Champions League, Results and Standings: Another Four-Goal Win for Mourinho’s Real Madrid; Arsenal Draws with Bayern in the Final Minutes
The day ended with a total of 34 goals scored across the nine scheduled matches (with only three of the 18 teams failing to score) on Champions League Wednesday, which kicked off with a spectacular performance by Como, who defeated Manchester United 4-1 (with a brace from Nico Paz), and Galatasaray’s 4-2 road win (with former Napoli player Osimhen also scoring) over Davide Ancelotti’s Lille.
That evening, Italian fans’ attention was focused not only on Inter, which defeated Shakhtar 1-0 with a goal by Carlos Alberto despite playing a man down, but also on the big match between Bayern and Arsenal: at the Allianz Arena, the match ended 2-2, with the Gunners managing to snatch a late equalizer through Rice after falling behind 0-1 and then trailing 2-1. Among the top teams, José Mourinho’s Real Madrid did not disappoint; after scoring four goals against Roma, they scored four more against Leipzig, this time conceding one: Mbappé and Diomandé stood out, with one goal and one assist each.
It was an easy home win for Aston Villa, who beat Viking 3-1 (Barkley, Buendia, and an own goal by Heggheim for the Villans), while in Seville, Isco’s game-winning penalty kick gave Betis a 1-0 victory over Feyenoord. Club Brugge also won at home, defeating Lens 3-0, though the Italian-German Tresoldi failed to find the net.
The only away win among the matches played at 9 p.m. was the surprising victory by LASK Linz over Sporting: the home team took the lead in the 5th minute on a penalty kick by Suarez but then collapsed, conceding goals to Lang, Kalajdzic, and Danek. Suarez pulled one back with one minute remaining, but for the white-and-greens of Lisbon, it was too little, too late.
Standings after three matchdays
Round of 16 zone: PSG, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Betis 9; Stuttgart, Arsenal 7; Barcelona (+5, 11 goals scored) 6.
Playoff zone: Como (+5, 10 goals scored), Manchester City (+4), Club Brugge (+3), Sporting (+3), Borussia Dortmund (+1) 6; Bayern Munich 5; Roma, Atlético Madrid, Shakhtar, PSV 4; Villarreal (0), Manchester United (-1, 5 goals scored), Inter (-1, 5 goals scored), Napoli (-2), Galatasaray (-3, 6 goals scored), LASK Linz (-3, 6 goals scored) 3.
Elimination zone: Sabah (-3, 3 goals scored), Feyenoord (-4, 4 goals scored), Lens (-4, 3 goals scored), Bodo/Glimt (-5, 4 goals scored), AEK Athens (-5, 3 goals scored), Leipzig (-5, 3 goals scored) 3; Fenerbahçe 2; Slavia Prague, Viking 1; Porto, Lille, Slovan Bratislava 0.
