In this article, we take a look at all the action from Gameweek 3 in the UEFA Champions League phase.
French club AS Monaco turned on the screws in the second half to register an emphatic 5-1 victory over Crvena Zvezda on Tuesday during the third matchday of the UEFA Champions League.
Monaco, who played the first half at a slower tempo, stepped up their game in the second period to overpower Crvena Zvezda. Wilfried Singo, Maghnes Akliouche, Takumi Minamino, and Breel Embolo were all on the scoresheet for Monaco and have an exceptional game.
Still unbeaten after 11 matches in all competitions this season, ASM currently sits second in the Champions League points table with 7 points. Crvena Zvezda are yet to open their account this season and sit second from last on -9 goal difference.
AC Milan finally got off the mark in the Champions League with a 3-1 victory against Club Brugge, with Tijjani Reijnders scoring a match-winning brace.
Milan took the lead through rather strange circumstances when Christian Pulisic fired in a corner that beat everyone at the near post and nestled in. Then, when Raphael Onyedika saw red for a studs-up challenge, it looked like the home side were well in control.
Ten-man Brugge got themselves level through Sabbe to stun the San Siro crowd, but then two substitutes – Noah Okafor and Samuel Chukwueze – each set up Tijjani Reijnders as the Rossoneri scored twice in quick succession to earn the victory.
After back-to-back defeats in their first two Champions League games, Girona finally had their first win in the competition. Miguel Gutierrez and Juanpe scored in either half to earn Girona a 2-0 victory over Slovan Bratislava, and a first-ever win in the Champions League.
Gutierrez and Arnaut Danjuma combined brilliantly throughout on the left wing, and it was the latter’s run to the byline and pull-back that set up the wing-back to break the deadlock for the Spaniards with a first-time finish three minutes before half-time.
It took a moment of brilliance from Juanpe in the 73rd minute to make it 2-0, with his direct free-kick glancing off one of the players in the wall before flying into the net. Cristhian Stuani also had his penalty saved by Dominic Takac in the 88th minute, while Paulo Gazzaniga was called into late action to preserve his clean sheet by keeping out Tigran Barseghyan’s curling effort.
Nuno Santos and Viktor Gyökeres scored goals in either half as a dominant Sporting eased to a 2-0 away victory over Sturm Graz in their Champions League clash at the Woerthersee Stadium on Tuesday.
Sporting maintained their unbeaten start to the league phase, with seven points from their opening three games, but for the Austrians it was a third successive defeat with a trip to Borussia Dortmund next up on Nov. 5.
Sporting have won 11 of their last 12 games in all competitions, with the only blemish a 1-1 draw at PSV Eindhoven. They host Manchester City in their next Champions League fixture, also on Nov. 5.
In a rematch of last-season’s final, Dortmund lit up the game with a two-goal blitz around the half-hour mark from Donyell Malen and Jamie Gittens to silence the Bernabeu crowd.
However, the champions were livelier after the break and broke Dortmund’s resistance with Antonio Rüdiger’s header on the hour before Vinícius Junior equalised with a close-range strike.
Lucas Vázquez put Real ahead in the 83rd with an unstoppable strike after a counter-attack and Vinicius, with two magnificent pieces of individual brilliance, wrapped up the win to leave his side level with Dortmund on six points from three games.
Unai Emery’s Aston Villa won 2-0 against Italian side Bologna in their third Champions League match of 2024-25 on Tuesday night, making it three victories from three in the competition.
John McGinn opened the scoring in the 55th minute as he curled a free kick into the penalty area from near the touchline on right of the pitch, but his cross missed everyone in the box and instead bounced into the far corner.
Villa doubled their lead in the 64th minute thanks to Jhon Duran, who managed to evade his marker in the penalty area and flick on Morgan Rogers’s delivery across the face of goal and into the far corner.
The result leaves the host in first place with nine points in the league table of Europe’s premier competition. Meanwhile, Bologna remain on one point in 28th place, though they are only two points from a round of 16 playoff spot with five games left to play.
VfB Stuttgart claimed an impressive 1-0 win at Juventus in the Champions League on Tuesday thanks to El Bilal Touré’s stoppage-time strike as the hosts suffered their first loss this season.
The German side, who claimed their first Champions League victory, had been the more aggressive side throughout the game and got their reward in the 92nd minute when substitute Touré finally beat Juve’s back-up goalkeeper Mattia Perin, who despite the defeat was named player of the match.
Stuttgart had wasted a golden chance to take the lead four minutes from time when Perin saved Enzo Millot’s penalty while, the visitors also saw Deniz Undav’s effort disallowed early in the second half for handball by the Germany striker but ultimately managed to end a four-match winless run in all competitions. Juve stay on six points and Stuttgart have four.
