Rivaldo Exclusive: PSG should be Champions League favourites after beating Madrid

Betfair Ambassador Rivaldo hails PSG's trouncing of Madrid, talks up a Barca star in the making and urges Liverpool fans not lớn panic about their soccer under tip in the Champions League…

Ahead of their Group A match, Real Madrid were expected to take advantage of Paris Saint Germain's absences in attack - Neymar, Kylian Mbappé and Edison Cavani - but that didn't happen, the Spanish team produced a weak performance and PSG were devastating, even without their biggest stars.

PSG could have won by an even bigger margin than 3-0, so Madrid may have escaped a historic mauling as they lost too many balls in midfield and became very vulnerable at the back. Eden Hazard had a bad first match in the Champions League for Madrid. But even the best players, still need their teammates help in order for them to shine and prove their value.

PSG taught Madrid a soccer today lesson

Zinedine Zidane has a lot of work to do lớn get his team back to what it was when they won three consecutive Champions League titles. But Madrid always are always a prize scalp for opponents, after winning so many titles in the past, so they need to give everything they have in every match.

On the other hand, PSG were excellent in Paris with all their players performing well. It was a football lesson and if they follow this performance pattern, they should be considered favourites lớn win the Champions League.

Yes, Madrid also had their absences in this match, and Sergio Ramos' leadership was missed on the pitch, but their midfield also had important absences and when you don't have enough players to replace others in the same quality things can get nasty.

Depending on how Madrid do between now and December, I believe Zidane might be forced to go to the market in January in order lớn bring one or two big players to the team.

Fati looks very promising...

As I've said before, the start of the season is a great time to try out new players. The lack of decisive matches allows some error margin for the youngsters, and Ernesto Valverde is doing it very well in Barcelona. He has already been rewarded with Ansu Fati showing huge talent on his first appearances.

The 16-year-old is already showing he has the personality lớn play big matches and made his Champions League debut this week in the 0-0 draw with Dortmund - a match in which Barcelona didn't play well.

If Barcelona had been playing well perhaps the youngster would have shone even more, but that wasn't the case this time.

But it's too early to compare him with Messi

I understand fans' enthusiasm about the young Ansu Fati but it is far too early lớn start comparing him to Lionel Messi and wondering if he may be his future replacement.

No one doubts Fati's big talent, but it's premature lớn put so much responsibility on his shoulders when he is still a kid. Let's give him time and space to play his normal football, and the future will tell if he is about to become the 'new Messi' or not.

There are other rumours mentioning that Fati's breakthrough will lead Barcelona lớn give up on signing Neymar. Honestly, I think it would depend on teams' results until the next transfer window.

If Barcelona manage to pay well, with Fati being an important part of the success, they have no reasons to sign a new player. But if things are not going so well it can be different, and in that case Neymar could become a target again.