Doug McIntyre
Football journalist
Barcelona and Manchester City claimed lopsided victories as the primary spherical of this season’s UEFA Champions League continued on Wednesday with 9 matches to shut matchday three.
Raphinha scored a hat-trick in Barça’s 4-1 win, with 17-year-old Lamine Yamal serving to arrange the Brazilian’s third with a spectacular long-range cross:
Liverpool, Inter, Lille, Dinamo Zagreb and Feyenoord additionally received, whereas Atlético Madrid, Benfica, FC Salzburg and Young Boys misplaced at residence.
Here are the highlights from Wednesday’s video games.
Can Barcelona compete for the title this season?
Three years after Lionel Messi left Barcelona, are the five-time European title winners lastly reliable contenders for the Champions League crown once more?
THE Blaugrana it simply appeared to occur on Wednesday, jolting Bayern Munich to place the exclamation level on this spherical’s outcomes on the planet’s largest membership competitors.
To ensure, Barça weren’t actually within the operating throughout Messi’s ultimate years on the membership. Who can overlook Bayern’s 8-2 defeat to GOAT & Co. within the 2020 quarter-finals that marked the start of the tip of Barcelona’s most profitable period?
Bayern received the Champions League that season. Their coach? Hansi Flick, who was a revelation throughout his first season in control of Catalonia. Barça is at the moment high of the Spanish La Liga with a document of 9-1.
Flick’s crew has the whole lot to show. Last month’s 2-1 defeat in Munich was a wake-up name, albeit marred by an early crimson card. The identical goes for the league loss to Osasuna lower than two weeks later. In his greatest second, nonetheless, Barcelona mustn’t worry anybody. Wednesday’s defeat left little doubt about this.
Liverpool stay good by successful in Germany
Speaking of trophy contenders, the Reds went into Wednesday’s conflict in Leipzig realizing they wanted a win to remain good and match Champions League leaders and English rivals Aston Villa’s 3-0 begin to the European season .
It hasn’t at all times been fairly, however three factors is what Liverpool bought. Arne Slot’s aspect bought a first-half objective from Darwin Núñez – who ensured what appeared like Mohamed Salah’s header went over the road within the twenty seventh minute – and saved the hosts pegged again for the remainder of the half. path.
The defensive efficiency was significantly spectacular from the Reds, who at the moment are 8-0 in all competitions following their shock 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest at Anfield on 14 September. It stays the one recreation they have not received all season.
A reminder from Manchester City
If City’s Champions League residence opener in September in opposition to Inter Milan – a rematch of the 2023 ultimate which introduced soccer’s most coveted trophy to the blue half of Manchester for the primary time – had left any doubt as as to whether that Pep Guardiola’s crew had been actually able to take one other run at glory this time period, think about the final two video games the Citizens’ reply.
Admittedly, beating Sparta Prague 5-0 on Wednesday within the wake of a 4-0 demolition of Slovan Bratislava on October 1 is much less eye-catching than related outcomes would have been in opposition to better-quality opponents. City’s ultimate 5 first-round matches, together with journeys to Sporting Lisbon, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain, will inform us the place Guardiola’s aspect stand in the direction of the knockout levels early subsequent yr.
Until then, the Sky Blues stay the bookmakers’ favourites. And for good cause, as they nonetheless boast soccer’s most deadly striker, Erling Haaland, who scored a brace on Wednesday. His first strike was decidedly superhuman:
Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports. A former editor at ESPN and Yahoo Sports, he lined the United States males’s and ladies’s nationwide groups on the FIFA World Cup on 5 continents. Follow him @By Doug McIntyre.
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