Liverpool on Tuesday eased to a comfortable 2-0 win in the “Battle of Britain” against the Rangers in the Champions League group games, while SSC Napoli underlined their credentials with an impressive 6-1 thrashing of Ajax in Amsterdam.
On a night when a minute’s silence was held before every match in tribute to the 131 victims of the Indonesia stadium tragedy, Bayern Munich and Club Brugge also made it three wins from three, while Inter edged Barcelona in a tight contest in Milan.
Juergen Klopp’s Liverpool went into their Group A game against the Scottish champions on the back of just three wins in their first nine Premier League and Champions League games of the season.
Photo: AFP
They settled quickly when Trent Alexander-Arnold produced a sublime free-kick to put the home side ahead after just seven minutes.
The Rangers’ 40-year-old goalkeeper Allan McGregor produced some fine saves, including four to deny Darwin Nunez his first Champions League goal for Liverpool, to keep his side in the hunt at halftime.
Seven minutes into the second half, Leon King’s challenge caught the legs of Luis Diaz to give away a penalty. Mohamed Salah stepped up and struck the ball down the middle as McGregor was unable to repeat the penalty-saving heroics he produced against Napoli.
Napoli stay top of Group A after another impressive victory, coming from behind to hammer Ajax 6-1 to take their tally of goals to 13 from three matches.
Bayern moved to the edge of qualification with a third successive win, thrashing Viktoria Plzen 5-0 in Group C.
Hakan Calhanoglu fired Inter to a 1-0 win over Barcelona at the San Siro to take the Italians into second spot in Group C, three points behind Bayern. Inter had lost five of the previous 10 matches, but Turkish midfielder Calhanoglu ended the crisis talk when he lashed in the only goal of the game on the stroke of halftime.
Barcelona boss Xavi Hernandez was left fuming after two key handball decisions went against his team.
The first saw an equalizer ruled out following a pitch review by referee Slavko Vincic for Ansu Fati’s handball just before the ball dropped to Pedri to tuck home.
Barcelona were then denied a stoppage-time penalty after video assistant referee officials ruled that Denzel Dumfries did not commit a handball offense despite touching the ball in a very similar way to Fati.
“If you ask me I’m outraged ... the word is outrage because it makes no sense. It’s an injustice,” Xavi told reporters.
Club Brugge beat Atletico Madrid 2-0 in Group B to claim a third successive win and continue their surprise charge toward the next round.
Club Brugge top Group B, after Porto beat Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2-0 with second-half goals from Zaidu and Galeno.
Sporting’s march in Group D came to a shuddering halt in Marseille, where the home side came from a goal down to win 4-1 and get their first win under their belt.
Lisbon are still atop the group with six points, two ahead of Eintracht Frankfurt and Tottenham Hotspur who played out a goalless draw in Germany.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
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