If you had an eye on the match between RB Leipzig and Paris Saint-Germain and that you could not follow the rest of the matches of this fourth day of the group stage of the Champions League, a small catch-up session. Let’s start this overview with the other match in Group A, between Manchester City and Club Brugge. Large 5-1 winners in the first leg, the Citizens had, like the Parisians, the opportunity to lock one of the first two places in the pool.
The English expected to relive a quiet game after Phil Foden’s opener in the quarter of an hour of play. A lead that lasted only two minutes, John Stones scoring against his camp in stride. Held in check at the break, the Citizens were able to react to return to the front thanks to Riyad Mahrez (55th), before Sterling and Jesus aggravate the mark. In the ranking, Parisians (8 points) and Mancuniens (9 pts) have nine toes in the eighth and will compete for first place in three weeks at the Etihad. And this time, it is Pep Guardiola’s players who will have the cards in hand because they took first place at the Rouge-et-Bleu.
Atlético did not exist
In Group B, the return leg between Liverpool and Atlético de Madrid was eagerly awaited. Remember, in the first leg, the Reds won 3-2 after a completely crazy match in which Antoine Griezmann saw red after scoring a brace, just like Mohamed Salah. This time, the suspense didn’t last very long. In twenty minutes, the Reds killed the meeting thanks to achievements signed by Diogo Jota and Sadio Mané. The Colchoneros’ ordeal continued with Felipe’s expulsion in the 36th minute. Luis Suarez thought to give Madrid hope in the second half, but that was before VAR canceled their goal. 2-0, this time there was no debate.
For its part, AC Milan played very big a few hours before. Last in the group with 0 points on the clock, the Lombard club had to win to stay in the race for qualification. Unfortunately for the Rossoneri, there was no miracle. Worse, the affair had started very badly after the opening of the scoring of Luis Diaz in the sixth minute of play. Unable to make the difference at San Siro, the Milanese finally managed to win their first point in the competition thanks to a goal against his Mbemba camp. But in the standings, Milan remains dead last. Results which ultimately benefit Liverpool, qualified with 12 points, as well as FC Porto, second in the pool with 5 units. Atlético follows at a length.
The Sheriff falls into line
Focus on Group C now, with the other highly anticipated game of the evening. Undisputed leader, especially after exploding Borussia Dortmund in Amsterdam (4-0), Ajax could validate his ticket for the knockout stages. As for the private Marsupials of Erling Haaland, the defeat was prohibited, under penalty of seeing Sporting CP come back to height in case of success against Besiktas. This is also what happened in Lisbon where the Leões exploded the Turks with the score of 4 goals to 0. But the BVB was able to react. While they were reduced to 10 after the red received by Mats Hummels at the half hour mark, the Borussens took the advantage on a penalty converted by Marco Reus. Insufficient since the Lancers were able to pick up the score through Dusan Tadic (1-1), before the inevitable Sébastien Haller and Klaassen gave the victory to theirs (1-3).
All benef ‘for Ajax and Sporting CP. The Batavians are first and qualified (12 points), while the Portuguese (6 pts) are tied with BVB but remain third due to the particular goal difference. Finally, after their inaugural misstep against the Sheriff, Real Madrid made up for it in Group D. Thanks to a double from Karim Benzema (two assists from Vinicius Junior), the Merengues battled, but won in Santiago Bernabéu against Shakhtar Donetsk (2-1). As for them, Inter took advantage of their double confrontation with the Moldovans to fully revive themselves. Winners 3-1 (Brozovic, Skriniar, Sanchez), the Nerazzurri pass in front of the Sheriff to take second place. Not necessarily bad news for the Moldovans since the defeat of Shakhtar almost puts him in the Europa League.
The results of this Wednesday, November 3:
Group A:
- Manchester city-Club Bruges: 4-1 (Foden, Mahrez, Sterling, Jesus for City; Stones csc)
- RB Leipzig-PSG: 2-2 (Nkunku, Szoboszlai for Leipzig; Wijnaldum X2 for Paris)
Group B:
- AC Milan-FC Porto: 1-1 (Mbemba csc for Milan; Diaz for Porto)
- Liverpool-Atlético de Madrid: 2-0 (Jota, Mané for Liverpool)
Group C:
- Borussia Dortmund-Ajax Amsterdam : 1-3 (Reus for BVB; Tadic, Haller, Klaassen for Ajax)
- Sporting CP-Besiktas: 4-0 (Pote x2, Paulinho, Sarabia)
Group D:
- real Madrid-Shakhtar Donetsk: 2-1 (Benzema x2 for Madrid; Fernando for Shakhtar)
- Sheriff-Inter Milan : 1-3 (Traore for Sheriff; Brozovic, Skriniar, Sanchez for Inter)