FOOTBALL
Champions League: Porto upset Milan, Ajax hammer Borussia, Messi delivers
Porto picked up a deserving 1-0 victory over AC Milan, condemning the Italian giants to their third successive defeat in the Champions League group stage.
Luis Diaz broke the duck in the 65th minute before the home side missed a host of chances.
Dias himself had hit the post earlier on with a low drive. Iran international Mehdi Taremi also squandered a few opportunities, which kept the scoreline respectable from Milan’s perspective.
Ajax demolish Dortmund
Ajax vs Borussia Dortmund at the Johan Cruyff Arena appeared to be one of the most competitive fixtures of the evening before kick-off, but it turned out to be a rather one-sided affair.
The Dutch side were in cruise control as they hammered their Bundesliga opponents 4-0.
Borussia’s misfortunes began in the 11th minute as Dusan Tadic’s free-kick took a big deflection from Marco Reus and found the back of the net.
Daley Blind made it 2-0 14 minutes later as the former Manchester United man’s volley rattled the net.
Thanks to some incredible saves from Gregor Kobel in the Borussia goal, the visitors kept the margin unchanged till the interval.
But, Ajax reaped the reward for their domination as they scored the third goal of the night in the 57th minute. Antony, who had just received his first Brazil call-up, found the target with a curled left-footed effort.
Borussia Dortmund were all over the place defensively, and the hosts made no mistake to punish them for their indiscipline.
In the 72nd minute, Sebastien Haller jumped unopposed to meet a Daley Blind cross and head it past Kobel into the net.
Messi excels
Lionel Messi scored a second-half brace as PSG edged RB Leipzig 3-2 in the most thrilling encounter of the night.
Kylian Mbappe opened the scoring after Julian Draxler directed a Marquinhos long pass towards him.
The 22-year-old deceived his marker with a sensational dummy and fired the ball into the net.
RB Leipzig were prompt to respond. The German side had a great start to the game and forced Keylor Navas into making multiple saves within the first 10 minutes of the match.
Leipzig’s morale did not go down after conceding, and eventually, they found the equalizer.
Andre Silva had hit the woodwork only a minute before he scored from an Angelino cross. At 27 minutes, the game stood at 1-1.
Leipzig were the dominant side in the first half and Cristopher Nkunku almost grabbed the second goal for them.
Jesse Marsch’s team did go ahead in the second half as Nordi Mukiele got his name on the score sheet, courtesy of another brilliant Angelino assist.
Despite playing in front of their home crowd, PSG were on the back foot.
They struggled to match the intensity of the away side, but they were handed a lifeline in the 67th minute.
Mbappe took full advantage of a poor Tyler Adams back pass and teed up Lionel Messi for a tap in. The Argentine did not pass up the golden opportunity to score.
In the 74th minute, Messi made it 3-2 from the spot after Mohamed Simaken fouled MBappe inside the box.
The Parisians got another penalty later in the match, which Mbappe failed to convert. Nonetheless, they did enough to secure all three points.
Liverpool prevail over Atletico
Liverpool visited the Wanda Metropolitano to take on Atletico Madrid, and they returned with a 3-2 victory over the La Liga heavyweights.
Mohamed Salah has made a habit of scoring miraculous goals ignoring the barrage of numerous defenders.
He shrugged off four defenders before his shot hit Geoffrey Kondogbia and deflected into the Atleti net.
In the 12th minute, Naby Keita fired a stunning volley towards Jan Oblak, which the Slovenian failed to keep out.
Atletico Madrid pulled one back in the 20th minute when Greizmann scored from close range.
14 minutes later, the Frenchman left Virgil van Dijk for dead and calmly guided the ball into the net.
The home side finished the first half on a high note as Thomas Lemar and Joao Felix saw their efforts being denied by Alisson Becker.
The balance of the tie tipped towards Liverpool’s favour in the second half, when Griezmann was shown a direct red for rising the foot dangerously high.
Mario Harmoso’s foul on Diogo Jota got Liverpool a penalty, and Salah expectedly made use of the opportunity.
Atletico Madrid got a penalty themselves later on but the referee overturned the decision after checking the incident on the pitchside monitor.
A Sebastian Coates double kept Sporting CP’s hope alive for knock-out qualification. The Portuguese champions beat their Turkish counterparts 4-1.
Man City too strong
Manchester City enjoyed a comfortable night as they won 5-1 against Club Brugge at the Jan Breydel Stadium.
Riyad Mahrez and Phil Foden were the best performers of the night, even though the latter could not score a goal.
Mahrez scored a brace, while Kyle Walker, Joao Cancelo, and Cole Palmer scored one goal each.
Real Madrid picked up an uplifting 5-0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk ahead of their El Clasico clash on Sunday.
The win followed Los Blancos embarrassing 2-1 defeat to newcomers Sheriff.
Sheriff, who had picked up shock wins in their first two matches against Shakhtar and Real, tasted their first Champions League defeat as Inter beat them 3-1.
It was Inter’s first victory on the group stage, having won one and lost one previously.