The best story of Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League came in Barcelona’s defeat of Dynamo Kiev, but wasn’t on the hosts’ roster, as a third-string, teenage, UCL debutant keeper kept Lionel Messi and Co. from running away with a blowout win.
[ MORE: UCL Tuesday recaps ]
Four American players played Wednesday, too, with Sergino Dest and Giovanni Reyna starting and Weston McKennie joining Tyler Adams as substitutes.
All four USMNT youngsters picked up wins, but how about a special nod to McKennie’s terrific dummy on an Alvaro Morata goal?
Dig into the UCL below...
Chelsea 3-0 Stade Rennais -- Three Things We Learned
Rennes wide man Dalbert gave away two penalties for yellow-card offenses and Timo Werner converted both as Chelsea cruised past Edouard Mendy’s former teammates.
Tammy Abraham drew the second penalty and scored off a Reece James feed to finish the day’s scoring at Stamford Bridge.
Sevilla 3-2 Krasnodar
This game simply did not care for your preconceptions.
Krasnodar opened up a 2-0 lead on goals from Shapi Suleymanov and Marcus Berg, then exhaled when Ivan Rakitic’s 42nd-minute goal was quickly met by a red card to Jesus Navas.
But a first UCL win was not to arrive for the Russians, as Sevilla super sub Youssef En-Nesyri scored twice in four minutes to put Sevilla level with Chelsea on seven points.
What an impact Youssef En-Nesyri has made from the bench, he gets his second.
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) November 4, 2020
10 man Sevilla take the lead! pic.twitter.com/29NFJJ2B4F
Club Brugge 0-3 Borussia Dortmund
This one was settled by halftime, even if the Belgian hosts kept fighting after going down to a Thorgan Hazard opener and brace from Erling Haaland.
USMNT midfielder Giovanni Reyna started and played about an hour for BVB.
Zenit St. Petersburg 1-1 Lazio
Felipe Caicedo’s late goal erased Zenit’s halftime lead and put Lazio a point behind Dortmund and one ahead of Club Brugge.
Barcelona 2-1 Dynamo Kiev
This game held an amazing story even in a loss. Dynamo was without a dozen players between injuries and positive COVID-19 tests.
Enter 18-year-old Ukraine goalkeeper Ruslan Nescheret was thrust into the Starting XI for just the second time as a senior player and made 12 saves against Barca including a tremendous flying save of a picturesque Lionel Messi free kick.
The goals he conceded were to Messi and Gerard Pique, something else to tell the grandkids.
Viktor Tsygankov continued to impress for the visitors, scoring a goal as Dynamo forced six saves out of returning Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Ferencvaros 1-4 Juventus
Alvaro Morata scored twice and Pablo Dybala joined an own goal on the Juve score sheet in a three-goal win for the Italian champions.
Franck Boli scored in the 90th for the Hungarian side, who played better than the score line indicated in taking 12 of the match’s 28 shots.
Also, maybe we need to change assist rules for a dummy sold as well as the one by USMNT midfielder Weston McKennie, who played the final 37 minutes after an injury to Aaron Ramsey.
This dummy by substitute @WMckennie leading to @juventusfcen's second goal... 😀
— U.S. Men's National Soccer Team (@USMNT) November 4, 2020
(@TUDNUSA)pic.twitter.com/gOgWDeK1mp
RB Leipzig 2-1 Paris-Saint Germain
Group H is in play for all after Leipzig erased an early Angel Di Maria- and Moise Kean-inspired deficit in Germany.
Angelino set up ex-PSG man Christopher Nkunku before halftime, then won a penalty that Emil Forsberg converted 12 minutes after the break.
And Leipzig will face a weakened PSG on Matchday 4 after Idrissa Gana Gueye and Presnel Kimpembe were sent off in the second half.
Tyler Adams was a second-half sub for Leipzig, an encouraging sign for the injury-battling USMNT midfielder.
Istanbul Basaksehir 2-1 Manchester United -- Three Things
Manchester United, however, did not take advantage of PSG’s second loss of the round.
Edin Visca scored after assisting Demba Ba’s opener as United’s defense regressed in Turkey, and only Anthony Martial’s 43rd-minute marker met the scoreboard for the visitors.
The Red Devils and Leipzig are on six points while Basaksehir and PSG have three.
