Champions League: Bayern, Liverpool and City win as Real Madrid snatches late draw

Champion Bayern Munich edged Lokomotiv while Liverpool, Man City and Atletico breezed to comfortable wins with Real Madrid salvaging a late draw on Tuesday.

Published : Oct 28, 2020 09:34 IST

Bayern's Joshua Kimmich celebrates after scoring his team's decisive second goal Group A stage match against Lokomotiv Moskva to extend its unbeaten run in the competition to 13 matches.
Bayern's Joshua Kimmich celebrates after scoring his team's decisive second goal Group A stage match against Lokomotiv Moskva to extend its unbeaten run in the competition to 13 matches.
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Bayern's Joshua Kimmich celebrates after scoring his team's decisive second goal Group A stage match against Lokomotiv Moskva to extend its unbeaten run in the competition to 13 matches.

Bayern Munich's Joshua Kimmich volleyed in a 79th-minute winner on Tuesday as it battled past host Lokomotiv Moscow 2-1 in its Champions League Group A match to extend its winning run in the competition to 13 consecutive games.

Leon Goretzka headed it in front in the 13th minute but it squandered a string of chances to double the lead and also hit the post before Anton Miranchuk punished its wastefulness following a quick break from Ze Luis.

Bayern, winner of five trophies in 2020, are top of its group on six points, after also beating Atletico Madrid 4-0 last week in its opener.

The Russian side, who has one point, had the first good chance through Fyodor Smolov's third-minute header but Bayern's Goretzka did better, heading in a perfect Benjamin Pavard cross.

Kimmich should have done better when he fired at a defender from two metres out early in the second half but the midfielder then made amends 11 minutes from the end.

With Lokomotiv pressing for a second goal, he picked up the ball on the edge of the box and with his back to the goal, flicked it up, pivoted and volleyed in the winner.

Felix brace gives Atletico Madrid vital Champions League win

Joao Felix bagged a brace for Atletico Madrid as it survived a scare to complete a 3-2 Champions League Group A victory over Red Bull Salzburg and kick-start its European campaign on Tuesday.

Marcos Llorente had put Atletico ahead in the first half, but goals from Dominik Szoboszlai and Mergim Berisha swung the fixture in the favour of the visitor early in the second half.

But the excellent Felix regained the initiative for his side with an equaliser, before firing in the winner with five minutes to play, going some way to erasing the memory of the 4-0 loss to champion Bayern Munich in the pool opener.

Felix's audacious over-head kick inside 15 minutes almost provided an early moment to remember, but his acrobatic effort crashed against the crossbar and away to safety.

Atletico had the lead before the half-hour mark as Llorente picked up the ball 25 yards from goal and drilled the ball low past Salzburg goalkeeper Cican Stankovic, who will feel he should have done better.

Some sloppy play in midfield turned over possession and the ball eventually reached Szoboszlai, who thrashed his shot past home goalkeeper Jan Oblak.

Salzburg made a lightning start to the second half and was ahead inside a minute as Andreas Ulmers cross was turned home at the back post by Berisha.

But that lead was short-lived as Felix finished a sweeping Atletico move that left him with a tap-in to equalise, before lashing in the winner as the Salzburg defence stood static following a low cross into the box.

Bayern heads the table with a full haul of six points after two rounds, followed by Atletico on three, and Lokomotiv Moscow and Salzburg with one each. Bayern next visits Salzburg while Lokomotiv, who have lost six of its last seven home games in the Champions League group stage, hosts Atletico.

Real snatches draw at Gladbach with late Casemiro goal

Real Madrid scored two goals in the final minutes with Karim Benzema and Casemiro to rescue a 2-2 draw at Borussia Moenchengladbach in its Champions League Group B match on Tuesday and snapped a three-game losing run in the competition.

Marcus Thuram fired in for the lead in the 33rd minute and tapped in on the rebound in the 58th before Benzema cut the deficit in the 87th minute and Casemiro bagged a stoppage-time equaliser.

The 13-time European champion, who had lost its previous three games including a 3-2 defeat by Shakhtar Donetsk last week, earned its first point in the competition.

"We didn't think this would be such a drama," Real coach Zinedine Zidane said. "But my team showed that they know how to react.

"We always play to win and show the hunger to win. No way were we happy with the draw."

