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Joel Sanderson-Murray·25 October 2023
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Joel Sanderson-Murray·25 October 2023
We’re about to hit the halfway stage of the Champions League group stage, and we’ve got eight huge games ahead of us tonight.
Follow all the action live here.
Scorers: Nmecha 45′.
Borussia Dortmund held on to pick up a pivotal victory over Newcastle United after a pulsating match at St. James’ Park.
Nick Pope had pulled off a stunning double save from Donyell Malen and Niclas Füllkrug before Anthony Gordon went up the other end and was denied by Gregor Kobel in a ferocious start to this game.
Dortmund had threatened to break the deadlock on the counter-attack and got their wish in the dying minutes of the first half.
Nico Schlotterbeck won the ball from Gordon and drove forward into the Newcastle area before picking out Felix Nmecha at the edge of the box to slot past Pope.
Callum Wilson had a golden chance from eight yards out to pull the Magpies level but Kobel pulled off a remarkable save to keep his effort out.
Eddie Howe’s men pushed and pushed for the equaliser but found the Dortmund goal leading a charmed life with Wilson seeing his header come off the bar from Matt Targett’s cross.
The woodwork came to the rescue again in the last minute of stoppage time as Gordon’s deflected shot looped over Kobel but crashed against the top of the crossbar.
A first goal and first win for Edin Terzić’s men in the competition as Newcastle suffer their first defeat.
Scorers: Mbappé 32′, Kolo Muani 52′, Kang-in 89′.
Paris Saint-Germain shrugged off the Newcastle thrashing to return to winning ways with a comfortable win over Milan.
One moment of quality from Kylian Mbappé broke the deadlock in a first-half sparse of goalscoring opportunities.
Warren Zaire-Emery shrugged off Tijjani Reijnders and drove through the midfield before laying the ball into the path of the Frenchman, who took one touch into the area and smashed it into the bottom corner, wrong-footing Mike Maignan on it’s way in.
Randal Kolo Muani extended that advantage with his first Champions League goal for the club at the beginning of the second period, turning home from six yards out after Maignan had initially saved an Ousmane Dembélé shot.
Lee Kang-in came off the bench to round off the game with a slide finish from Zaire-Emery’s pull-back in the closing minutes.
Luis Enrique’s side move to the top of their group with a two-point lead over Newcastle.
Scorers: Furuhashi 4′, Palma 27′; Griezmann 25′, Morata 53′.
Sent off: De Paul 81′.
Ten-man Atlético Madrid survived a late Celtic onslaught to hold out for a draw as Group F is delicately-balanced going into the second half of fixtures.
Brendan Rodgers’ side had led twice in the game with neat, one-touch move involving Matt O’Riley, Daizen Maeda and Kyogo Furuhashi ending with the latter playing a one-two with O’Riley before sliding past Jan Oblak to move ahead.
The visitors were given the opportunity to equalise when Greg Taylor brought Nahuel Molina down in the box allowing Antoine Griezmann the chance to tap home after his initial spot-kick had come back off the post.
But Luis Palma restored Celtic’s lead two minutes later with a thumping finish from the right-hand side of the box smashing the post on it’s way into the back of the net.
Diego Simeone’s side pulled level again in the second period when Marcos Llorente put the ball on a plate for Alvaro Morata to head home at the back post.
Rodrigo De Paul saw red late on for a second bookable offence but the Scottish champions couldn’t find the breakthrough to pick up their first group win.
Scorers: Elia 51′; Akanji 47′, Haaland (PEN) 67′, 86′.
Erling Haaland scored his first continental goals of the season as Manchester City made it three wins out of three in Bern.
The holders eventually broke down the Young Boys’ resistance at the beginning of the second half with Manuel Akanji reacting quickest to turn home after Ruben Dias’ header had hit the bar from a corner.
But the hosts levelled almost immediately when a ball over the top sent Meschak Elia through before his delicate lob defeated Ederson on it’s way into the back of the net.
