AC Milan plunges Real Madrid into crisis, Sporting humiliates Manchester City

This Tuesday evening had a hell of a European evening in store for us, with this fourth round of matches in the initial phase of the Champions League. In particular, we had a clash between the ogres of the competition, Real Madrid and AC Milan. For their return after the failure of the Clasico – the match against Valencia last weekend was postponed – the Merengues had no other choice but to win, and Ancelotti brought out an attacking trio composed of Vinicius Jr, Kylian Mbappé and Jude Bellingham. Opposite, Rafael Leão, often replacing recently, was a good starter, alongside Alvaro Morata and Christian Pulisic in particular. The French Ferland Mendy, Aurélien Tchouameni, Youssouf Fofana, Théo Hernandez and Mike Maignan were starters in their respective teams. The Merengues were dominant from the start, with a motivated Mbappé, but it was AC Milan who would strike first. From a corner, Thiaw physically imposed himself on Tchouameni and sent the ball into the back of the net with a header (0-1, 12th). Behind, the Madrilenians reacted quickly, but Mbappé (13th) then Vinicius (13th) came up against Maignan. The Brazilian would also make the difference, causing a penalty in the area after being brought down by Emerson. He transformed it brilliantly, with a little panenka (1-1, 23rd). Milan reacted well, and Lunin stopped a hell of a cannonball from Reijnders (32nd).

The rest after this ad

Ambitious, the Milanese continued to attack. And they were going to be rewarded. In the area, Rafael Leão saw his shot repelled by Lunin, but Alvaro Morata rode in as a good scorer and catapulted the ball deep (1-2, 39th). In bad shape, with Tchouameni overwhelmed and replaced by Camavinga at the break, Real Madrid were on the verge of conceding a third, but Lunin made an exceptional save to disgust Leão (52nd). Morata hit the mark with a surprising backheel (68th), while the Merengues were unable to create chances. Quite the opposite of the Milanese. On a long rush on the right side, Leão rushed and offered a caviar to Reijnders, who crucified Lunin (1-3, 73rd). Ancelotti's team tried to come back, and Maignan intervened well on a curl from Rodrygo (79th). But on a somewhat risky exit from the French goalkeeper, the ball came back to Rüdiger who propelled it deep. The goal was ultimately canceled due to offside. Maignan even made an exceptional save on a header from Diaz (90th+1), while Militao did not hit his volley (90th+3). Real Madrid, seventeenth in the Champions League, is in crisis and showed a worrying face this evening.

Liverpool ridiculed Leverkusen, Monaco wins again!

The other poster of the evening took us to Anfield, where Liverpool hosted Bayer Leverkusen. An attractive duel on paper… But contrary to what one might think given the style of play of the two teams, it was a meeting which started with little spectacle, and there was not much to look forward to. the tooth in the first period, except for a few shots from Curtis Jones or Tapsoba easily captured by Hradecky and Kelleher. The meeting was generally closed, and there was no real dominator. Salah stood out a little at the end of the first act, but his attempt from a narrow angle was well caught by the goalkeeper (43rd). We had to wait until the hour mark for the Reds to unfold and strike, twice. First, Curtis Jones found Luis Diaz who beat the goalkeeper with a superb dive (1-0, 61st), then, Gakpo, with a header from a Salah cross, doubled the lead (2-0, 65th). Luis Diaz even scored a hat-trick on a new assist from the Egyptian (3-0, 87th), then after a caviar from Darwin Núñez (4-0, 90th+2). So it’s a nice 4/4 for Liverpool, leader, in Europe this season.

The rest after this ad

For its part, the other French club involved in the Champions League, AS Monaco, hosted Bologna. The Monegasques started rather well, with a dangerous Embolo in front and a very interesting Eliesse Ben Seghir in the game. The Swiss notably forced Skorupsi to make a good save, before seeing the leather hit the post (15th). Well into their match, the Principality team offered themselves the best situations, with a new intervention from the Bolognese goalkeeper on a nice free kick from Golovin (35th). Radosław Majecki had to intervene on a good attempt from Nikola Moro (40th). The second period, on the other hand, was rather dominated by the Serie A team, but it was Monaco who would win. It was indeed Kehrer, at the far post on a corner from Golovin in the 87th, who offered the three points to the Asemists. AS Monaco will go to bed third, with 10 points taken out of 12 possible on the clock.

In the other evening matches, we had a nice duel between Viktor Gyokeres and Erling Haaland during the match between Manchester City and Sporting. It was ultimately the Swede who won over his Norwegian counterpart. In Lisbon, Pep Guardiola's men actually lost with a score of 4-1, with a hat-trick from the fashionable striker, despite Foden opening the score after only a few minutes of play. Sporting confirms its superb start to the season with 10 points taken out of 12 possible in this Champions League, being provisionally second. First European defeat of the season for City who still remain well positioned to qualify directly. Celtic also did well by beating RB Leipzig 3-1. The Germans had a disastrous European campaign with four defeats. For its part, Borussia Dortmund won against Sturm Graz thanks to a goal from Malen a few minutes from the end and takes serious options for direct qualification.

The rest after this ad

The results of the evening

Bologna 0 – 1 AS Monaco
Sweeper (87e)

Celtic 3 – 1 RB Leipzig
Kuhn (35e, 45e+1), Hatate (72e) – Baumgartner (23e)

The rest after this ad

Borussia Dortmund 1 – 0 Sturm Graz
Milling (86th)

Liverpool 4 – 0 Bayer Leverkusen
Luis Diaz (61st, 87th, 90th+2), Gakpo (65th)

Real Madrid 1 – 3 AC Milan
Vinicius Jr (23rd) – Thiaw (12th), Morata (39th), Reijnders (73rd)

Sporting CP 4 – 1 Manchester City
Gyokeres (38e, 49e, 81e), Araujo (46e) – Foden (4e)