Champions League asked and answered: Real Madrid's luck runs out, Bayern Munich disappoint, Aston Villa excel

By the time the first batch of Matchday 2 fixtures came to a close, it felt like an uneventful round of games were in the cards. Tuesday's lopsided wins for Europe's heavyweights, though, were thankfully not indicative of Wednesday's action, which delivered a healthy batch of surprises.

Chief among them is Real Madrid's 1-0 loss to Lille, snapping a 36-game overall unbeaten run, while Bayern Munich's 42-match unbeaten streak in the group stage and league phase officially ended with a 1-0 loss at Aston Villa. Then there's 10-man Juventus, who delivered the most exciting result of Matchday 2 by coming back from a 2-1 deficit to win 3-2 over RB Leipzig. 

The surprises – and in some cases, the expected outcomes – mean Matchday 2 provided some meaningful check-ins on Europe's top teams, in large part revealing a batch of imperfections that could tease an entertaining season ahead.

Here's the latest batch of questions that arise from a jam-packed round of Champions League games.

Did Real Madrid's imbalance finally catch up to them? 

Yes, much to the delight of those who were bored by the sense of inevitability that defined last season's title-winning run. Real Madrid have long been a fairly wasteful team in Europe, bailed out by a high-caliber attacking group that finally ran out of luck on Wednesday. Take their first half against Lille – they took just four shots and put only two on target, mustering a measly 0.74 expected goals before going down 1-0. The deficit kicked their dormant attack into overdrive, but despite posting eight shots, four on goal and 1.46 expected goals, they could not find the end product. It's par for the course with Carlo Ancelotti's side, who rank in the Champions League's top six for shots, shots on goal and expected goals but 12th for shot-on-goal percentage. They played like this last season too, and though it did not matter then, it might actually be a problem they have to address this time around.

How impressive are Aston Villa?

Pretty impressive. Aston Villa planned to absorb Bayern Munich's pressure and successfully did just that, a familiar strategy for Unai Emery's team but one that was executed to near perfection on Wednesday. Coupled with Villa's form to start the season in all competitions, though, it's clear Emery is building a tactical flexible team with some very talented goalscorers. Though Watkins managed just one shot, his four goals and three assists this season are nothing to scoff at but the breakout star of the season so far is no doubt Jhon Duran, perhaps the game's best super substitute in recent memory with five goals this season. Our James Benge wonders if he is Unai Emery's Mariano Rivera. A big question heading into the season was how Villa would handle the balance of midweek Champions League fixtures and high-stakes Premier League games over the weekend but things are so far, so good, making them a team to keep an eye on in both domestic and continental play.

How are Manchester City coping without Rodri?

The results are mixed so far, not that Tuesday's 4-0 dismantling of Slovan Bratislava would indicate that. Manager Pep Guardiola has run with three different midfield duos since Rodri tore his ACL – Rico Lewis and Nico O'Reilly in an EFL Cup win over Watford, Lewis and Mateo Kovacic in a Premier League draw against Newcastle United, and Ilkay Gundogan and Matheus Nunes against Bratislava. The varied team selection is just a reminder that City's ability to rotate is one of their greatest strengths, allowing Guardiola to rest his top players on the less challenging game days. It's an important strategy as the team navigates a heavy fixture load but the jury's still out on how strong City are without Rodri. They dominated possession but were unconvincing in attack against Newcastle over the weekend, which perhaps suggests that City's problems are bigger than just Rodri. The sample size is small so far and City have the benefit of a relatively straightforward league phase schedule, but the team's progress without Rodri will be worth following as the season continues.

How is the race for Europe's next top manager going?

The excess of managerial demand compared to supply over the summer highlighted the fact that Europe's top clubs are eager to discover the game's next top managers. Bayer Leverkusen Xabi Alonso leads his generation of managers as things stand, but he's far from the only one to keep an eye on this season. Liverpool's Arne Slot might be right up there with him after two consecutive wins in the Champions League, while Borussia Dortmund's Nuri Sahin is beginning to make a case for himself with two wins out of two. Thiago Motta also came out on top in Matchday 2 with his first statement win in charge of Juventus, where he's already off to a strong start.

Two young managers are most certainly in trouble at this early stage of the competition, though – Bayern's Vincent Kompany and RB Salzburg's Pepijn Lijnders. The generous read on Kompany is that the jury's still out on him, but he came out winless in the two biggest games of his stay in Munich so far – a draw against Leverkusen and a loss at Villa. There's little to suggest so far that a whiplash-inducing move from Burnley to Bayern was not too soon in his young managerial career, but at least he's not faring as badly as Lijnders. Jurgen Klopp's former assistant landed an ideal job in some ways, working for a club that boasts plenty of financial might in their domestic competition and can use European competition as a launching pad, much like Jesse Marsch did years ago. Instead, Salzburg sit third in the Australian Bundesliga and most shockingly, have been outscored seven to zero in the Champions League so far. There's still time to reverse course, but if things continue at this rate, Lijnders' stab at being a top-level manager in Europe might be over before it even starts.