Haaland restored City’s lead 23 minutes from time from the penalty spot, ending his mini European drought of six Champions League games without a goal.
Julian Álvarez had a goal ruled out for a handball by Jack Grealish in the build-up but Haaland put the game beyond all doubt in the dying minutes with a thumping right-footed swinger into the top corner.
Scorers: Raum 13′, Simons 59′, Olmo 84′; Stamenic 70′.
Xavi Simons impressed again in picking up his first Champions League goal as RB Leipzig beat Red Star Belgrade.
Leipzig’s early pressure finally told in the 13th minute with the hosts winning the ball high up the pitch before Xavi Simons laid it on a plate for David Raum to slide into the bottom corner.
Simons got himself on the scoresheet just before the hour mark to double Leipzig’s lead with a pile driver into the top corner from 25 yards out.
But the visitors pulled themselves back into the game with 20 minutes to go when Aleksandar Dragović’s goalbound shot deflected off Kevin Kampl and landed for Marko Stamenic to tap in.
Thankfully for Marco Rose’s side Dani Olmo put the game to bed six minutes from time, turning in from close range after a game of head tennis broke out in the Belgrade penalty area following a corner.
Scorers: Yussuf 38′; Evanilson 46′, 73′, 84′, Eustáquio 54′.
Porto shook off their defeat to Barcelona last time out to come from behind and pick up a huge win in Antwerp courtesy of substitute Evanilson’s hat-trick.
Antwerp, who are looking for their first ever win in the competition, drew first blood after Stephen Eustáquio had poorly given the ball away at the edge of the box before the ball ricocheted into the path of Alhassan Yussuf to curl home.
Porto levelled straight after the restart with some good work from Mehdi Taremi setting up Evanilson for a shot from just inside the box which took a deflection on it’s way in.
The turnaround was completed eight minutes later as Eustáquio took advantage of some good work from Joao Mario to place into the bottom corner.
Mario was involved again in Porto’s third, cleverly laying the ball into Evanilson to volley home before the Brazilian completed his hat-trick with a lob after being played in by Taremi.
Scorers: Torres 29′, López 36′; Sudakov 62′.
Fermín López shone as Barcelona saw off Shakhtar Donetsk to keep up their 100% start to the group stage and move one step closer to the knockout rounds.
The 20-year-old, making his first Champions League start, played a pivotal role in both of Barcelona’s goals as Xavi’s men impressed on a night João Félix had to be withdrawn through injury with El Clásico on the horizon.
López’s close-range shot came crashing off the crossbar before landing to the feet of Ferran Torres who volleyed home the rebound.
He then got in on the act himself moments later, receiving a pass from Torres before smashing home from 20 yards with the help of the underside of the crossbar.
The visitors pulled one back just after the hour mark, catching Xavi’s side cold on the counter-attack allowing Heorhiy Sudakov to race through before drilling home at Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s near-post.
But the Catalans survived to move on to nine points from a possible nine and will qualify for the last-16 with a win over Shakhtar in the return match in Hamburg.
Scorers: Giménez 31′, 74′, Zerrouki 45+2′; Pedro (PEN) 83′.
The Mexican striker had earlier missed a close-range header but didn’t make the same mistake when given a second bite of the cherry just after the half-hour mark.
Receiving the ball from Mats Wieffer at the edge of the box, Giménez turned his marker before slotting into the bottom left hand corner to give Feyenoord the lead.
That advantage was doubled in first-half stoppage time with Paixāo involved again, this time laying the ball on a plate for Ramiz Zerrouki to stroke into the top corner from the edge of the box.
Giménez completed his brace 16 minutes from time with a tap-in from inside the six yard box after Quinten Timber’s shot had been parried into his path.
Pedro pulled one back for Lazio from the penalty spot but the Serie A fall to their first defeat of the group stage.
You can catch up on all of last night’s results here.