Nov 27,2024
Bayern Munich battled past 10-man Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 in the Champions League thanks to Kim Min-jae's winner on Tuesday to improve their chances of automatic qualification and leave the visitors in trouble after a third loss in the competition.
With PSG's only win so far coming against Girona in their opener they were desperate for points but Bayern struck first with South Korea's Kim heading home from close range after goalkeeper Matvei Safonov fluffed a corner in the 38th minute.
Things got worse for Luis Enrique's PSG when Ousmane Dembele was dismissed for lunging tackle that brought a second booking in the 57th, leaving an already struggling side with 10 men.
Safonov made amends for his earlier mistake by tipping a Jamal Musiala shot onto the post but despite some late pressure PSG could not prevent Bayern claiming a seventh consecutive victory and seventh straight clean sheet in all competitions.
The Bavarians climbed to 11th with nine points from five games, a point off the top eight places that bring automatic qualification for the last 16. PSG are 26th on four, outside the playoff spots with three matches remaining in the first phase.
Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski scored twice as the hosts cruised to a 3-0 win over French side Brest, with the Polish striker joining Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as the only players to pass the 100 goals mark in the competition.
Lewandowski put Barca ahead after being fouled by goalkeeper Marco Bizot and converting from the spot in the 10th minute.
The home side squandered several chances to extend their lead and were almost caught out by a couple of counter attacks before Dani Olmo got their second after dribbling past two defenders, with Lewandowski wrapping up the win in added time.
The victory lifted Barca to second in the 36-team table on 12 points from five games. Brest dropped to ninth spot with 10 points.
An own goal by RB Leipzig defender Castello Lukeba gave Inter Milan a 1-0 home win as the Italian champions provisionally moved top of the standings.
Inter took the lead in the 27th minute after Lukeba turned the ball into Leipzig's own net following Federico Dimarco's free kick.
Unbeaten Inter top the table with 13 points from five games, while Leipzig are still in search of their first points of the league phase after five consecutive losses in the competition.
Argentina forward Julian Alvarez and substitute Angel Correa scored two goals each while Marcos Llorente and Antoine Griezmann added to the feast as Atletico Madrid thumped home side Sparta Prague 6-0.
Diego Simeone's Atleti dominated proceedings from early on at the Letna Stadion and opened the scoring in the 15th minute when Alvarez curled a free kick from the edge of the box into the top corner.
Llorente extended the visitors' lead just before the break with help from striker Alexander Sorloth, who played a clever dummy on his teammate's cross that ended up evading everyone, including the goalkeeper, as it bounced in at the far post.
Alvarez scored the third in the 59th minute, finishing from close-range a brilliant run in a counter attack that he started in Atletico's own half, before Griezmann and Correa twice struck late from inside the box.
Atletico are ninth in the 36-team Champions League table with nine points from five games while Sparta Prague are 28th on four points.
Bayer Leverkusen got their campaign back on track with a 5-0 home win over RB Salzburg, with Florian Wirtz scoring twice and the visitors having goalkeeper Alexander Schlager to thank for avoiding an even bigger defeat.
Leverkusen, beaten 4-0 at Liverpool in their last game, raced into an early lead with Wirtz scoring from the penalty spot in the eighth minute and Alejandro Grimaldo netting from a free kick three minutes later.
Wirtz scored again on the half-hour as Leverkusen threatened to run riot and Patrik Schick added a fourth goal 16 minutes after the break and Aleix Garcia rounded off the win 18 minutes from time.
Leverkusen's return to winning ways, after they had also drawn 1-1 with Brest, moves them on to 10 points while Salzburg remain on three points after suffering their fourth defeat in five matches.
AC Milan earned their third successive Champions League win with a 3-2 victory at Slovan Bratislava, hanging on after the home side scored a late goal.
The first half ended level with Milan's Christian Pulisic opening the scoring in the 21st minute before a quick counter-attack led to Slovan's Tigran Barseghyan equalising three minutes later.
Milan struggled to put Slovan away before substitute Rafael Leao put them back in front in the 68th minute and Tammy Abraham capitalised on a horror back-pass from David Strelec to extend their lead three minutes later.
Slovan pulled a goal back through Nino Marcelli in the 88th minute, and also had Marko Tolic sent off late on, but Milan came through the late drama to move on to nine points while Slovan, with no points, remain rooted at the bottom of the standings.
Charles De Ketelaere was the driving force for Atalanta in their commanding 6-1 win at Young Boys, providing three assists and scoring two goals.
The 23-year-old Belgian provided his first assist to Mateo Retegui, who put Atalanta ahead after nine minutes.
Silvere Ganvoula responded immediately, levelling the score for Young Boys two minutes later, but the rest of the half belonged to Atalanta.
De Ketelaere scored in the 28th minute before assisting Sead Kolasinac three minutes later. He capped off a dominant first half with his third assist to Retegui six minutes before the break, allowing the Italian to complete his brace.
The dominance continued 11 minutes into the second half when De Ketelaere netted his second and Atalanta's fifth with a low shot from the edge of the box, deflecting off a Young Boys player.
As De Ketelaere was substituted in the 75th minute, he received a warm round of applause from the stadium, with Lazar Samardzic scoring the sixth and last goal for Atalanta in stoppage time.
