There were goals and red cards aplenty on another great night of Champions League action on Tuesday night, and there was a headline grabbing clash at the Wanda Metropolitano as Atletico Madrid beat Bayer Leverkusen to climb up into the automatic qualification places in a hugely competitive league.
Los Rojiblancos came into the game on the back of a 1-0 loss away to Leganes, which meant they lost their lead at the top of the La Liga table. And sitting 11th at the start of the day, they face Die Werkself in fourth position, but only one point separated the two sides. When Piero Hincapie met a Nordi Mukuele cross, he gave the Bundesliga side a halftime lead and that after Pablo Barros had been red carded for a nasty foul on Mukuele. But then, after the in-form Julian Alvarez had levelled for Atleti, Hincapie took an early bath after he was sent off for a second yellow. And it was Argentine star Alvarez who struck again on 90 minutes to give Atleti a huge three points.
Barcelona started the round in second place and are one of the SBOTOP favourites to win the tournament, and they produced a stunning fight-back away to Benfica to confirm their progress to the next phase. A first half hat-trick from Benfica’s Vangelis Pavlidis put the Blaugrana on the back foot, but they fought back with gusto.
After Pavlidis had given the Portuguese giants an early lead, Robert Lewandowski equalised from the penalty spot, but then Pavlidis scored again to make it 2-1 midway through the first half. And he completed his hat-trick on the half hour when VAR awarded a penalty for a foul by Barca keeper Wojciech Szczesny on Kerem Akturkoglu.
In a crazy game, Raphinha halved the deficit, but then Ronald Araujo put through his own net to restore Benfica’s two goal lead, only for Lewandowski to slot home another spot kick to make it 4-3. An Eric Garcia header on 86 minutes levelled and then, six minutes into injury time, Raphinha scored again to spark wild celebrations in the away end, and there was still time for Benfica’s Arthur Cabral to be sent off.
Borussia Dortmund who started in ninth, one spot below automatic qualification, went down 2-1 to Bologna, who had only picked up two points from six games. Serhou Guirassy gave Die Schwarzgelben an early lead from the penalty spot, but two goals in two minutes from Thijs Dallinga and Samuel Iling-Junior turned the game on its head.
Villa’s French curse continues
Aston Villa headed to Monaco with a chance to cement their place in the top eight, but it all went wrong in Monte Carlo as their 16th-placed hosts won 1-0 to level with the Villains on 13 points. This was a huge chance for Unai Emery’s team to get close to the knockout phase, and they were facing a team in poor form, with just one win in their last eight games. But the Stade Louis II in Monte Carlo was alive to the sound of happy Frenchmen as Wilfried Singo’s eighth-minute header was enough to take all three points.
It was a horrible case of déjà vu for the Premier League side which has failed to win on any of their five trips to France, losing 2-1 in Lille in last season’s Europa Conference League and again tonight on the south coast. To make matters worse, Villa have drawn a blank in three of their last four Champions League games having failed to score in only two of Emery’s previous 35 games as manager. They’ll be glad to be back in Birmingham.
Mohamed Salah scored his 50th European goal for Liverpool to give the already qualified Reds a first half lead over Lille, who started the day in eighth. The French team went down to 10 men when Aissa Mandi was sent off, but then Jonathan David equalised. But this Liverpool team is relentless, and Harvey Elliott quickly restored the lead.
Meanwhile, Atalanta made a claim for a top eight place with a thumping 5-0 win over Sturm Graz with five different scorers started off by Capocannoniere leader Mateo Retegui.
So after an all-action round on Tuesday night there’s more to come, and the Champions League 2025 updates could be monumental on Wednesday as, among other fixtures, PSG and Manchester City come face-to-face in a clash which could see either of the two pre-tournament favourites face an early exit, though the latest Champions League 2025 betting odds reckon the Sky Blues are still one of the frontrunners.
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