Our UCL 5️⃣ points after history is made, late drama and 36 goals | OneFootball

There were 36 goals, three red cards, six penalties, an historic hat-trick and late drama in Barcelona.

Here is what we made of a crazy, crazy night in the Champions League.

Barcelona survive … for now

It could’ve been over tonight. There’s a good chance it will be over very soon.

Barcelona are still in the Champions League … for now.

It looked as if the Blaugrana were staring at the Europa League in the 89th minute when Robin Gosens fired Inter into a 3-2 lead, finishing off a stunning counter-attack and leading to the Inter bench invading the pitch. They thought it was done too.

But Robert Lewandowski, who stepped up in the 82nd minute, did it again in stoppage time to keep his team alive for one more matchday.

A win for Inter in either of their final two games against Viktoria Plzeň or Bayern Munich will see the Italians progress and Barça knockout.

After pulling numerous economic levers to spend over €150m on new players in the summer, the inquest will be rife if Xavi’s side are playing European football on Thursday nights in 2023.

Salah makes history

At half-time it felt as if Liverpool’s early-season problems were going to lead to them dropping points again.

Roberto Firmino had cancelled out Scott Arfield’s 17th-minute opener but the midfield was left wandering, the team were too open and Rangers smelt blood.

Cut to full-time and the fans are planked at the other end of the emotional scale.

Jürgen Klopp carried his team over to the away support at the end to lap up a 7-1 victory which leaves them needing just a point from the next game against Ajax to progress.

There haven’t been many times during this campaign where Klopp and his side have been able to lap up applause but this is one they embraced with delight.

Whether this ends up being a turning point remains to be seen but there will be confidence that Mohamed Salah has finally joined the party.

The Egyptian forward came off the bench to score three in six minutes and 12 seconds – the fastest hat-trick in Champions League history.

It was ruthless Salah at his best once again, and Liverpool will be relieved at that with Manchester City to come on Sunday.

Kvaradona inspiring dark horses Napoli

Undefeated and sitting at the top of the Serie A table, Napoli have maintained their perfect start to the Champions League campaign, comfortably brushing aside Ajax 4-2.

Many names can be thrown around when discussing Luciano Spalletti’s side as each player seems to be more appealing to the eye than the other.

Hirving Lozano’s header to open the score had shades of Lionel Messi against Manchester United and Giacomo Raspadori became the first Italian player since Alessandro Del Piero to score in his first three Champions League matches.

One name stands out above the rest though, for more than just the obvious reasons: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

The 21-year-old Georgian winger was an almost totally unknown prospect when he joined Napoli from Dinamo Batumi in the summer, but what a revelation he has been scoring six goals a producing six assists this season already.

Awkward movements, in the sort of manner that makes you question how he can be a professional footballer (you know, a little like Thomas Müller), leave defenders bamboozled and spectators in awe.

Napoli have qualified from their group with two games to spare, the first time in club history, and are surely making Naples dream of 1988/89.

Whipping boys turn into the big dogs

When the draw was made, who would’ve thought that Club Brugge would be the only team having sealed their progress to the last-16 in a group containing three teams that have played in Champions League finals in this century.

But the Belgian champions have done it, booking their place in the knockout rounds after keeping Atlético Madrid at bay.

They become only the second Belgian side after Gent in 2016 to make it out of the group stages since it became the Champions League, and they’ve done it without conceding a goal – the only team left in the competition who are yet to concede.

To breeze past Atlético, Porto and Bayer Leverkusen is remarkable, former Stoke City player and now Brugge manager Carl Hoefkens is doing a sensational job.

Chaos in Germany and Portugal

Xabi Alonso had a rude welcome to management in Europe’s elite competition, seeing his team lose 3-0 at home to Porto to leave Bayer Leverkusen bottom of Group B.

The game saw three penalties awarded, and sadly for Alonso his side’s was the only to miss.

Kerem Demirbay had his spot-kick saved by Diogo Costa but his counterpart Mehdi Taremi made no mistake with his two efforts from 12 yards in the second half to breathe new life into Porto’s campaign. A steep learning curve ahead for Alonso.

There was similar chaos in Lisbon where Sporting were reduced to nine men during their 2-0 defeat to Marseille.

Defender Ricardo Esgaio was given his marching orders after giving away a penalty in the first half before Pedro Gonçalves suffered the same fate in the second.

Ruben Amorim’s side also had goalkeeper Antonio Adan sent off in the first game between these two sides for a handball outside the penalty area.

Drama just follows some teams around.