TUESDAY’S Champions League action has concluded after some thrilling ties around Europe.
Earlier, Liverpool continued their perfect record in the competition with a win in Girona, as Mohamed Salah’s penalty was the difference between the two sides.
On Tuesday evening, fellow Premier League giants Aston Villa edged a five-goal thriller with RB Leipzig.
Elsewhere, Jude Bellingham helped Real Madrid to a 3-2 win over Atalanta – and Bayern thrashed Shakhtar 5-1 despite going 1-0 down early doors.
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Still plenty to come
Another huge card of Champions League action to come tomorrow night, too!
Here’s what we’ve got to look forward to:
5.45pm
- Atletico Madrid vs Slovan Bratislava
- Lille vs Sturm Graz
8pm
- Milan vs Red Star
- Arsenal vs Monaco
- Benfica vs Bologna
- Dortmund vs Barcelona
- Feyenoord vs Sparta Prague
- Juventus vs Man City
- Stuttgart vs Young Boys
‘Love the competition’
Jhon Duran says he’s enjoying the competition to be Villa’s number 9 with Ollie Watkins.
And the forward – who turns 21 this week – insists there will be no celebrations with all eyes on scoring this Saturday.
He told Amazon Prime Sport: “I am just happy to be here and love the competition with Ollie Watkins. When it is my turn hopefully I can step up and help the team.
“We’re so happy to be where we are and we are almost through so we are delighted about that.
“I am definitely not going out to celebrate my birthday [on Friday] because my aim is to score to celebrate on Saturday to celebrate.”
50 up
Kylian Mbappe scored tonight’s opener for Real Madrid.
But he was subbed with an injury in the first half as Madrid’s injury woes continue.
It was the Frenchman’s 50th Champions League goal already!
On the game, Jude Bellingham told TNT: “Really important for us to get the points tonight. We knew how difficult it would be. It was important we got over the line.“
Villa report
By Graeme Bryce
Aston Villa finally managed to grab the Red Bull by the horns as super sub Ross Barkley snatched a dramatic late win in Leipzig.
Villa inspirational sub was only on the park for two minutes when he crashed home a shot which took a wicked deflection off Lukas Klostermann to leave Peter Gulacsi stranded.
Villa rode their luck at times and led Leipzig twice – only to let them back in twice.
But Barkley’s winner proved just too much for the home side to recover from as Villa stormed into the top eight of the Champions League.
If Carlsberg did starts to a football match they would have hand-picked this one for Villa.
Unai Emery’s men were in dreamland when skipper John McGinn fired them in front with just two minutes and 33 seconds on the clock.
Reds report
By Charlie Wyett
You really have to spare a thought for Caoimhin Kelleher – he must be the only pi**ed off person under Arne Slot at Liverpool.
Despite helping his team storm to the top of the table in both England and Europe over the last two months, winning 10 games and drawing two, the Irish keeper was booted out of the team the moment No.1 keeper Alisson was fit.
Kelleher, who has made it known he wants to leave Merseyside, was forced to sit on the bench here in Catalonia and, predictably, watch Alisson prove why he is surely the best keeper in the world.
On a night when Slot’s team under-performed, Alisson proved there was no rustiness in his game with five key saves.
Slot’s surprisingly toothless attack was helped by VAR on the hour when it spotted that former Manchester United midfielder Donny van de Beek had stood on the heel of Luiz Diaz.
Mo Salah, who barely got a kick all night, delivered a textbook penalty meaning that of Liverpool’s last 23 goals, 20 of them have come in the second half.
Progression
Brendan Rodgers was disappointed with the lack of quality up the top end for Celtic as they stuttered to a 0-0 at Dinamo Zagreb.
But he reckons the fact there is disappointment in the camp shows how far they’ve come in this competition – despite still not winning away from home.
He said: “The positive is we’ve come away from the game defensively strong and didn’t concede. I thought we lacked quality in the final third. The pitch was a little bit tricky.
