more

An action-packed round-up, featuring today's transfer headlines and UCL news clips...

(Photo by Alexandre Schneider, Kevin C. Cox, Denis Doyle/Getty Images)

Good morning everyone and welcome to another Daily Briefing! Thanks as always for reading, and hope you enjoy :-)

Today’s top stories:

• A host of Liverpool transfer targets emerge

• A big name could be leaving Real Madrid

• Plus UCL news clips, player ratings, and more!

Champions League round-up

Manchester City thrash Borussia Dortmund

It ended up being a pretty comfortable night for Manchester City in the Champions League as they beat Borussia Dortmund 4-1.

Phil Foden scored twice, including one lovely effort in the second half, and Erling Haaland (who else?) also found the back of the net against his former club.

The visitors pulled one back from a well-worked team move, but Rayan Cherki put the gloss on the score-line with another lovely solo effort.

FT Manchester City 4-1 Borussia Dortmund [Pictures from TNT Sports]

Chelsea slip up with draw against Qarabag

Chelsea were held to a surprising 2-2 draw against minnows Qarabag, though Estevao Willian and Alejandro Garnacho scored two fine individual efforts on the night.

The Blues rotated heavily for this game, and it perhaps cost them as the home side came from 1-0 down to lead at half time.

Chelsea managed to come back to take a point, but it was a disappointing night overall from a game they should surely have been able to win quite comfortably.

FT Qarabag 2-2 Chelsea [Pictures from TNT Sports]

Newcastle pick up win against Athletic Bilbao

Two headers were enough to give Newcastle all three points as they picked up a 2-0 win at home to Athletic Bilbao.

Dan Burn opened the scoring with a superb header from a set piece that swerved past the opposition goalkeeper in some style.

Joelinton then added another shortly after the start of the second half, and it proved to be enough for Eddie Howe’s side.

FT Newcastle 2-0 Athletic Bilbao [Pictures from TNT Sports]

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Champions League scores in full

Qarabag 2-2 Chelsea
Pafos 1-0 Villarreal
Ajax 0-3 Galatasaray
Benfica 0-1 Bayer Leverkusen
Club Brugge 3-3 Barcelona
Inter Milan 2-1 Kairat
Manchester City 4-1 Borussia Dortmund
Marseille 0-1 Atalanta
Newcastle 2-0 Athletic Bilbao

Arsenal

• Mikel Arteta on Mikel Merino: “It’s a joy to have him, I always say the same thing,” Arteta said in his post-match press conference. It’s his versatility on the pitch, the things that he can do. It’s his mindset, it’s his leadership. Today we are missing a lot of attacking players and we had to find different solutions – he comes in, in the Champions League, scores two goals.” (Press conference)

Barcelona

• Barcelona player ratings after a frustrating draw away to Club Brugge in the Champions League.

Bayern Munich

• Bayern Munich are stepping up their interest in Feyenoord right-back Givairo Read, though he’s also on the radar of top Premier League clubs. (TEAMtalk)

Chelsea

• Chelsea want Vitor Roque, but could face a battle with other Premier League clubs to land the €50m-rated Palmeiras striker. (Mundo Deportivo)

• Chelsea are weighing up a move for Sven Botman, who is not certain to sign a new contract with Newcastle United. (Simon Phillips)

(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

• Chelsea are the latest club to be linked with Rodrygo Goes, who is unsettled at Real Madrid and possibly heading for a January exit. (Fichajes)

Liverpool

• Liverpool are one of the major Premier League clubs to have recently met with super agent Jorge Mendes for talks over a potential transfer move for Juventus attacking midfielder Kenan Yildiz. (Indy Kaila)

• Arsene Wenger on Florian Wirtz: “When Wirtz had the choice between going to Bayern Munich or to Liverpool. He said to Liverpool, ‘I come to you if I play No.10, I do not want to play wide’. Liverpool to get him say, ‘okay’. So they start him, they destroyed their midfield because their midfield was Gravenberch, Mac Allister and Szoboszlai, to play Wirtz they took Szoboszlai out. What have they done against Aston Villa? They came back to their normal midfield of last year. Tonight (against Real Madrid) they play Wirtz but I am sure Wirtz will play on the side because the manager has said, ‘if you want to play again you have to play wide because I do not want to disturb the midfield’.” (beIN Sports)

• Virgil van Dijk described Conor Bradley as “outstanding” in Liverpool’s win over Real Madrid - full story here!

• Explained: How Dominik Szoboszlai’s change of role has sparked Liverpool’s revival, but what does it mean for Florian Wirtz? (Mark Brus, the Daily Briefing)

• Hugo Ekitike = the new Roberto Firmino for Liverpool? (Mark Brus, the Daily Briefing)

• Givairo Read to Liverpool or Bayern Munich looks like a major transfer saga to watch out for, with growing interest from the Premier League and beyond for this “exceptional” young talent. (TEAMtalk)

• Liverpool are the favourites for Marc Guehi as it now looks like Real Madrid have ruled out a move for the Crystal Palace centre-back as his wage demands are too high. (AS)

• Liverpool are one of the clubs eyeing Kenan Yildiz as his new contract talks with Juventus have been delayed, though he’s also recently signalled that he wants to stay in Turin. (TEAMtalk)

Manchester City

• Manchester City player ratings after that dominant win over Borussia Dortmund!

• Could Manchester City be surprise contenders to sign Vinicius Junior from Real Madrid? Full story here!

Manchester United

• Ruud Gullit on Joshua Zirkzee: “I think from my point of view that he should have stayed in Italy, because he was really striving. He was really doing well at Bologna and I was hoping that he would go to Milan. I think that as soon as he went to Manchester United, it was the wrong decision. I mean, for a lot of players, moving to Manchester United has been the wrong decision. And whoever leaves them, plays well everywhere around Europe. I just hope that there’s a solution for him. Go back to Italy on loan if you can. Just play football. He’s a good player. But at the moment, it’s difficult at Manchester United.” (Metro)

(Photo by Matt McNulty/Getty Images)

Real Madrid

• Real Madrid have had enough of Vinicius Junior and it looks like he could soon be put up for sale by the Spanish giants. (Bild)

Tottenham

• Tottenham are already working behind the scenes to sign Brentford winger Kevin Schade, though Aston Villa are also keen on the 23-year-old Germany international. (Mark Brus, the Daily Briefing)

• Micky van de Ven is in line for a new contract at Tottenham as a reward for his fantastic recent form. (Telegraph)

• Tottenham are eyeing Konstantinos Koulierakis from Wolfsburg as they look to sign the next Van de Ven. (TBR Football)

• Tottenham are the favourites to sign Ivan Toney on loan from Al Ahli as he could be reunited with Thomas Frank as he pushes for a place in England’s 2026 World Cup squad. (TEAMtalk)