Real Madrid stormed back from two goals down to smash Dortmund in the third round of the Champions League, while Premier League sides Arsenal and Aston Villa continued their unbeaten starts to the new format.
Villa, on Unai Emery’s second anniversary at the club, ended the day as the only team to have won all three matches so far – downing Bologna 2-0 at Villa Park. Four other teams, including Liverpool, can have a perfect record after Thursday’s matches
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Real beat Borussia Dortmund 5-2 with a sensational second-half performance as Vinicius Junior scored a hat-trick while Arsenal laboured to a 1-0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk – and lost another defender – Riccardo Calafiori to injury ahead of Liverpool’s Premier League visit.
There was a major upset in Italy with Juventus beaten 1-0 by Stuttgart, their first loss in any competition this season, while Paris Saint-Germain were held 1-1 at home by PSV.
‘What we’re building is amazing’
Aston Villa’s thrilling Champions League journey continued with a third-straight win.
Captain John McGinn, Villa’s longest-serving player, scored from out wide off a freekick in the 55th minute.
Villa doubled their lead nine minutes later when Jhon Duran marked his first Villa Park start for 11 months by scoring from close range.
Having beaten Swiss side Young Boys and heavyweights Bayern Munich, Villa now have nine points from three games in their return to European football’s top club competition for the first time in 41 years.
“It is amazing. Obviously I missed out on the last night here at Villa Park [win against Bayern Munich] but three games in, three wins and most important for us is no goals conceded,” said McGinn.
“We don’t want to stop here. It puts us in a great position. Some players came back and now we look really strong.
“What we are building here is amazing.
“This is home for me. It is my seventh season here, we’ve had ups and downs. It has been a rollercoaster. Hopefully we can keep climbing.”
Gunners misfiring
Arsenal’s difficulties continued with a battling win over Ukraine’s champions at the Emirates through an own goal from Shakhtar goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk – the ball hitting the post from a Gabriel Martinelli shot and revbounding off the keeper and over the line.
Arsenal should have made the game safe in the second half but Leandro Trossard fired a penalty down the middle and into Riznyk’s legs – and the Gunners needed a huge late save from David Raya to secure the points.
It was, however, another insipid display from a team sorely missing injured stars Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka.
Real power on display
Real Madrid produced another memorable comeback to secure a 5-2 win over Borussia Dortmund.
Donyell Malen and Jamie Gittens put Dortmund into a surprise 2-0 lead before Carlo Ancelotti’s side stepped it up in the second half inspired by the Vinicius Junior hat-trick.
Antonio Rudiger and Lucas Vazquez also got on the scoresheet for Madrid.
Pulisic’s freak goal
Winger Christian Pulisic scored direct from a corner against Club Brugge as AC Milan won 3-1 and picked up their first points in this season’s European Champions League.
Pulisic surprised everyone when he curled in a kick from the left corner flag in the 34th minute to put Milan 1-0 up on Tuesday.
The United States international, who has scored seven goals this season for Milan, raised his arms and smiled broadly before being embraced by his teammates.
Milan went on to beat Brugge 3-1 for its first Champions League points in the new-look format after defeats to Liverpool – when Pulisic also scored – and Bayer Leverkusen.
Kyriane Sabbe equalised against the run of play but Tijjani Reijnders scored twice to clinch the victory.
Unbeaten Monaco thrashed Red Star Belgrade 5-1, Japan’s Takumi Minamino scoring twice.
The Roarhttps://www.theroar.com.au/2024/10/23/what-were-building-is-amazing-perfect-villa-top-champions-league-table-vini-jnr-sparks-brilliant-real-gunners-suffer-new-blow/‘What we’re building is amazing’: Perfect Villa top Champions League table, Vini Jnr sparks brilliant Real, Gunners suffer new blow
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