“We had great energy, good commitment. In the Champions League, if you get a clean sheet and take a point away from home and you’re not very happy, that shows how the team has progressed.”
‘Small injury’
Unai Emery confirms Jhon Duran replaced Ollie Watkins at half time as the Englishman had a small injury.
More on that to come likely – but it proved inspired anyway with Duran doing what he does.
How we stand
A look at the top of the Champions League table after the halfway point of matchday 6.
Liverpool still rolling along clear in front.
Aston Villa up to third now after that win tonight!
‘Could’ve been more’
John McGinn hailed the Villa substitutes for coming on and making a difference in their big win in Leipzig.
The Celtic fan says this one sets them up for games against Monaco and the Hoops.
He told Amazon Prime Sport: “It was disappointing losing the offside goal. I think the two goals we conceded were disappointing from our point of view. I thought overall we were the better team and we could have scored more.
“We dealt with their problems well and what we needed today was substitutes to come on and make a difference.
“It is exciting. We had some disappointing results off the great start and it is great to be in the top three. We have that Monaco game and then a nice one against Celtic.”
Angry Slot
Arne Slot was furious with his Liverpool team even though they maintained their 100 per cent Champions League record.
Mo Salah’s second half penalty means the Reds look certain to finish in the top eight and avoid a play-off round in February.
But boss Slot, who welcomed back keeper Alisson from injury, tore into his team for not being “aggressive” enough and failing to take control of the game in Spain.
The Dutchman said: “I’m really pleased with the first five games, but I’m far from pleased about this performance. Especially two things.
“If you play against a team that has such a good idea about football and knows how to bring the ball out from the back like some of the teams we’ve played recently, like City or Real Madrid, you need to be so intense if you want to make it difficult for them.
“But we were so easily outplayed and then this team can cause you a lot of problems. They showed this in their games, in all of the Champions League this season, except PSV Eindhoven. I almost feel sorry for them as they deserve so much more points than the three points they have.
“The other part is every time we lost the ball, we were not aggressive enough so every time we lost the ball, they could go almost all the way to our goal and have a shot. We had hardly any control at all over the game. Maybe the second half was a bit better – I’m trying to be positive.”
FT – Club Brugge 2-1 Sporting
Club Brugge do cling on in stoppage time.
Huge win for them as the post-Ruben Amorim era continues to stall for Sporting!
Full time from Graeme Bryce in Leipzig
RB Leipzig were beaten by Villa’s very own RB …. Ross Barkley.
Villa’s supersub came off the bench to grab a famous win – although his winner owed everything to a massive deflection.
The midfielder won’t care about that however.
Leipzig’s sponsors Red Bull might give you wings.
But Villa’s RB gives you wins!
FULL TIMES!
Still playing in Brugge where the second half kicked off late due to a first half injury.
But we’re all done everywhere else.
- Girona 0-1 Liverpool
- Dinamo Zagreb 0-0 Celtic
- Atalanta 2-3 Real Madrid
- Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 Inter Milan
- Club Brugge 2-1 Sporting Lisbon LATEST
- RB Salzburg 0-3 PSG
- Shakhtar Donetsk 1-5 Bayern Munich
- RB Leipzig 2-3 Aston Villa
- Brest 1-0 PSV Eindhoven
90 – GOAL! Shakhtar 1-5 BAYERN
Incredible solo goal from MICHAEL OLISE!
He collects the ball 25 yards from goal and beats five defenders to get into the box and 1v1 with the keeper.
He fakes a shot to sit the keeper down and cheekily rolls the ball into the back of an empty net. Potential for goal of the night, that. Beauty.
84 – GOAL! CLUB BRUGGE 2-1 Sporting
Huge, huge goal in Belgium for the home side!
CASPER NIELSEN is off the bench for the matter of a couple of minutes before he’s sent clean through down the right.
