Just three rounds of “league” play remain in this season’s edition of the UEFA Champions League following the conclusion of Matchday 5 on Wednesday.
Liverpool — the best team in all of Europe under new manager Arne Slot — and current trophy holder (and recored 15-time winner) Real Madrid contested what was billed as the game of the first round at Anfield. The Reds took all three points and reclaimed their first-place status with a convincing 2-0 win to stay perfect through November.
Elsewhere in England, Aston Villa and Italian power Juventus finished scoreless. Meantime, Bundesliga and La Liga teams suffered surprising defeats against less-fancied foes, while Borussia Dortmund, Lille and Shakhtar Donetsk all won tricky games on the road.
Here are three quick thoughts following Wednesday’s action.
Streaking Liverpool earns convincing victory over Real Madrid
This round’s marquee contest certainly didn’t disappoint. Two of global soccer’s most storied clubs provided a spectacle worthy of the hype — even without any first half goals to show for the end-to-end action on Merseyside.
Backed by their rabid supporters in the Kop, though, the Reds were the better team. And they took a deserved lead through World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister just six minutes after halftime.
A clumsy tackle by Liverpool fullback Andy Robertson nearly squandered it, though, gifting Real a penalty. But they were let off the hook by another world champion, French superstar, Kylian Mbappé, whose nightmare start to life with Los Blancos continued when his weak attempt from 12 yards was easily batted away by Reds backstop Caoimhin Kelleher:
Not even a missed spot kick of their own (after being hacked down, Mohamed Salah sent his effort off the outside of Thibaut Courtois‘ post) could derail the hosts on this night. Cody Gakpo soon made it 2-0 with the Reds’ 14th shot attempt, more than twice as many as Real had to that point, to give Liverpool a memorable win that sent the visitors tumbling to 24th in the 36-team standings.
Only the top 16 qualify for the knockout stage, making Real’s Dec. 10 trip to Italy’s Atalanta all but a must-win.
Aston Villa denied late winner over Juventus
A Top 10 Champions League team all season, Villa faced another stern test on Wednesday at home to Italy’s most decorated club. In stark contrast the wide-open contest unfolding 100 miles away in Liverpool, this one was as cagey as they come.
Even, too. The final stats show little difference between the two foes, so perhaps it’s fitting that the tilt ended scoreless after 90 minutes.
Still, Villa will feel it left two points on the table — or had them taken away, depending on one’s point of view — after Morgan Rogers appeared to convert a stoppage-time winner. The would-be goal blew the roof off Villa Park. But upon review, it was ruled out by the video assistant referee, who determined that home defender Diego Carlos fouled Juve keeper Michele Di Gregorio, causing Di Gregorio to spill the ball for Rogers to smash home.
Two ‘big five’ teams suffer upsets
Home-field advantage is perhaps even more pronounced than it was under the old Champions League format, when participants were drawn into four-team groups and played six first round games — three at home and three away.
The unbalanced nature of this year’s schedule probably favors the underdogs. It no doubt helped Austria’s Red Star Belgrade and Serbia’s Sturm Graz on Wednesday.
The former beat the wheels off of German visitors Stuttgart, scoring five consecutive goals after falling behind early for an emphatic 5-1 victory — one that snapped the hosts’ four-match Champions League losing streak. The latter eked out a narrow 1-0 triumph over Girona of Spain, though it’s hard to argue that they didn’t deserve it: despite having just 30-percent of the ball, Sturm Graz peppered the visitors’ goal with five on-target shots to the Spaniards’ 1, including Mika Biereth’s 58th-minute winner.
Finally, U.S. center back Cameron Carter-Vickers was rescued by Celtic striker Daizen Maeda, whose brilliant second half strike canceled out the American’s equally spectacular own goal in a 1-1 tie with Belgium side Club Brugge.
Carter-Vickers’ USMNT teammate Malik Tillman also scored on Wednesday, albeit for his own team. Tillman netted two goals of his own in PSV Eindhoven’s 3-2 win over Shakhtar. Ricardo Pepi scored the winner.
Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports. A staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him @ByDougMcIntyre.
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