Is the Champions League already a four-horse race?

It may only be November but the Champions League is beginning to feel like a four-horse race.

The premier competition in European football is always competed for by the select few with the heavyweights of the game never far away when the tournament reaches its business end in April and May.

But with the group stage still to be completed a gap appears to already be forming between those who really believe they are in with a shout with winning it all and those who do not.

Reigning champions Chelsea put on an emphatic statement of intent in sweeping Juventus aside on Tuesday night just months on from lifting the trophy in Porto.

On the same evening, German champions Bayern Munich were maintaining their 100 per cent record with an away win at Dynamo Kyiv with star man Robert Lewandowski scoring for a ninth Champions League game in a row.

On Wednesday came the turn of two more of the real contenders with Manchester City and Liverpool in action.

City had the tougher task of the two with 2020 finalists Paris Saint-Germain in town, a team who beat them in Paris in the reverse fixture two months ago.

There was to be no repeat, however, with Pep Guardiola's side showing their class in a dominant win at the Etihad Stadium.

Despite going behind to a Kylian Mbappe strike, second-half goals from Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus secured a deserved victory and booked their place in the knockout phase with a game to spare.

"We pressed really well (in Paris) and we adjusted a little bit to what they do," Guardiola said afterwards after his defence had kept box-office attacking trio Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar largely quiet. "They are so dangerous, the quality they have is extraordinary.

"But we did a really good game being ourselves - aggressive with the ball and defending well when we defended deep. The important thing is to be ourselves.

"What gives you consistency is how you perform and the way we are performing is really good. People are enjoying watching us and we are enjoying playing. Hopefully we can sustain this for as long as possible."

Elsewhere, Liverpool continued to make a mockery of their so-called 'group of death' with another win, their 15-point haul a club record for this stage of the competition.

Three more points were won at Anfield with Thiago and Mohamed Salah seeing them comfortably home against an overmatched Porto.

"A lot of good things happened tonight but I'm not sure we should make the mistake of saying we are this or that again," manager Jurgen Klopp said afterwards.

"We will know at the end of the season - but we are in a good moment and we should try everything to keep that going."

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There remains a long way to go but these four sides feel a good distance ahead of the rest.

PSG's star power will always give them a chance but City's collective class was far too good for them on Wednesday night.

Cristiano Ronaldo has shown he will keep Manchester United in games until the very end, but the evident flaws around him will surely handicap their chances of making it all the way with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer paying the price for them already.

Record winners Real Madrid are through in their group but aren't the side of old while a now Messi-less Barcelona may not progress from theirs at all.

Others have impressed in patches but none with the effortlessness Chelsea and Liverpool have shown in recent months and while Bayern have off-field Covid problems to negotiate, they look as good as they ever have on it under new boss Julian Nagelsmann.

Much can change in football of course, but on their current trajectories all roads appear to lead to the final in Saint Petersburg for all four with their rivals trailing in their wake.