Champions League roundup: Napoli on fire against Ajax, Brugge remain perfect
Ajax - Napoli 1-6
Napoli stormed to a historic 6-1 victory over AFC Ajax at the Johan Cruijff ArenA. Victory puts the Italians top of Group A, and completes their first-ever perfect return from an opening trio in any UEFA Champions League group.
The first ever meeting between Ajax and Napoli in any UEFA competition got off to a frantic start. The visitors missed a glorious opportunity to open the scoring just a few minutes in when Stanislav Lobotka laid the ball off to Giacomo Raspadori unmarked at the edge of the box, but the in-form Italian could only drag his shot wide.
Ajax made them pay minutes later as Kenneth Taylor’s shot on goal was inadvertently deflected in by Mohammed Kudus for his third goal of the Champions League campaign.
Falling behind certainly woke Azzurri up though, as Raspadori equalised with a sublime diving header less than 10 minutes later. It was one-way traffic after this, and Luciano Spaletti’s side took a deserved lead around the half hour mark.
Khvicha Kvaratshkelia’s whipped cross into the box was met by captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo, who towered about the Ajax defence to power his header in, and Napoli doubled their lead right on half time, via a swift counter-attack that was finished off with a clinical finish from Piotr Zielinski.
Now facing a fourth winless game, Ajax came out in the second half with a huge task ahead of them, being two goals behind against a side that were unbeaten in 14 matches, but that task became a monumental challenge just two minutes into the half.
The Ajax defenders and Remko Pasveer unnecessarily invited pressure onto themselves by playing around at the back, and the goalkeeper passed the ball straight to a high-pressing Andre Zambo Anguissa, who laid it off to Raspadori to slot it in for his brace.
Napoli were rampant and added a fifth on the hour mark. A brilliant one-two between Kvaratshkelia and Raspadori released the Georgian through on goal, and he made no mistake curling it past Pasveer.
Things only got worse for Ajax when captain Dusan Tadic was sent-off for a second bookable offence, and Giovanni Simeone made it 6-1 late on, to cap another astounding night against a European powerhouse.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli)
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Club Brugge - Atletico Madrid 2-0
Goals from strike partners Kamal Sowah and Ferran Jutgla either side of half-time saw Club Brugge run out 2-0 winners against Atletico Madrid and maintain their perfect start to this season’s Champions League campaign.
Notching three clean sheets in a row, Brugge look likely to make the knockout stage for the first time drawing comparisons to the side that took them to the 1977/78 European Cup FInal.
Against a side who have won just one of the last 18 European matches against Spanish opposition, Atletico were looking to break Club Brugge’s 100% start to this seasons UCL and consequently win for the first time on Belgian soil in eight attempts.
Given the importance of the tie, star-man Antoine Greizmann got the nod from the start for only the second time this season and almost put his side ahead from a tight angle forcing veteran goalkeeper Simon Mignolet into a smart save at his near post.
Moments later, Mignolet was forced into action yet again thwarting Alvaro Morata as he found himself baring down on goal getting on the end of a Nahuel Molina defence splitting pass.
Despite their domination, Diego Simeone would have been aware of Brugge’s attacking prowess in the ten minutes before the break, within which they had opened the scoring in their last three at home.
History was to repeat itself again as Sowah tapped home from Jutgla’s cut back following some intricate one-two play from the pair.
An injury to Jose Gimenez forced a change in formation at the interval for Atletico, who were all at sea moments into the restart as Tajon Buchanan was able to find Jutgla in acres of space. He controlled with his chest before unleashing on the half volley, only to be denied by a strong Jan Oblak left hand.
Former Barcelona man Jutgla was desperate to impress and did indeed double the home side's lead for his eighth in all competitions, this time stroking beyond Oblak as Buchanan found the decisive pass.
Late on, insult was added to injury for Griezmann after he first rattled the crossbar from the penalty spot when Matheus Cunha was felled, only to be flagged offside seconds later as he rifled home left footed. It wasn’t to be for Atlético who leave themselves with work to do at the bottom of Group B.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Ferran Jutgla (Club Brugge)
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Eintracht Frankfurt - Tottenham 0-0
Eintracht Frankfurt and Tottenham Hotspur claimed one point apiece in a tetchy UEFA Champions League 0-0 draw, ending the hosts’ run of three consecutive victories.
This was the first meeting between the two clubs in more than 40 years, with both seeking to make the most of a surprise result for Marseille earlier in the evening.
Frankfurt were cheered on by a raucous crowd and caused a number of early problems for Antonio Conte’s men, with chances falling to skipper Sebastian Rode and Randal Kolo Muani.
Spurs looked to the dynamic duo of Son Heung-Min and Harry Kane for inspiration, and the England captain fired a long-range effort narrowly wide after being teed up by the South Korean.
The pair combined again, this time with Kane the provider, as Son’s curling strike went a whisker wide of the post. Then, Ivan Perisic’s deflected strike crawled past the post shortly before the half-time whistle in a strong end to the half for the visitors.
Spurs fans breathed a collective sigh of relief when Ansgar Knauff shot straight at Hugo Lloris after latching onto Djibril Sow’s innocuous-looking ball over the defence.
Jesper Lindstrom then capitalised on a lapse in concentration in the Spurs defence, but the North Londoners had their blushes spared by some more poor finishing from the Eagles. Tottenham had the same issues going forward, though, with Son unable to turn in a cross from Ryan Sessegnon at the near post.
With the game finishing all square, both sides will see the two dropped points as a missed opportunity as they failed to put pressure on Sporting, who subsequently remain top of the group.
