Well, that was something.
Crazy finishes saw both Madrid sides avoid surprising losses, as Joao Felix and Eden Hazard helped Atleti score a win and Real a draw, respectively, the former stopping American boss Jesse Marsch from a terrific result.
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Atalanta and Ajax staged a wild one in Bergamo, while some of the groups look a bit nutty after Shakhtar Donetsk held Inter Milan and Porto won to keep Marseille bottom of its group.
Atletico Madrid 3-2 Red Bull Salzburg
American coach Jesse Marsch has now puts scares into Jurgen Klopp at Anfield and Diego Simeone at the Wanda Metropolitano, only to have upset dreams ruined by Mohamed Salah and Joao Felix.
Atleti went down 1-0 to a Marcos Llorente goal but Salzburg answered through young Hungarian star Dominik Szoboszlai to level the score by the break. That was assisted by Mergim Berisha, who scored just after halftime to give the Austrians a surprising lead.
But Felix answered off a Jose Correa feed five minutes later and then did the business following a Thomas Lemar assist in the 85th minute.
It was just as impressive as Salzburg’s 4-3 loss to Liverpool, which came after a 3-0 halftime deficit, and Marsch will hope that he won’t lose Szoboszlai to all the opened eyes like he did Erling Haaland and Takumi Minamino.
Lokomotiv Moscow 1-2 Bayern Munich
Leon Goretzka has Bayern up but the Russian hosts put a scare into the champions when they posted a 70th-minute equalizer.
But the world’s most overlooked megastar, Bayern’s lynchpin, settled six points through two matches.
Absolute class from Joshua Kimmich pic.twitter.com/SmMFQgaji8
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) October 27, 2020
Shakhtar Donetsk 0-0 Inter Milan
The Ukrainians have taken four of six points from Real Madrid away and Inter Milan at home. That’s not a bad route to success in a group of pain, and Shakhtar has a two point lead on Borussia Monchengladbach and Real.
Inter was the better side but Shakhtar keeper Anatolli Trubin made four saves and followed the “get it the heck out of there” plan when the ball came to his feet or hands.
Borussia Monchengladbach 2-2 Real Madrid
Marcus Thuram scored twice as Gladbach’s plan to have the French striker and teammate Alassane Plea hit on the counter proved good enough for a 2-0 lead.
But Eden Hazard returned to the pitch as a 70th-minute sub and helped turn the tide as Casemiro set up Karim Benzema for one goal and feasted of a Sergio Ramos feed to make it 2-2 with the goals coming in the 87th minute and third minute of stoppage.
Here’s Hazard, from TV:
The header for Karim Benzema, now the finish! Casemiro comes up huge for Real Madrid! pic.twitter.com/Ep1kxcRljh
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) October 27, 2020
Marseille 0-3 Man City -- RECAP
- GUARDIOLA: “Champions League (campaign) is in a good place now”
Kevin De Bruyne returned to the lineup and set up two goals as Manchester City collected an impressive 3-0 win.
Ferran Torres scored and set up Ilkay Gundogan for another, with Raheem Sterling rounding out the goals for City.
Porto 2-0 Olympiacos
Marseille’s double whammy is that it’s now bottom of the group after Porto proved the only team capable of finishing in a tight affair against Olympiacos.
The Greeks had a bit more of the ball and an 11-10 edge in shots, but Porto got goals from Fabio Vieira and Sergio Oliveira to join their visitors on three points.
Liverpool 2-0 Midtjylland -- RECAP
- FABINHO INJURY: Klopp expects Brazilian to miss time
Jurgen Klopp rested his big three and rode Trent Alexander-Arnold’s playmaking to a second-half win, as the right back set up a Diogo Jota goal and helped Mohamed Salah win a penalty that the Egyptian converted late.
But Fabinho was injured and left the game in the 30th minute, joining Virgil van Dijk (long-term) and Joel Matip (short-term) as center backs on the shelf.
Midtjylland also supplied another look at U.S. eligible midfielder Jens Cajuste, one of several bright spots as the Danes could’ve easily taken a point off the Premier League monsters’ second-choice lineup.
Atalanta 2-2 Ajax
It was all about Duvan and Dusan in Bergamo.
Liverpool will be happy its collected its six points because Atalanta looks capable of scoring on anyone and Ajax is proving that it can finish better than it did in a misfiring loss to the Reds in Amsterdam.
Dusan Tadic and Lassina Traore scored after the half-hour mark to give the visitors a 2-0 halftime lead, but Gian Piero Gasperini’s men showed themselves capable of quick-strike offense as well.
Duvan Zupata scored off Mario Pasalic and Papu Gomez assists between the 54th and 60th minutes and neither team found the winner despite each registering seven shots on target.