Gladbach, who also conceded a 90th-minute equaliser in its 2-2 draw at Inter Milan last week, is second in the group on two points, with Shakhtar top on four after a 0-0 draw with Inter.

 

The Foals struck on the break with Alassane Plea pouncing on a Toni Kroos mistake to set up Thuram for his first goal in the competition.

Real initially had more spark after the break and hit the woodwork when Asensio's 46th-minute shot was headed on to the crossbar.

Gladbach then struck against the run of play, with 23-year-old France youth international Thuram tapping in on the rebound after keeper Thibaut Courtois had pushed out a shot from Plea.

With the Germans thinking the game was already won, Real pulled a goal back when Casemiro headed on for Benzema, who became only the second player to score in 16 consecutive Champions League seasons.

Brazilian Casemiro then dashed Gladbach's hopes of a memorable win, driving the ball into the roof of the net in stoppage time.

City thrashes woeful Marseille to stay top in Champions League

Manchester City was barely troubled as it claimed its second victory in Champions League Group C by beating Olympique de Marseille 3-0 at the Stade Velodrome on Tuesday.

Ferran Torres, Ilkay Gundogan and Raheem Sterling found the back of the net as Pep Guardiola's side stayed top of the standings on six points, three ahead of Porto and Olympiakos.

Marseille is bottom of the table on zero points after a 10th consecutive loss in the competition since two defeats in the quarter-finals against Bayern Munich in 2012 and after six defeats in the group stage in 2013-14, in its last appearance.

Guardiola was delighted with his side. We didn't concede much, hardly anything," he said. "We were absolutely under control. We were patient, we were so aggressive without the ball... we played really well."

After its 3-1 home win against Porto last week, City got off to a dominant start, pushing Marseille back and winning three corners in the opening 10 minutes.

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Marseille was shambolic at the back and paid for it in the 18th minute when Valentin Rongier inexplicably passed the ball to Kevin De Bruyne on the edge of the box, with Torres burying it in the net after being set up by the Belgian.

Oleksandr Zinchenko came close to making it 2-0 when his crossed shot shaved Steve Mandanda's left-hand post after another piece of horrible defending from the hosts.

Marseille was a bit more lively after the break, defending higher up, and Thauvin came close in the 55th, only for his 25-metre missile to be tipped on to the post by Ederson.

City finally made its superiority count after 76 minutes as Gundogan struck home after Sterling's fluffed header from Phil Foden's cross came his way at the far post.

Sterling wrapped it up five minutes later, tapping the ball home from De Bruyne's cross at the end of a long spell of possession.

OM, who lost 1-0 at Olympiakos on  return to the Champions League after a seven-year hiatus, travels to Porto and City hosts Olympiakos in the next round of matches on Nov. 3.

Liverpool labours to 2-0 win over Midtjylland 

Liverpool laboured to a 2-0 win over Denmark's Midtjylland on Tuesday as a goal from Diogo Jota and a Mohamed Salah penalty secured a hard-fought Champions League Group D victory at Anfield.

The win came at a cost, however, as Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp suffered another defensive blow with Brazilian Fabinho limping off in the first half with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.

Fabinho had been deputising for central defender Virgil van Dijk, who is out with a long-term knee injury, and he was replaced by 19-year-old Rhys Williams.

"It is exactly the last thing we needed," said Klopp, who added that the seriousness of the injury would not be known until after a scan and praised Williams for the composed way in which he coped with being thrown into the game.

Liverpool made a slow start and suffered an early scare when Anders Dreyer broke through the middle but shot straight at keeper Alisson.

 

With Klopp having rested his usual front three and given starts to Jota, Divock Origi and Xherdan Shaqiri, Liverpool struggled to break down the determined Danes.

The breakthrough came in the 55th minute when after a swift exchange with Shaqiri, Trent Alexander-Arnold crossed low to Jota who had a simple tap-in.

The goal was Liverpool's 10,000th in all competitions.

Salah made sure of the win, in stoppage time, from the penalty spot, converting after he had been brought down by Paulinho inside the box.

Liverpool has the maximum six points from its opening two games while Midtjylland are yet to get off the mark.

OTHER RESULTS

Porto 2:0 Olympiakos

Atalanta 2:2 Ajax

Shakhtar 0:0 Inter

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