Doug McIntyre
Soccer Journalist
In a rematch of final 12 months’s UEFA Champions League last, trophy holders Actual Madrid roared again from a two-goal deficit at Estadio Santiago Bernabeau within the Spanish capital to stun German titan Borussia Dortmund with 5 consecutive second-half strikes and safe an emphatic 5-2 win.
Three of Actual’s 5 objectives got here by way of Vini Jr. The Brazilian famous person accomplished his hat trick in stoppage time following an audacious solo run:
Whereas the marquee contest of Matchday 3 greater than lived as much as the hype, a lot of the eight different video games performed on Tuesday did not disappoint, both.
Listed below are three fast takeaways.
First place Aston Villa stays good
Again within the planet’s premier membership competitors for the primary time in additional than 4 many years, the Villans are profiting from the chance. After topping Italian facet Bologna in Birmingham on Tuesday on second half objectives by John McGinn Jhon Durán, the 1982 European champs are off to an ideal 3-0 in continental play.
Sitting on their own atop the Champions League desk is a dream state of affairs for a membership that spent 2016-19 in England’s second-tier Championship division. But it surely’s additionally one they earned underneath Spanish supervisor Unai Emery, who has been a revelation for a membership lengthy thought-about a sleeping big domestically.
There’s a number of season left, after all. Emery’s facet has been lucky to play two of its three matches at Villa Park, with its away match at humble Swiss outfit Younger Boys. Subsequent month’s journey to Brugge and one other residence date, in opposition to Juventus, will not be simple. However after following its well-known Oct. 2 conquer mighty Bayern Munich with one other three factors, long-suffering claret and blue followers absolutely fancy their Unai Emery,
The U.S. males’s nationwide workforce star’s otherworldly kind continued on Tuesday with an otherworldly purpose.
Pulisic, the Rossoneri’s main scorer each in Serie A and throughout all competitions this season, notched his tenth profession Champions League purpose instantly from a nook kick in Milan’s 3-0 victory over Membership Brugge.
The guests’ defending on the play was removed from stellar. Vastly skilled onetime Liverpool keeper Simon Mignolet in all probability believes he ought to’ve saved it. However if you’re scorching you are scorching, and Pulisic will gladly take it — not least as a result of it gave the seven-time Champions League winners their first three factors after opening the 2024-25 marketing campaign with a pair of defeats.
Earlier than Tuesday’s sport in London in opposition to Shakhtar Donetsk, Gunners gamers and supervisor Mikel Arteta had been going through an uncommon quantity of stress. Arsenal, the Premier League’s runners-up in every of the final two seasons — had been surprised by Prem minnow Bournemouth final weekend, and had been anticipated to rebound in a giant method.
The 1-0 win on a primary half personal purpose won’t have eased the troubles of diehards, nevertheless it did hold the Gunners undefeated in Champions League play even because it snapped their good file.
Juventus supporters had no such silver lining in Turin, as Italy’s most profitable workforce suffered a stunning injury-time loss to Germany’s Stuttgart. Substitute El Bilal Touré scored the winner about eight minutes after Juve was diminished to 10 males by defender Danio’s second yellow card of the night time.
Lastly, in France, Paris Saint-Germain and Dutch champs PSV Eindhoven claimed a share of the spoils at Parc des Princes in a 1-1 draw — one which absolutely felt like a loss for the hosts. USMNT midfielder Malik Tillman began the match for PSV, whereas fullback Richie Ledezma got here off the bench.
Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports activities. A former workers author with ESPN and Yahoo Sports activities, he has lined U.S. males’s and girls’s nationwide groups at FIFA World Cups on 5 continents. Observe him @ByDougMcIntyre.
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