Aston Villa’s Colombian striker #09, Jhon Duran, scores the first goal during the UEFA Champions League league stage football match between Aston Villa and Bayern Munich at Villa Park in Birmingham, central England, on 2 October 2024.
Photo: AFP – DARREN STAPLES
First big surprises in the renewed Champions League. The current champion Real Madrid lost this Wednesday against the French Lille (1-0) and Bayern Munich fell in England against Aston Villa (1-0) on a hostile night for the Spanish teams.
At the opposite pole, Liverpool and Benfica, after their respective victories against Bologna (2-0) and Atlético de Madrid (4-0), maintain their total number of victories.
With two games played by the 36 teams that make up the single group of the competition, seven total victories, with unexpected guests such as Aston Villa, Brest or Benfica, equal with the Germans Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen, in addition to the ‘Reds’ and Juventus.
At the bottom of the table, eight teams have not yet opened their points tally, in a bottom group in which the presence of AC Milan and Leipzig stands out.
Fewer goals, great interest
This Wednesday was a Champions League night that was much less fruitful in goals than the previous one on Tuesday, where matches like Dortmund-Celtic (7-1) or FC Barcelona-Young Boys (5-0) had brought a shower of goals. .
But the lesser scoring spectacle did not diminish the interest, focused on the stumbles of the ‘greats’. The most striking was the defeat of Real Madrid in Lille.
The king of Europe was unrecognizable, with an inconsequential Endrick as the starter and a Kylian Mbappé who replaced him, but he could not change the direction of the duel.
Glory for Lille, who won with a penalty goal from Jonathan David (45+3), reward for their brave game, guided by Ayyoub Bouaddi who celebrated his 17th birthday by defeating the European champion.
“We were wrong in everything, we could have tied at the end, but it wouldn’t have been deserved. Games can be lost, but today we did not give a good feeling,” said white coach Carlo Ancelotti.
Bayern also stumbled in Birmingham against Unai Emery’s Aston Villa (1-0), who had already beaten Young Boys (3-0) two weeks ago.
The ‘Villains’ won with a goal from Colombian John Durán (79) against a team that had just crushed Dinamo Zagreb (9-2) at the start of the Champions League.
Another team hoping to go far in the competition, Arne Slot’s Liverpool, defeated Bologna relatively comfortably (2-0).
With goals from the Argentine Alexis Mac Allister (11) and the Egyptian Mohamed Salah (75), the ‘Reds’ of Arne Slot and Luis Díaz continue a promising start to the season and leave their homework done in the Champions League before one of the most loaded from the calendar.
With his goal, Salah became the African player with the most goals scored in the Champions League (45), surpassing the Ivorian Didier Drogba (44).
Three Spanish defeats
With more suffering, Juve took the three points from Germany (3-2) against a Leipzig that has not started the European competition well, in which it will have to fight if it wants to overcome the first phase.
With a man down for half an hour and trailing on the scoreboard on two occasions, the ‘bianconeri’ pulled out all the stops to come back and sign their second victory in the Champions League.
Thiago Motta’s men benefited from a double from Serbian striker Dusan Vlahovic (50 and 68) and a goal from Portuguese Francisco Conceicao (83), while Leipzig dominated on the scoreboard (1-0 first and 2-1 later) thanks to a double from Benjamin Sesko (30 and 65).
The three Spanish representatives in contention this Wednesday went home with defeats. Added to that of Real Madrid was the defeat received by Atlético de Madrid in Lisbon against Benfica.
The ‘Colchoneros’ began the clash at the Da Luz stadium, already shaken by a three-game ban with the partial closure of their stadium for the throwing of objects in the derby against Real Madrid.
With goals from the Turkish Kerem Aktürkoğlu (13), the Argentine Ángel Di María from a penalty (52), the Dane Alexander Bah (75) and the Turkish Orkun Kokçu from a penalty (84), the Portuguese reached 6 points, while Atlético he stays with 3.
“They were better than us at all times. The responsibility is obviously mine, the penalty came very quickly, we went 2-0 down immediately in the second half and we did not generate what we had wanted to generate,” Diego Simeone admitted.
And Yaser Asprilla and Jhon Solís’ Girona also lost at home against Feyenoord (3-2), a defeat that leaves Míchel’s men in a delicate situation with zero points.
Results and classifications of the second day of the Champions League
Mars:
- Slovan Bratislava (SVK) – Manchester City (ENG) 0 – 4
- FC Barcelona (ESP) – Young Boys (SUI) 5 – 0
- Bayer Leverkusen (GER) – AC Milan (ITA) 1 – 0
- Dortmund (GER) – Celtic (SCO) 7 – 1
- Inter Milan (ITA) – Red Star (SRB) 4 – 0
- PSV Eindhoven (NED) – Sporting Portugal (POR) 1 – 1
- Arsenal (ENG) – Paris SG (FRA) 2 – 0
- Salzburg (AUT) – Brest (FRA) 0 – 4
- Stuttgart (GER) – Sparta Prague (CZE) 1 – 1
Wednesday:
- Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) 2 Sucic (45+3), Baturina (66)
- Monaco (FRA) 2 Salisu (74), Zakaria (89 penalties) Sturm Graz (AUT) 0
- FC Brugge (BEL) 1 Tzolis (23)
- RB Leipzig (GER) 2 Sesko (30, 65 de penal)
- Juventus (ITA) 3 Vlahovic (50, 68), Conceicao (82)
- Lille (FRA) 1 David (45+2 penalties) Real Madrid (ESP) 0
- Aston Villa (ENG) 1 Duran (79) Bayern Munich (GER) 0
- Benfica (POR) 4 Aktürkoglu (13), Di María (52 penalties), Bah (75), Kökcü (84 penalties) Atlético de Madrid (ESP) 0
- Liverpool (ENG) March 2 Allister (11), Salah (75) Bolonia (ITA) 0
- Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) 0
- Atalanta (ITA) 3 Djimsiti (21), Lookman (44), Bellanova (48) Girona (ESP) 2 D. López (19), Van de Beek (73)
- Feyenoord (NED) 3 Herrera (23 against), Milambo (33), Krejci (79 against)
This is how the Champions League table goes
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