For their part, the French clubs experienced a contrary destiny: nice blow from Lille to Bologna (1-2), stunning defeat for Monaco against Benfica (2-3).
Liverpool-Real Madrid: the irresistible Reds
Liverpool, irresistible in the Champions League, brought down defending champion Real Madrid (2-0), without spring or Vinicius, and weighed down by a missed penalty from Kylian Mbappé, transparent on Wednesday at Anfield.
The “Reds” took advantage of a pale Real, weakened by injuries and the clumsiness of their Frenchman, to stretch their perfect start to the league phase, which they dominate after five victories in five matches. In the process, they erase a piece of history against the Spanish ogre in the fifteen Champions Leagues, whom they had not beaten for fifteen years, eight matches and a 4-0 in March 2009.
Everything continues to go very well for new coach Arne Slot, whose name was forcefully sung at Anfield, and everything is starting to go wrong for Carlo Ancelotti, stunned by three defeats in C1. His Real has failed in the majority of matches played this season, whether against rival FC Barcelona in La Liga (0-4), against AC Milan in the Champions League (1-3), and now at Liverpool .
In his defense, the former Everton coach was deprived of a multitude of potential starters on Wednesday, starting with Dani Carvajal, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Rodrygo and especially Vinicius Junior, his top scorer. This stacking of packages brought Kylian Mbappé back to his preferred left lane, rather than up front where he has fewer references and space.
But the former Parisian extended his half-fig, half-grape debut in the white jersey, with sometimes superfluous dribbles, poorly controlled or lost balls, like the one stolen by Mohamed Salah and which would have ended up in the Real goal without a save from Asensio on the line (4e).
The captain of the Blues especially missed a penalty which would have allowed his new club to equalize on the hour mark, his shot being repelled by Caoimhin Kelleher (61e). Ultimately, it was the one responsible for muzzling him, the young Conor Bradley, who stood out more on both sides of the field. At the age of 21, and with not even a year of Premier League under his belt, the right-back marked his territory with a rough but correct sliding tackle on the Frenchman (32e) which set Anfield on fire.
Benfica overthrows Monaco, Lille secures Bologna
AS Monaco lost for the first time this season in the Champions League against Benfica (3-2), Wednesday in Monaco, but remains placed among the eight teams which would be directly qualified for the round of 16 before the last three days.
While the Monegasques thought they had done the hard part by leading 2 to 1, despite the exclusion of Singo (58th), thanks to goals from Ben Seghir (13th) and Magassa (67th), the Lisbonites turned the game around in the final moments with achievements from Cabral (84th) and Amdouni (88th) after that of Pavlidis returning from the locker room.
For its part, Lille won 2-1 on Wednesday in Bologna during the 5th day of the Champions League and took a step towards qualifying for the play-offs of this new C1 formula with 10 points.
In a meeting generally dominated by Bruno Genesio's men, Congolese international midfielder Ngalayel Mukau opened the scoring in the 44th minute for the Mastiffs, before deceiving Lukasz Skorupski a second time in the 63rd, while Bologna managed to score their first goal in the competition from a free kick from Jhon Lucumi (66th).
He ventured into the Spanish camp to place a header that Thibaut Courtois brushed aside (51e) and, above all, came in front of the surface to deliver a perfect assist for Alexis Mac Allister (52e1-0).
The Belgian goalkeeper had his work cut out for him, notably against Darwin Nunez in the first period, and he lost a second time on a header from an incoming player, Cody Gakpo, upon receiving a cross (76e2-0). In the meantime, Liverpool wasted a penalty on a penalty obtained by Mohamed Salah, hooked in the area by Ferland Mendy, but which the Egyptian hit hard next to the frame (70e). Without any impact.
