The Premier League is proving to be the strongest championship on the continent, with three of its representatives among the eight qualified for the Champions League round of 16, the three at the top of the table. Liverpool is co-leader after winning in Leipzig (0-1), second after Unai Emery’s surprising Aston Villa – with a better goal difference -, the only two teams with a full three wins, and Guardiola’s Manchester City is third after beat Sparta Prague (5-0) with two tricks from Haaland.
Brest, 1 – Leverkusen, 1
Xabi Alonso’s team is left without leadership in France
However, the third day of the Champions League could have started with another leader. From the Guingamp duel in the afternoon session between Brest and Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen, the first place could emerge, tied as they were with two victories. The German champion took the lead in the 24th minute with a goal from Florian Wirtz, assisted by Hofman, but before the break, in the 39th minute, Lees-Melou equalized with the French’s first shot between the sticks.
In the 90th minute, Leverkusen claimed a penalty for knocking down Hofman, which the Slovak referee Ivan Kruzliak did not observe after consulting the VAR. So the 1-1 score left them without the lead.
Benfica, 1 – Feyenoord, 3
The Lisbon team could take the lead, but those from Rotterdam destroyed them in half an hour
In the night session of this third day, Benfica and Liverpool, also with 6 points from their two previous victories, were the only two teams that had a chance to attack Aston Villa’s leadership.
In Da Luz the surprise came with the early 0-1 by the Japanese Ueda that put Feyenoord ahead against the Lisbon team (m. 12). The Dutch, who already beat Girona at home, silenced the Benfica stadium with the 0-2 score by the young Antoni Milambo (19) who powerfully finished off a filtered pass from Quinten Timber (m. 33). In just over half an hour, Feyenoord caused the surprise. Kerem Aktürkoğlu closed the gap for the Portuguese (1-2) in the 66th minute, and in added time (m. 92) Timber supported the Dutch victory with the 1-3 score.
Leipzig, 0 – Liverpool, 1
Darwin Núñez gives co-leadership to Liverpool in Leipzig
Meanwhile, at the RB Arena, Liverpool did their homework against Leipzig with Darwin Núñez making it 0-1 after 27 minutes. The Uruguayan forward pushed an assist-header from Salah into the goalmouth at will, who brought down a ball hung from the left by Tsimikas. The 0-1 encouraged the networkswho were able to score with shots from Núñez, Van Dijk, Gakpo and a penalty claimed by the Uruguayan before the break. Xavi Simons was injured for the German team.
Manchester City, 5 – Sparta Prague, 0
Haaland leads the goal festival against the Czechs from Sparta with two great goals
They could not reach the lead, but Manchester City, who received Sparta Prague, could place themselves at the top of the table. Pep Guardiola’s men had no difficulty in getting rid of the Czechs (5-0) with goals from Foden (at 3 minutes; the second for the Englishman, who only scores in Europe), a tremendous goal from Haaland (59) from a spur in the in the air and with his back to the goal, a center from Savinho, from Stones (64), another from the Norwegian (68) and the last from Matheus Nunes from a penalty (88).
With this second win and a draw, the citizens rise to third position, tied on 7 points with Monaco, Brest, Leverkusen, Inter and Sporting, which complete the eight teams provisionally classified for the round of 16.
Other results
Inter wins at the buzzer against Young Boys and is already among the top eight
The third day of this renewed Champions League left Zagreb’s first victory, beating Salzburg 0-2 (Kulenovic and Petkovic).
Inter got into the top group of the top eight (who would go directly to the round of 16), beating modest Young Boys 0-1 with a goal from Marcus Thuram in the 93rd minute, after 40 minutes. occasions throughout the game.
In Bergamo, Atalanta did not go beyond a goalless draw against Glasgow Celtic. The Italian team is 17th and the Scottish team is 20th, both in the middle of the classification that would take them to the round of 32 playoff to access the round of 16.
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