It was a week to remember in the Champions League for Chelsea and Arsenal, but not so for the rest of the English representatives with all four falling to defeats.
Chelsea rocked Barcelona at Stamford Bridge, cruising to a 3-0 lead on Wednesday night. Jules Kounde’s own goal and a Ronald Araujo red card in the first half provided the Blues with all the impetus to take the game to the Spanish giants. Goals from 18 year-old Estevao and forward Liam Delap put the Catalans to the sword and made it 4 consecutive European matches in a row without a defeat for the World Champions.
Also on Wednesday, Manchester City and Newcastle United lost out. Pep Guardiola made a brash decision to play a second-string side at home to Bayer Leverkusen, a decision he would be made to regret thanks to goals from Alejandro Grimaldo and Patrik Schick either side of half time. Newcastle took the lead in Marseille thanks to a goal from potential Scotland international Harvey Barnes, but two goals inside the first five minutes of the second half from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gave the Ligue 1 side all three points.
In the early kick-offs, Ajax continued their pointless start as Benfica beat them 2-0 with Samuel Dahl and Leandro Barreiro getting on the scoresheet and Union SG, who Hearts shareholder Tony Bloom also invests in, ran out 1-0 winners away to the cauldron of Galatasaray. Canadian Promise David netted the only goal 57 minutes in.
Kjetil Knutsen’s Bodo/Glimt ran Juventus close in the Arctic Circle, eventually falling to a 3-2 defeat when Jonathan David’s injury time winner secured victory amid unconfirmed reports of the Norwegian manager being ruled out of the Celtic running.
Rasmus Hojlund missed a penalty in Napoli’s hosting of Qarabag after scoring one in Denmark’s World Cup qualifier against Scotland, but Hampden hero Scott McTominay replicated his overhead kick with a less-spectacular acrobatic effort to give the Napoleons the lead. He also got the last touch before an own goal for the second in a 2-0 victory.
Borussia Dortmund defeated Villareal 4-0 at Signal Iduna Park and Slavia Prague and Athletic Bilbao played out a 0-0 stalemate in Czechia to round off Tuesday’s fixtures.
Liverpool were in the back pages for all the wrong reasons after losing 4-1 at Anfield to Eredevisie outfit PSV Eindhoven. Dominik Szoboslai cancelled out Ivan Perisic’s early opener just 15 minutes in, but second half goals from Guus Til and a double from Couhaib Driouech completed the rout as pressure grows on Arne Slot. It is the ninth defeat in 12 games for the Premier League champions.
Arsenal boosted their credentials as a European powerhouse after they beat Bayern Munich 3-1 at the Emirates. Jurrien Timber gave the Gunners the lead before 17 year-old Lennart Karl levelled things before half time. Two second half goals eight minutes apart from Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli created a historic night for Arsenal as they lead both the Premier League and Champions League table.
The same success could not be managed by the other side of North London, despite their best efforts. Spurs took the lead twice away to PSG with goals from Richarlison and Randal Kolo Muani but both were responded to by former Wolves loanee Vitinha. Fabian Ruiz and Willian Pacho gave the competition holders breathing room before Kolo Muani haunted his former employers again. Vitinha would reaffirm PSG’s two goal lead with a penalty in the 76th minute to complete his hat-trick, however.
In the early Wednesday kick-offs, Celtic’s old foes Kairat Almaty conceded to a goal from Hoops legend Henrik Larsson’s son, Jordan, scoring in a 3-2 home win that saw Almaty score twice late on. Cypriot side Pafos, who used to be managed by Dundee gaffer Steven Pressley, drew 2-2 at home to Monaco in a game which seen David Luiz become the second oldest scorer in the competition’s history.
Olympiacos took the lead against Real Madrid but four goals from Kylian Mbappe got Los Blancos over the line in a 4-3 epic, whilst city rivals Atletico scored a last minute winner courtesy of Jose Gimenez to dispatch last season’s runner-ups Inter Milan 2-1.
Sporting Lisbon beat Club Brugge 3-0 in the Portuguese capital and Atalanta won by the scoreline away to Eintracht Frankfurt to bring this week’s Champions League action to a close.
The Champions League is back Tuesday 9th December for the last time this calendar year, and the editor’s choice of clashes to look out for are Inter vs Liverpool on Tuesday, and Real Madrid vs Manchester City on Wednesday.
