5️⃣ things we learned from Wednesday’s Champions League action | OneFootball

It was another dramatic night in the Champions League as last-16 spots were booked while others saw their chances slip away.

Here’s what we made of the events across the continent.

Capitulation in Copenhagen

After 28 minutes, we could’ve been preparing a story of how Rasmus Højlund’s two goals helped get Manchester United’s Champions League campaign back on track.

Five more goals, one red card and two penalties later, the picture looks grim as Erik ten Hag’s men sit bottom of the group on three points having lost both their away games 4-3.

When your luck’s out, your luck is out. United’s poor start to the season has been magnified, dissected and dominated headlines for the past few weeks, seeing the team’s mentality come under question.

Ten Hag may not be questioning that tonight as the visitors did manage to lead the game 3-2 while down to ten after Marcus Rashford’s red card.

But the Dutchman will be contemplating how many mirrors he must have smashed because nothing seems to be going right for his side, even down to Harry Maguire’s blistering strike smashing the crossbar in stoppage time.

Instead, the facts are laid bare.

They’ve lost a Champions League match where they’ve led by two goals for the first time, while the last time they lost nine of their first 17 games (1973-74), they were relegated.

They’ve also become the first team to give away a penalty in each of their opening four matches, and the killer blow tonight was dealt by a 17-year-old called Roony. Remember the name.

United need to get something from their trip to Galatasaray and their final match at home to Bayern Munich to progress.

Climbing up Everest has just got that bit harder.

Kane steps up

It’s all working out very well for Harry Kane at Bayern Munich, isn’t it?

The England captain was fresh off scoring a hat-trick in Der Klassiker on the weekend (his third of the season, by the way) and went into tonight’s clash with Galatasaray with knockout round qualification on the line.

For 80 minutes, it looked as if it was going to be a frustrating night for the Bundesliga champions as their Turkish opponents thwarted them and even looked capable of winning the game themselves.

But, Kane stepped above the rest to bag a brace in the final 10 minutes to rescue his team and send them through to the last-16 for the 20th time.

Just the 19 goals and seven assists for the 30-year-old since his move to Germany, and now only Wayne Rooney (30) and Raheem Sterling (27) have more than him (26) as an English goalscorer in this competition.

That’s what you pay £100m for. The big moments.

That Samba connection

With Jude Bellingham starting on the bench tonight due to worries over his fitness, Carlo Ancelotti really needed his other stars to step up.

Thankfully for the Italian, Vinícius Junior and Rodrygo did just that.

It’s not been the most prolific start to the campaign for the Brazilian pair with just five goals between the two going into the clash against Braga. Not an ideal return when trying to replace Karim Benzema’s 31 goals following the Frenchman’s departure.

Ancelotti’s decision to not go and sign a main central striker, or any French lad called Kylian, has been under scrutiny with the bluntness of his favoured front two – but tonight might give him all the vindication he needs.

Vinícius’ finish had all the makings of a natural-born poacher before he got up and played through his partner to put the game to bed and seal Real’s progress into the last-16.

The former is now the only player across Europe’s top five leagues with 15+ goals and 15+ assists in the calendar year of 2023, and his contribution now means Ancelotti has the most outright wins in the competition’s history (113).

Rise of the Union

That was much more like it from Union Berlin on a famous night in Naples.

Urs Fischer’s side went into the game on a run of 12 successive defeats, and when Matteo Politano gave Napoli a 39th-minute lead it seemed the writing was on the wall again for the Bundesliga side.

But David Fofana equalised not long after half-time and what followed was a performance of grit and determination as the Champions League debutants fought for a historic point.

Leonardo Bonucci and Diogo Leite headed everything away while Fofana and strike partner Sheraldo Becker ran their socks off for their team up top.

To put it bluntly, Union just haven’t looked very ‘Union’ so far this season. A team that has built their remarkable and surprising success on defensive solidity has conceded 28 goals in 14 games.

Tonight they looked a lot more like the impenetrable wall that has taken them from the German second tier to the dizzying heights of drawing with the Italian champions.

Real talk

We’re here again to tell you to keep an eye on Real Sociedad.

Imanol Alguacil’s side booked their place in the last-16 in some style tonight, simply blowing Benfica away inside the opening 29 minutes at the Anoeta Stadium.

La Real hit three goals in a boisterous opening period and even had the audacity to have another strike ruled out by VAR before Brais Mendez missed a penalty.

This is the first time the club have won three consecutive games in the competition in 41 years, and their first appearance at this level in 10 years couldn’t be going any better.

A continental team built on a local spirit – with 15 members of the matchday squad coming through the academy.

Some story is being built from the LaLiga side, and it’s not over yet.