FOOTBALL
Champions League Round Up: Liverpool cruise past Atleti, Messi-less PSG held by Leipzig
AC Milan produced another lacklustre Champions League display last night, but they managed to salvage their first Champions League point of the season.
That said, the 1-1 draw against Porto might not be enough to keep them in the Champions League unless the results miraculously play out in favour of the Rossoneri in the next two rounds.
Luis Diaz opened the scoring and put Porto ahead just after six minutes.
The Portuguese side maintained their lead till the first half interval, but an agonizing own goal from Chancel Mbemba drew the score level.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic had found the back of the net, but a VAR intervention ruled his strike offside.
Real Madrid down Shaktar
Shakthar Donetsk put on a formidable display against Real Madrid, but a Karim Benzema brace sealed the whole three points for Los Blancos.
Benzema’s first goal was a landmark one for the club, as it marked the 1000thChampions League goal for Real Madrid.
Fernando had restored parity for Shakthar, but Benzema scored again to regain Real’s lead.
Pedro Goncalves stole the limelight as Sporting CP demolished an injury-ridden Besiktas side.
A frantic 10-minute spell in the first half saw Besiktas concede three goals, and the match ended in an emphatic 4-0 victory for the Lisbon club.
Ajax enter last 16
Marco Reus had converted a first half penalty for Borussia Dortmund, but the German side fell to a 301 defeat to Ajax Amsterdam in the end.
BVB had to play with 10 men for 60 minutes after Mats Hummels was shown a controversial red card.
Ajax perfectly exploited their one man advantage and came back from behind, with Dusan Tadic, Sebastien Haller, and Davy Klaassen hitting the target.
Inter Milan put Sheriff Tiraspol to the sword with a dominating second half performance.
The defending Serie A champions had 14 attempts on goal before the break, but failed to break the deadlock. But, they succeeded to unlock the Sheriff defence in the second half.
Marcelo Brozovic and Milan Skriniar had put Inter in control before Alexis Sanchez came off from the bench to fire in a third goal.
Adama Traore scored in the injury time to trim the losing margin for Sheriff.
It was an easy day in the office for Jurgen Klopp, as he saw his Liverpool team easing past a 10-man Atletico Madrid team and booking a place in the knockout stages.
Trent Alexander-Arnold picked up two early assists as Sadio Mane and Diego Jota both scored to give Liverpool a two goal cushion.
Felipe’s red card eliminated Atletico’s hopes of mounting a late comeback.
Man City overcome Brugge
Raheem Sterling heaved a sigh of relief after ending his 12-match goalless run with a goal against Club Brugge.
Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez also got their names on the scoresheet before Gabriel Jesus scored the fourth goal for the Citizens in the dying seconds of the game.
It would have been a perfect night for Pep Guardiola’s team had John Stones not conceded a bizarre own goal and threw away the clean sheet.
Georginio Wijnaldum was PSG’s goalscoring hero against RB Leipzig as the Parisians took the field without their marquee summer signing Lionel Messi.
Messi was nursing a knock as Wijnaldum scored twice in PSG’s 2-2 draw against Leipzig.