Paris St Germain’s weaknesses on the biggest stage were once again exposed when they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League group phase on Tuesday.
The Ligue 1 leaders salvaged a point when Achraf Hakimi’s second-half strike cancelled out Noa Lang’s opener at the Parc des Princes, leaving Luis Enrique’s side on four points after three games.
Eredivisie leaders PSV, who made the most of PSG’s mediocrity in midfield, are still winless with two points.
Arsenal secured their second successive home win in the Champions League league phase this season with a less than comfortable 1-0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk at the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners needed a win after their defeat to Bournemouth last Saturday and their desire to score was evident throughout a dominant first half.
However, it was Gabriel Martinelli who broke the deadlock with what proved to be the decisive strike.
The Brazilian cut in from the left and struck a fine effort onto the post. The ball rebounded and hit Shakhtar goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk on the back before bobbling over the line.
In the second half Arsenal were awarded a penalty but Leandro Trossard had his effort stopped by Riznyk in some redemption for the keeper. Shakhtar then fought back well but it wasn’t to be. Arsenal keeper David Raya made a fine save late in the game to secure Arsenal’s third successive clean sheets in the competition.
Italian side Atalanta welcomed Celtic to the Bergamo. Celtic was coming into this gameweek with a 7-1 thrashing against Dortmund and managed to hold the hosts to a goalless draw. Atalanta started brightly with midfielder Mario Pašali?’s powerful shot unluckily hitting the bar and deflecting away from goal to the relief of the Hoops. Pašali? had another chance in the 28th minute but the Celtic goalie Kasper Schmeichel made a fantastic save from close-range.
Celtic were set up to defend after that thrashing against Dortmund and they were resolute with their goalkeeper Schmeichel in top form. While Celtic will be happy with the clean sheet, Atalanta will rue missed chances with Pašali? being the main culprit missing five big chances. If only the Italian side had been more clinical in front of goal, the scoreline would have been different.
Brest welcomed German outfit Bayer 04 Leverkusen to the Stade Francis Le Blé. The French club initially struggled against an attacking Leverkusen side and the attacking play led to the opening goal by the in-form Florian Wirtz in the 24th minute when he finished off a superb passing move into the bottom corner. However, buoyed on by a home crowd, Brest soon found their footing in the game and then came the equalizing goal from Pierre Lees-Melou in the 39th minute from an audacious volley from outside the box.
Lee-Melou and Lala were particularly threatening and the hosts had the better chances in the second half with Mama Balde coming the closest from a sweeping counter-attacking move but could only hit the side netting. Brest had a scare in the 90th minute when Leverkusen sought a penalty for a foul on Jonas Hoffman. However, a VAR check revealed that the defender got the ball and the game finished in a fascinating 1-1 draw.
RB Leipzig were looking to make amends at home after defeat in the last gameweek, but they came up against a resolute Liverpool defense. Also, apart from the initial quarter of an hour, Liverpool had control for most part of the game. The home side thought they had the lead through Loïs Openda but he was offside. Liverpool responded minutes later, when a Salah header was poked in goal by Darwin Núñez in the 27th minute. A few minutes after the first goal, Cody Gakpo found Núñez in the box whose close-range header forced a brilliant save from opposition goalie Péter Gulácsi. Núñez also had a controversial penalty call denied when he had been clearly fouled by Leipzig captain Willi Orban in the box in the 38th minute.
Liverpool dominated possession in the second half as well and their offside trap denied Openda another goal. The score could have been more but both goalkeepers were in top form and this half Kelleher was called into action and he made some incredible saves from Šeško and Xavi Simmons’ shots. Liverpool take home three precious away points while Leipzig need to buckle up after a second straight defeat in the Champions League.
Undefeated so far, Pep Guardiola’s men dominated proceedings from start to finish and demolished a meek Sparta side. The home team opened the scoring inside three minutes when Phil Foden took a pass on the half turn from Matheus Nunes, skipped defenders and struck into the far corner. Erling Haaland had quite a few chances to score but an inspired Peter Vindahl in the opposition goal kept City out in the first half.
City continued the momentum in the second half and quickly scored through Nathan Aké but VAR denied it for handball. City were hardly threatened except for one counter-attack situation but Ortega was up to the task. However, they were not to be denied again when Haaland’s acrobatic volley bounced up awkwardly beating the goalkeeper in the 58th minute. Stones added the third in the 64th minute when his looping header from a Nunes cross went past the Sparta goalkeeper. Another swift counter attacking move four minutes later, saw Haaland complete his brace. In the 88th minute, Matheus Nunes scored his first City goal when he scored from the spot-kick for a foul on him in the box to finish the rout. The Etihad has been an absolute fortress for City in the Champions League.
