Stuttgart to RC Lens: six places, zero points between them
Stuttgart sit 6th on 3 points and RC Lens sit 9th on the same total, with a goal difference of 0 separating the pair.
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The gap is nothing. Stuttgart are 6th in the UEFA Champions League table with 3 points from 1 match, and RC Lens are 9th with exactly the same haul. Six places in the standings, 0 points between them.
What separates them is goals. Stuttgart have scored 3 and conceded 1, a difference of 2. RC Lens have also scored 3, but they have shipped 2, leaving them on 1.
Both arrive on the back of a win. Stuttgart are 1W, RC Lens are 1W, and neither has dropped a point yet. The difference in how they got there is worth a look.
Stuttgart did their work at home: 1 win, 0 draws, 0 defeats on their own ground, with nothing yet away from it. RC Lens went the other way entirely, taking 1 win from 1 road match and playing no home fixture at all.
Above them, the top of the table is compressed too. PSG lead on 3 points at +5, with Bayern level on points and goal difference in 2nd. Barça and Man United both sit on 3 points at +4 and +4. Como 1907 are 5th on +3.
So a single result moves people several rows. That is the arithmetic of a first matchday, and it cuts both ways: the team in 6th is one heavy defeat from the bottom half, and the team in 9th is one win from the top five.
At the other end of the scoring charts, Ermedin Demirovic of Stuttgart and Ferrán Torres of PSG have 3 each. Erling Haaland of Man City, Sehrou Guirassy of Dortmund and Bartra of Real Betis are on 2 apiece.
The UEFA Champions League resumes on Tuesday 13 October, when RC Lens host Sporting CP. The previous round, on Thursday 10 September, finished 2-3 between Slavia Praha and RC Lens.
Zero points of separation across six places. Enjoy it while the table is this tight.