FC Barcelona, Ajax and Napoli, surprise winners against Liverpool 4-1, achieved the best results this Wednesday in the Football Champions League, on the day of Sporting’s historic victory in Germany.
Sporting achieves the best result of the Portuguese trio in the ‘Champions’, with 3-0 in Frankfurt, in the field of the holder of the Europa League, in what becomes the first victory of the ‘lions’ on German soil, after 13 defeats and a single draw.
For Portugal, the start of the Champions League group stage is frankly good, as Benfica beat Maccabi Haifa 2-0, at Luz, and FC Porto only lost 2-1 to Atlético de Madrid, at the Metropolitan of the Spanish capital, with all the goals in added time.
Group A is marked by the rout imposed by Ajax and Naples, this one especially unexpected, since it was inflicted on the defeated finalist of the last edition of the ‘Champions’ and one of the most historic emblems of England.
Napoli, currently second in the Italian League, had Polish Piotr Zielinski as its key figure, with two goals (at five, from a penalty, and at 47) and also assisted the goal by Cameroonian Zambo Anguissa (31). The other goal was from Argentinian Giovanni Simeone (44).
With the Portuguese Diogo Jota starting as a substitute and coming on in minute 63, Liverpool only managed to score in minute 49, through Colombian Luis Díaz, a former FC Porto scorer.
In the field was another Portuguese, Mário Rui, a Napoli defender, who from the 74’s jumped into the game to maintain the advantage.
Less surprising was Ajax’s 4-0 win over Rangers, especially as the Dutch were already so successful in last year’s edition.
The goals were scored by the Mexican Edson Alvaréz (17), Steven Berghuis (32), the Ghanaian Mohamed Kudus (33) and Steven Bergwjin (80).
Group B kicks off with the Iberian ‘clash’ in Madrid with a match with a ‘crazy ending’, with three goals in added time in the 2-1 draw between Atlético and FC Porto.
João Félix, substituted in the 71st minute, was part of this long-suffering victory for the colchoneros, against a rival who had been playing inferior since the 81st, with the expulsion of the Iranian Taremi.
Mario Hermoso, at 90+1, opened the scoring for the locals and the Portuguese champion tied, at 90+6, with a penalty shot by Colombian Uribe. The local winning goal came at the unusual 90+11, from a shot by Frenchman Antoine Griezmann.
In the other group match, Ivorian Loubadhe Sylla gave Club Brugge victory over Bayer Leverkusen, scoring the only goal of the match, in the 42nd minute.
The biggest win of the day came in group C, with FC Barcelona ‘defeating’ Viktoria Plzen 5-1, with Robert Lewandowski’s ‘hat-trick’.
The Pole scored in 34, 45+3 and 63. Ivorian Francis Kessié (13) and Ferran Torres (71) scored the other goals for the Catalans.
Clearly one of the weakest teams in the tournament, the Czech team only scored in the 44th minute, through Jan Sykora.
Living the first season after the departure of Lewandowski, Bayern continues well and today they went to win Milan, against Inter, by 2-0.
Leroy Sané scored the first of the two goals, at 25, and things got even more complicated for Inter, with Danilo D’Ambrosio’s own goal, at 66.
Brilliant entry for Sporting in Group D, with the first Leonine victory in Germany. The English Marcus Edwards (65), Trincão (67) and Nuno Santos (82) built the resounding result, which stunned the Eintracht Frankfurt fans.
In London, Tottenham took advantage of their numerical superiority in the second half (ex-Porto defender Mbemba was sent off in the 47th minute) and defeated Marseille 2-0.
The Brazilian Richarlison scored twice, at 76 and 81, against the Gauls, for whom the Portuguese Nuno Tavares started in midfield.
Source: TSF
