This Tuesday was the start of the fifth day of the group stage of the Champions League. And who says two days remaining, already says first qualified, like Chelsea who secured their ticket to the round of 16 of the competition earlier in the evening, while Manchester City had already done so earlier this month -this. The defending champion, Real Madrid, was also already guaranteed to play in Europe next February, but Carlo Ancelotti’s troops had to secure their first place, facing RB Leizpig, the second. And in German soil, Los Blancos lost 3-2. The meeting had started badly for the Merengues, with Camavinga and Tchouaméni holders in the midfield, since shortly before the quarter hour of play, Gvardiol opened the scoring. After a header from Silva released by Courtois, the Croatian central defender also announced on the Real side sent the leather into the back of the net (1-0, 13th). Not satisfied, the locals continued to attack and if Courtois took out a good save on Haidara, Nkunku quickly doubled the bet. A real missile under the crossbar of the Belgian goalkeeper (2-0, 18th).
But little by little, Real Madrid woke up, regaining control of the leather and showing themselves to be more and more dangerous, especially via Vinicius Junior. And the Brazilian was going to make the powder speak. Served by Asensio, he catapulted the leather into the back of the net with a header (2-1, 44th). But it must be said that this Gvardiol-Orban duo was exceptional in front of the Blaswich cages, and besides this end of the first period, the Madrid attackers had difficulty in making the difference. The clock was ticking, and the Germans weren’t really that worried after all. And when they had hot situations, Real’s offensives found themselves in holes, like Vinicius (75th, 79th). Timo Werner, on the other hand, did not miss himself, and he crucified the people of Madrid, concluding a fine counter-attack after a good center from Simakan (3-1, 81st). In injury time, Rodrygo reduced the gap from the penalty spot, but it was too late to turn things around. A defeat which will be a task, but which does not yet cost the first place to the reigning European champions, who are one point ahead of their evening rival.
Relive the film of the match on our live commentary.
Disaster for Juve
The sensation of the evening took place in the PSG group, where Juventus had to win against Benfica to hope to see the eighth. A small miracle had to happen… And very quickly, the Turinese were cooled. Antonio Silva opened the scoring in the 17th minute, rewarding the good start to the Lisbon match. If Vlahovic equalized quickly enough (1-1, 24th), Benfica had no doubts and Joao Mario put the Eagles back in front, from the penalty spot (2-1, 28th). Not at the end of their sentences, the Piedmontese saw Rafa Silva break with a nice heel (3-1, 35th). And from the start of the second period, the Lusitanian attacking midfielder offered himself a double, served by Grimaldo (4-1, 51st). The end of the match was however going to be animated, since Milik managed to reduce the gap (4-2, 77th). In the process, McKennie also went there on his goal, promising ten last minutes of madness. But Benfica held on, and the Turinese took the door, while the Lisbon people were tied for second with leader PSG.
For its part, Manchester City traveled to the Ruhr to face Borussia Dortmund; another nice duel for the head of this group G. But for once, we were quite far from the offensive festival that we could expect, with a fairly sterile game on both sides. In the second period, Riyad Mahrez even missed a penalty he had himself caused, stumbling over a Kobel who had thrown himself on the right side (57th). The score did not move. Celtic and Shakhtar faced off in Glasgow for third place in Group F. And this match between European football classics ended in a 1-1 draw which secured third place in the group for the Ukrainians, while the Celtic can no longer claim anything. Finally, AC Milan signed a great operation by winning 4-0 on the lawn of Dinamo Zagreb after two defeats in a row, with a goal from Olivier Giroud in particular. Three points which allow the Lombards to climb to the second step of the Group E classification and to depend only on themselves on the last day, where they will face Salzburg, which they have passed tonight.
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