He shows great pace to stay clear and finishes tremendously well beyond the keeper into the far corner.
90 – GOAL! LEVERKUSEN 1-0 Inter
The deadlock is finally broken in Germany!
Mukiele attempts an overhead kick but instead plays it down the right of the area for a team-mate.
The ball is flashed across goal and when the kick is missed from a few yards out, it lands at the feet of NORDI MUKIELE who smashes home from six yards out!
87 – GOAL! Shakhtar 1-4 BAYERN
JAMAL MUSIALA wraps it all up!
He is down in the area looking for a penalty as Bayern play on. He hops to his feet on the penalty spot when the ball lands at his feet.
He feigns to shoot and sits two defenders down before passing into the corner.
85 – GOAL! Salzburg 0-3 PSG
Splendid team goal and DESIRE DOUE has it.
PSG work it superbly down the right and when Hakimi looks set to score from eight yards out, he opts to roll it across the six-yard box for Doue to smash into the top corner.
85 – GOAL! Leipzig 2-3 ASTON VILLA
A huge, huge goal for Villa and it’s ROSS BARKLEY who has it!
But it ‘s with the help of an almighty deflection.
Leipzig struggle to clear it on the edge of their own box and it’s cleared to Barkley 25 yards from goal. He takes a touch and slips as he hits it, it takes a wicked deflection to wrong-foot the keeper and arrows into the opposite corner.
Villa won’t care one jot.
Latest scores
Champions League latest scores entering the final 20 minutes:
- Atalanta 2-3 Real Madrid
- Bayer Leverkusen 0-0 Inter Milan
- Club Brugge 1-1 Sporting Lisbon
- RB Salzburg 0-2 PSG
- Shakhtar Donetsk 1-3 Bayern Munich
- RB Leipzig 2-2 Aston Villa
- Brest 1-0 PSV Eindhoven
Second half view from Graeme Bryce in Leizpig
Ollie Watkins left the pitch at half-time clutching his thigh and was replaced at the break by Jhon Duran.
And the Colombian kid rose to the occasion again as he swept home another stunner to put Villa ahead.
He thought he had wrapped up all three points when he tapped home a Matty Cash centre – only for VAR to catch Cash offside.
And amazingly Leipzig cashed in on the reprieve to stun Villa with another equaliser as Openda picked out Cristoph Baumgartner whose cushioned volley flew over Martinez to find the top corner of Villa’s net.
A big finale is needed now from Villa.
72 – GOAL! Salzburg 0-2 PSG
And that looks like game over in Austria!
Barcola involved again, sliding in Doue down the left. His cut-back is met by NUNO MENDES who carried on his run and he smashes into the top corner from seven yards.
Huge win this!
69 – GOAL! Shakhtar 1-3 BAYERN
No, no. This CANNOT be a penalty! Madrid’s luck is matched by Bayern’s here. Extremely harsh and maybe a bit of ‘big team’ tax there.
Sacha Boey is shutting a shot down and slides in, hitting the turf first and almost as a trip on himself makes contact with a Bayern man.
Penalty given but very harsh.
MICHAEL OLISE strokes it home.
65– GOAL! ATALANTA 2-3 Real Madrid
Game on again after a terrific ADEMOLA LOOKMAN strike!
He’s picked out with a switch of play wide on the left.
He works it inside onto his right foot away from Lucas and smashes low and hard at the near post, beyond Courtois with sheer power.
62 – GOAL! LEIPZIG 2-2 Aston Villa
Stunning finish this and Leipzig – who thought they were 3-1 down a couple of minutes ago – are level!
Jhon Duran gives the ball away midway inside Leipzig’s half and the hosts break, via a long ball for Openda.
He gets in behind but has to slow up. He does so and waits for CHRISTOPH BAUMGARTNER who is at an angle and delicately volleys back across goal and into the far corner passed a despairing Martinez. Beauty.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