After the crushing 8-2 defeat by Bayern Munich in the Champions League a few seasons ago, some of the wounds from that forgettable night would have healed for the Blaugrana.
Hansi Flick’s Barcelona started in a blistering manner, scoring in the very first minute of the game when Raphinha was released beautifully by midfielder Fermín López and scored by dribbling past Manuel Neuer into the empty net. Bayern did respond in the 9th minute through Harry Kane but the equaliser was chalked off for offside. But Kane wasn’t to be denied a second time, he scored from a Serge Gnabry pass into the box in the 18th minute to restore parity.
Both teams looked shaky defensively but it was Barça who scored again with Fermín López setting up former Bayern frontman Lewandowski in the 36th minute to give the hosts a 2-1 lead. Bayern scored a third before half-time when he scored from a superb curling shot from the edge of the box to stun the away fans.
Barcelona came back in the second half and wrapped up proceedings in the 56th minute with Raphinha grabbing his richly deserved hattrick with another neat finish from a swift counter attacking move.
Raphinha’s smashing performance against Bayern Munich sets up the perfect stage for a highly anticipated ElClásico against Real Madrid this weekend.
Diego Simeone’s charges are having a dismal outing in the Champions League so far. With two losses in three games, the Los Colchoneros are looking in trouble.
Atlético were the better team in the early stages and got the opener when Julián Alvarez pounced on a poor back pass from young defender Ousmane Touré and found the net.
Atlético weren’t clinical enough and could have killed off the game, with Alexander Sorloth wasting three glorious opportunities in the first-half.
Just a minute after the hour-mark, substitute Edon Zhegrova drew Lille level with an unstoppable strike into the top left. Atlético almost took the lead with Griezmann’s shot just going over the bar but it was Lille who took the lead through a confusing and penalty decision in the 74th minute. Jonathan David stepped forward to convert the spot-kick giving Lille a surprise lead. The Canadian then scored his second of the game with a deflected effort in the 89th minute to deny Atlético and take home all three points.
The Austrian outfit had another poor outing in the Champions League with a third straight loss. The first half saw very few chances with only right-back Amar Dedi? coming close to scoring for Salzburg with a shot on target but it was a regulation save for the Zagreb goalkeeper.
Just after the restart, Sandro Kulenovi? took advantage of some poor defending by scoring from a Stefan Ristovski’s cross. Things got worse for Salzburg as they were reduced to 10-men when their goalkeeper Alexander Schlager handled the ball outside the box in the 66th minute and received a deserved red.
Dinamo capitalised on their numerical advantage to seal the points six minutes from time; Ristovski the provider once again as he set up Bruno Petkovi?, who fired home to give Dinamo their second ever away win in the Champions League.
Benfica suffered a shock loss at home to Eredivisie club Feyenoord. Feyenoord broke through in the 12th minute when Igor Paixão cut back in the box to find Ayase Ueda who slotted home the opener. The Japan international had a second goal chalked off following a VAR review but the visitors doubled their advantage in the 33rd minute when Antoni Milambo skipped past Otamendi to find a neat finish.
After the hour-mark though, Benfica did cut back the deficit when Feyenoord goalie Timon Wellenreuther parried Jan-Niklas Beste’s shot into the path of Kerem Aktürko?lu, who made no mistake from close range.
However, Milambo killed the game in stoppage time when he struck his second of the game with a low shot near post putting a huge smile on manager Brian Priske’s face.
Inter snatched all three points courtesy of a late winner against Swiss Champions Young Boys away from home. Coming back from an emphatic 4-0 home win in their last Champions League game, Inter were expected to walk this one but failed to breach a resolute Young Boys defense in the first half. In fact, it was the home side that showed far more intent going forward. Inter defender Benjamin Pavard cleared Alan Virginius’s header just in front of goalkeeper Yann Sommer in the 22nd minute, before Young Boys went on to threaten Inter again through ?ukasz ?akomy minutes later.
After the break though, Inter looked more in control and instantly got awarded a penalty for a foul on Denzel Dumfries in the box. However, they failed to take the lead when Marco Arnautovi?’s shot from the spot-kick was saved by the Young Boys goalkeeper Von Ballmoos. Inter started looking desperate with an organized Young Boys defense not letting them in. Lautaro Martínez had a chance from a distance before Piotr Zieli?ski misfired inside the box, sending the ball well above the bar.
Substitute Marcus Thuram finally found a way in stoppage-time when he turned a Federico Dimarco’s 93rd-minute cross into the net to give Inter all three points.
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