Bayern keeps making history; Madrid teams in; PSG scores 5

The Sportspedia

The group stage of the UEFA Champions League is over! Let’s review what happened today:

Group A

Bayern Munich (DEU) – Lokomotiv Moscow (RUS)

Süle (DEU) scored the first one with a header in the second half, after a corner by Douglas Costa (BRA). Serge Gnabry (DEU) made himself felt all the time since he entered the pitch at 46′, including a good shot that was denied by Guilherme (BRA).

Lokomotiv defended well and played with a lot of sporting dignity bould could not avoid the second by the Champions. Bayern achieves the historic mark of acheiving a full 2020 without losing a match.

Goals Bayern: Süle (DEU) at 63′ and Choupo-Moting (CMR) at 80′

Red Bull Salzburg (AUT) – Atlético de Madrid (ESP)

Jan Oblak (SLO) had a great save in the opening half, when the Austrian team pressured more and created more chances. But football is not about just generating opportunities and Mario Hermoso (ESP) took advantage of a free kick to strike it it and give his side the advantage halfway through.

Atlético looked at their best past the 80′, constantly pressuring. One of these attacks -with three players- gave them the second goal, with a good pass by ángel Correa (ARG) to Yannick Carrasco (BEL).

Salzburg is a constant guest at the Champions League and is likely to continue competing here year after year. They had some good matches but they still did not show enough to even draw against the two team with a bigger historic name in this group.

Goals Atlético: Hermoso (ESP) at 39′ and Carrasco (BEL) at 86′

Group B

Real Madrid (ESP) 2 – 0 Borussia Mönchengladbach (DEU)

Real Madrid did enough in the first half to deserve the qualification. There were doubts about them due to their performance at La Liga but they made their odds valid at home. They actually scored three goals in the opening 45′ but Kroos’ (DEU) goal was nullified due to an offside.

The first two goals were headers by Karim Benzema (FRA) and surprisingly he was allowed a header in the first part of hthe second half! It did not go in.

Goals Real Madrid: Benzema (FRA) at 9′ and 32′

Inter Milan (ITA) 0 – 0 Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)

Would Lukaku (BEL) save the day for Inter as he did last week against Mönchengladbach? That would not be the case. By the first half they were out on a 0-0 score.

Inter did have their chances in the second half and the ball was close so many times but it just did not go in. Inter still have a shot at Serie A.

Group C

Olympiacos (GRE) 0 – 2 Porto (POR)

Porto fairly won the first half with an Olympiacos that missed the chances that they had and that have Porto opportunities to press forward. There was not much to comment on the local squad for the first half.

The Greek team changed to a 4-2-3-1 for the second half but Sérgio Conceição’s (POR) team still controlled the action. He made good changes in the second half, fielding Corona (MEX) to give more ball control as well as Díaz (COL) and Urie (COL). The Colombians combined for athe second goal.

Goals Porto: Otavio (BRA) at 10′ (p) and Uribe (COL) at 77′

Manchester City (ENG) 3 – 0 Marseille (FRA)

Pep Guardiola’s team entered comfortably having secured the first place in the group but the Catalan manager left the pitch seemingly frustrated after the first half because Marseille had the best chances at the end. But this changed from get go in the second half. City had the best chances and concreted the first goal in one of those.

Agüero (ARG) made just his fifth appearance of the season and was a bit quiet but did manage to score the second. The third was scored by Sterling (ENG) by taking advantage of a rebound after a save.

Goals Manchester City: F. Torres (ESP) at 58′, Agüero (ARG) at 77′ and Sterling (ENG) at 90′

Group D

Ajax (NED) 0 -1 Atalanta (ITA)

Ajax needed a win to qualify and they could not deliver. Klaassen (NED) had a good chance that he missed but the burden can’t be placed on him when Ajax just did not produce enough opportunities to say they had a clear chance at winning.

Atalanta made sure that their defense was solid and a late strike by Luis Muriel (COL) ensured that they would qualify to the next round with three away victories.

Goal Atalanta: Muriel (COL) at 85′

Midtjylland (DEN) 1 -1 Liverpool (ENG)

Midtjylland managed to get 20 shots on goal but could only sore a penalty kick. The score reflects the spirit that the Danish squad brought to this game; they pressed on as much as they could and scared Liverpool, who have only lost once so far (to Atalanta).

Liverpool looked solid and was able to offer Champions League debuts for Clarkson (ENG) and Koumetio (FRA) while experienced Salah (EGY) scored his 22nd goal for the team in the UEFA Champions League. A deserve first place.

Goal Midtjylland: Scholz (DEN) at 62′ (p.)

Goal Liverpool: Salah (EGY) at 1′

Group H

Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) 5 – 1 İstanbul Başakşehir (TUR)

This match was unfortunately suspended after just 14 minutes of play yesterday when Istanbul’s assistant coach Pierre Webo (CMR) has been sent off with a red card following a racist incident with an assistant referee. Pierre Webo, former World Cup player, was heard protesting for having been called “n..ro” after he was expelled. The players decided not to continue playing.

The game resumed today and it was a total domination by the French squad, who secured the first place. This was one game where we saw the brilliant combo that Neymar (BRA) and Mbappé (FRA) can be. The former scored a hat trick and the latter scored two.

Goals PSG: Neymar (BRA) at 21′, 38′ and 50′, Mbappé (FRA) at 42′ (p.) and 62′

Goal İstanbul: Topal (TUR) at 57′

RB Leipzing (DEU) 3 – 2 Manchester United (ENG)

This match took place yesterday. Here is what we reported:

The United is out! Leipzig was able to pull an exciting match to qualify to the next round. The German team was already winning 2-0 before the first fifteen minutes as if the weekend’s 3-3 against Bayern München would have not taken a toll. Evidently, ManU pressed on and Gulácsi (HUN) saved their goal twice within the last minutes but that was not enough for Manchester. Regardless of the other match, Leipzig is in, although PSG can still take the first place.

Goals Lepzig: Angeliño (ESP) at 2′, Haidara (MLI) at 13′, Kuivert (NED) at 69′ and

Goals Manchester: Bruno Fernandes (POR) at 80′ (p) and Maguire (ENG) at 82′