Liverpool withstood a spirited challenge from Lille to prevail, 2-1 at Anfield, and remain perfect in the group stage of the Champions League. Mohamed Salah broke the deadlock in the 34th, scoring his 50th European goal for Liverpool after a sensational pass through the defense by Curtis Jones. Lille drew level early in the second half when Jonathan David scored, despite Aïssa Mandi receiving a second bookable offence during the first period. But Harvey Elliott’s deflected effort soon put Liverpool back in front and ensured they preserved their 100 per cent record in the league after seven matches.
Benfica 4-5 Barcelona: Beating their Portuguese hosts to the punch in what proved a feisty encounter at the Estádio da Luz. The hosts were all over them at half-time, Vangelis Pavlidis completing a hat-trick and Robert Lewandowski’s penalty the only bright spot for Barcelona. Raphinha’s header made it 3-2 before an own goal by Ronald Araújo restored the advantages to Benfica after the break.
A second penalty from Lewandowski to make it 4-3 set up a rousing finale, and late goals from Eric García and Raphinha in stoppage time capped the remarkable turnaround and secured Barcelona’s qualification for the knockout stages.
Wilfried Singo’s early header (8th minute) sealed a hard-fought 1-0 win for Monaco over Aston Villa Singo was the quickest to react to a rebound after Emiliano Martínez saved Thilo Kehrer’s shot. There was a stickiness to Villa’s play that made it hard for them to quickly create chances, though when they did, keeper Radosław Majecki made some big saves to keep Leon Bailey and Ollie Watkins at bay and deny Villa an equalizer.
Atalanta cruised to a 5-0 victory over Sturm Graz, with Mateo Retegui’s 12th-minute goal opening the floodgates. Mario Pašalić and Charles De Ketelaere took the lead to three goals, and then Ademola Lookman and Marco Brescianini sealed another resounding win with late strikes. Atalanta are now sitting pretty at the top on 14 points.
Atlético Madrid came back from falling behind and going down to 10 men to snatch an improbable 2-1 win away at Bayer Leverkusen. Piero Hincapie’s header had put Leverkusen ahead, but Julián Alvarez struck twice in a spectacular second half, the second after he rounded goalkeeper Matěj Kovář and slotted home, to turn the game in Atleti’s favor. Leverkusen’s Hincapie saw red late, adding to frustration.
For the first time in their history, Bologna won a Champions League match by beating Borussia Dortmund 2-1. Serhou Guirassy’s early penalty had given Dortmund the lead, only for Bologna to storm back with two goals in quick succession — from Thijs Dallinga and Samuel Iling-Junior — to secure victory. Dortmund can only muster 12 points after that miss.
Elsewhere, Club Brugge and Juventus played to a draw, 0-0, preserving the hopes of both teams. PSV Eindhoven endured a second-half fightback to defeat Crvena Zvezda, 3-2, Stuttgart beat Slovan Bratislava, 3-1, to leave the hosts with another defeat.