The two clubs will battle it out again at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium a week on Wednesday.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Djibril Sow (Eintracht Frankfurt)
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Inter - Barcelona 1-0
Inter Milan dusted off domestic woes thanks to Hakan Calhanoglu’s solitary strike, gaining them a massive win over Barcelona, as the Italian side drew first blood in the race to qualify out of Group C in the UEFA Champions League.
As expected, the game very quickly became a battle between Barcelona’s patient passing and Inter’s punchy counter attacks. What the Nerazzurri lacked in quantity of possession they more than made up for with quality and incisiveness, as Hakan Calhanoglu forced Marc-Andre ter Stegen to turn over his long-range piledriver, before they were twice denied by offside calls.
First a penalty was ruled out due to a narrow offside call against Lautaro Martinez in the build-up, before Joaquin Correa’s smart finish was cancelled out by the assistant referee’s flag.
As the away side failed to find the final ball to finish off their intricate passing, Inter were clinical at the other end.
On the stroke of half time, Federico Dimarco sprayed a wonderful cross-field ball to start yet another sweeping counter attack, at the end of which the ball fell kindly to Calhanoglu on the edge of the box, who this time got the better of ter Stegen with a drilled shot from the edge of the area that flew into the bottom corner.
The expected Barca fightback didn’t materialise initially as Inter’s defence looked unshakeable, but they were carved open for the first time on the hour mark, with Ousmane Dembele’s shot from a wide angle rebounding back off the post.
Minutes later, Xavi's men thought they were level, but an Ansu Fati handball in the lead up to Pedri’s goal meant VAR would intervene to frustrate the Spanish giants.
While Barca’s patience in possession never wore thin, their tempers soon became frayed as Inter’s defensive shape refused to buckle under pressure in the dying moments of the game.
Even the eight minutes of time added on were not enough for Barcelona, although they will point to a convincing penalty shout that was turned down by VAR, and Inter leapfrogged them into second place in behind Bayern Munich in the ‘Group of Death.’
Flashscore Man of the Match: Stefan de Vrij (Inter)
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Liverpool - Rangers 2-0
In the first-ever competitive meeting between the two sides, Liverpool strolled to a 2-0 UEFA Champions League victory over Rangers.
The Bears have looked out of their depth so far this season in Europe’s premier club competition, and there was little indication of that changing at Anfield despite Liverpool enduring some problematic recent league form.
It took less than seven minutes for the hosts to break the deadlock as Trent Alexander-Arnold likely lifted some weight off his shoulders by curling a delightful free-kick into the top corner from 20 yards.
The lead would have been even greater at the interval had Allan McGregor not denied Darwin Nunez with a trio of important saves and the veteran goalkeeper was also on hand to tip Mohamed Salah’s low effort around the post in an opening 45 minutes that were completely dominated by the Reds.
For a few minutes after half time, Rangers showed more energy and desire - not hard after a first period in which they were far too passive. However, their efforts were soon in vain as Liverpool doubled their advantage from the penalty spot.
Referee Clement Turpin awarded the spot-kick after Luis Diaz was brought down, and Salah made no mistake from 12 yards.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst looked to invigorate his side by introducing Fashion Sakala and Ryan Jack, but that had little effect.
Most surprising was his decision to bring on summer signing Antonio Colak with 18 minutes remaining - not because of a drop in standard, but rather because the Croatian had 11 goals in 14 games for the club prior to this match and probably deserved to start in place of the underwhelming Alfredo Morelos.
Rangers' only positive was arguably McGregor, who produced a wonderful stop to thwart Diogo Jota. In the end, Liverpool coasted to the three points, although it may be the clean sheet that most pleased Jurgen Klopp as it was only his side’s third in 14 outings.
Rangers, meanwhile, are yet to score in this term’s competition, and their hopes of progression are surely all but over given they sit bottom of Group A without a point.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
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Porto - Bayer Leverkusen 2-0
Porto resurrected their Champions League campaign with a hard-fought 2-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen. In doing so, the Portuguese champions avoided losing three consecutive UCL home matches for the first time in their history.
Sergio Conceicao’s men entered must-win territory in the UCL, after losing both of their opening group games. But he could only look on in disgust as he saw his side concede the opener, after Robert Andrich’s lofted cross to the back post was hammered home by Callum Hudson-Odoi. On hand to spare his blushes was VAR though, ruling the goal out for a foul in the build-up.
The hosts would have a strike of their own chalked off with half-time approaching. Moments after nearly conceding to Patrik Schick, the hosts flew up the other end, with Pepe’s cross being turned home by Mehdi Taremi.
This one was ruled out as David Carmo had handled the ball inside his own area before the counter attack, and after thinking they’d just gone behind, Leverkusen were awarded a penalty. Schick had failed to convert a spot-kick against Diogo Costa on international duty, and history repeated itself as the Portugal international made an emphatic save.
Porto improved after the break, with the introduction of the returning Otávio injecting some quality into their play. Taremi, just as Mateus Uribe had done before the interval, tested Lukas Hradecky with a powerful long-range effort, but the goalkeeper was up to the task and denied them.
Eventually though, the hosts got their reward with a stunningly worked team goal, and having played out from the back expertly, Taremi’s cross from the right was turned home at the far post by Zaidu Sanusi.
The result was put beyond all doubt when Taremi notched his second assist of the night, slotting in Galeno to score his first ever goal, with the ball eventually nestling into the far corner.
Further pressure mounts on Gerardo Seoane after what is now just one win from Leverkusen’s last seven games. After conceding the second, things got worse for Leverkusen as Jeremie Frimpong received a second yellow card, compounding a miserable night for the German outfit.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Mehdi Taremi (Porto)