“I’m proud of what the team has achieved,” said former FC Bayern coach Hansi Flick after his FC Barcelona’s clear 4-1 win against Munich. He doesn’t want to talk about satisfaction at all, said the ex-national coach, who won the treble of the championship, DFB Cup victory and Champions League triumph during his time at Bayern in 2020. “There are zero excuses today,” said current Munich coach Vincent Kompany after the defeat in Barcelona. His team came “one step too late in the crucial moments”.
Raphinha scored a hat-trick against Bayern (1st, 45th and 56th minutes), and former Munich player Robert Lewandowski also scored for Barça (36th). Bayern striker Harry Kane only managed to equalize to make it 1-1 (18th).
The goal from Harry Kane (l.) only temporarily brought Munich back into the gameImage: Sven Hoppe/dpa/picture alliance
Champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Stade Brest. Florian Wirtz gave the Werkself the lead (24′), Pierre Lees-Melou equalized for the French. The Leverkusen team felt they had been denied penalties in two situations and the referee didn’t blow the whistle. “I don’t understand it,” said Bayer striker Jonas Hofmann, who was knocked off his feet in the penalty area shortly before the end (89′). The referee had previously deemed a handball by Lees-Melou (68th) not worthy of a penalty.
RB Leipzig suffered their third defeat in the third game of the Champions League season with a 0-1 defeat against Liverpool FC. Darwin Núñez (27th) scored the decisive goal for coach Jürgen Klopp’s former club, who will be joining Red Bull as head of football next year.
Tactics errors cost BVB their victory in Madrid
On Tuesday, Borussia Dortmund lost 5-2 at Real Madrid. Donyell Malen (30th) and Jamie Gittens (34th) initially gave BVB a 2-0 lead. Revenge for the lost Champions League final in June seemed possible – until Borussia Dortmund coach Nuri Sahin changed tactics.
After 55 minutes he brought on defender Waldemar Anton for Gittens and prescribed defensive tactics for his team to secure the victory. However, that didn’t work: Within just seven minutes, the “Royal” equalized with goals from the German national player Antonio Rüdiger (60th) and Vinicius Junior (62nd). Madrid were then superior and followed up with further goals from Lucas Vasquez (83′) and Vinicius Junior (86’/90′).
Three fingers up – at the end of a fast-paced game, Real striker Vinicius Junior scored three timesImage: Oscar Barroso/DPPI/picture alliance
“Of course, if you lose, the change isn’t right, you could say,” admitted Sahin after the game. “But I don’t think it was because of the change in system, but because we no longer had access and didn’t have the pressing moments up front.”
Stuttgart deserved to win at Juventus
VfB Stuttgart, on the other hand, was able to celebrate its first win on matchday 3 of the Champions League – and in an impressive way. The German runner-up, who had clearly lost 4-0 to FC Bayern in the Bundesliga at the weekend, was clearly the better team at the Italian top club Juventus Turin and deservedly won 1-0.
Stuttgart’s 22nd shot on goal is finally in: El Bilal Touré ensures the late decision Image: Isabella Bonotto/Anadolu/picture alliance
However, El Bilal Touré’s decisive goal only came in the second minute of stoppage time. Previously, a goal by national striker Deniz Undav was disallowed due to handball after video evidence (48th). Enzo Millot also missed a penalty kick (86th) for Stuttgart.
“That feels outstanding. We invested so much. We were clearly the better team,” said Undav in a TV interview. “It couldn’t have been more dramatic, but the victory was well deserved.”
The 3rd matchday of the Champions League at a glance:
Wednesday, October 23, 2024:
Atalanta Bergamo – Celtic Glasgow 0:0
Brest Stadium – Bayer Leverkusen 1:1 (1:1)
Atlético Madrid – OSC Lille 1:3 (1:0)
Benfica Lisbon – Feyenoord Rotterdam 1:3 (0:2)
FC Barcelona – Bayern Munich 4:1 (3:1)
Manchester City – Sparta Prag 5:0 (1:0)
RB Leipzig – FC Liverpool 0:1 (0:1)
RB Salzburg – Dinamo Zagreb 0:2 (0:0)
Young Boys Bern – Inter Mailand 0:1 (0:0)
Tuesday, October 22, 2024:
AS Monaco – Red Star Belgrade 5:1 (2:1)
AC Milan – FC Brugge 3:1 (1:0)
Sturm Graz – Sporting Lissabon 0:2 (0:1)
FC Girona – Slovan Bratislava 2:0 (1:0)
Aston Villa – FC Bologna 2:0 (0:0)
Paris Saint-Germain – PSV Eindhoven 1:1 (0:1)
Real Madrid – Borussia Dortmund 5:2 (0:2)
Juventus Turin – VfB Stuttgart 0:1 (0:0)
FC Arsenal – Shakhtar Donetsk 1:0 (1:0)
The article was updated after Wednesday’s games.
