Champions League Results 2014: Scores, Group Tables, Standings for Matchday 3
Matchday 3 of the 2014-15 Champions League has so far thrived in living up to our expectations, with Tuesday's action providing an average of five goals per game.
Bayern Munich headlined the schedule in marching past Roma 7-1 while big wins for Chelsea, Schalke and Shakhtar Donetsk also helped in mounting a gargantuan tally of 40 goals thus far.
Wednesday's fixtures didn't bring as many goals as Tuesday's sensational night, but it produced plenty of drama nonetheless.
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Arsenal needed two late goals to avoid embarrassment at the hands of Anderlecht, while Liverpool's loss to Real Madrid coupled with Ludogorets' surprise win leaves the race for the knockout stages in Group B wide open.
Elsewhere, Juventus were upset by Olympiakos and Atletico Madrid thrashed Malmo, while Borussia Dortmund easily handled Galatasaray in Istanbul.
The full results for Matchday 3, as well as updated group tables:
| October 21 | E | CSKA Moscow | 2-2 | Manchester City |
| October 21 | E | Roma | 1-7 | Bayern Munich |
| October 21 | F | APOEL | 1-0 | Paris Saint-Germain |
| October 21 | F | Barcelona | 3-1 | Ajax |
| October 21 | G | Schalke | 4-3 | Sporting Lisbon |
| October 21 | G | Chelsea | 6-0 | Maribor |
| October 21 | H | BATE Borisov | 0-7 | Shakhtar Donetsk |
| October 21 | H | Porto | 2-1 | Athletic Bilbao |
| October 22 | A | Atletico Madrid | 5-0 | Malmo |
| October 22 | A | Olympiakos | 1-0 | Juventus |
| October 22 | B | Liverpool | 0-3 | Real Madrid |
| October 22 | B | Ludogorets Razgrad | 1-0 | Basel |
| October 22 | C | Bayer Leverkusen | 2-0 | Zenit St. Peterburg |
| October 22 | C | Monaco | 0-0 | Benfica |
| October 22 | D | Anderlecht | 1-2 | Arsenal |
| October 22 | D | Galatasaray | 0-4 | Borussia Dortmund |
| Group A | |||||||
| 1 | Atletico Madrid | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| 2 | Olympiacos | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| 3 | Juventus | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | Malmo | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -5 | 3 |
| Group B | |||||||
| 1 | Real Madrid | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 9 |
| 2 | Ludogorets | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -1 | 3 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -3 | 3 |
| 4 | Basel | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -4 | 3 |
| Group C | |||||||
| 1 | Bayer Leverkusen | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 2 | Monaco | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 3 | Zenit | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 4 | Benfica | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -4 | 1 |
| Group D | |||||||
| 1 | Borussia Dortmund | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 9 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 2 | Anderlecht | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -4 | 1 |
| 4 | Galatasaray | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -7 | 1 |
| Group E | |||||||
| 1 | Bayern Munich | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | +8 | 9 |
| 2 | Roma | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 4 |
| 3 | Manchester City | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | −1 | 2 |
| 4 | CSKA Moscow | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | −5 | 1 |
| Group F | |||||||
| 1 | Paris Saint-Germain | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | +2 | 7 |
| 2 | Barcelona | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | +2 | 6 |
| 3 | Ajax | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | −2 | 2 |
| 4 | APOEL | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | −2 | 1 |
| Group G | |||||||
| 1 | Chelsea | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | +7 | 7 |
| 2 | Germany Schalke 04 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | +1 | 5 |
| 3 | Slovenia Maribor | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | -6 | 2 |
| 4 | Portugal Sporting CP | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -2 | 1 |
| Group H | |||||||
| 1 | Porto | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | +7 | 7 |
| 2 | Shakhtar Donetsk | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | +7 | 5 |
| 3 | BATE Borisov | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | −12 | 3 |
| 4 | Athletic Bilbao | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | −2 | 1 |
Wednesday, Oct. 22 Recap
Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema took full advantage of some sloppy defending by the Liverpool back four, building an early 3-0 lead at Anfield that would ultimately hold until the final whistle.
The Portugal international blasted home a delightful pass from James Rodriguez to open the scoring, making Champions League history in the process, per OptaJoe:
Ronaldo's goal was a beauty, but so was Benzema's first. Anticipating a great cross from Toni Kroos, the Frenchman lobbed Simon Mignolet with a fantastic header, as the Reds defenders looked on.
Those same defenders gifted Real their third goal, as Mignolet made the poor decision to come off his line on a corner and Benzema was free to tap in from close range.
As shared by The Madridistas, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers had nothing but praise for the Champions League holders:
Ludogorets shocked FC Basel in Bulgaria thanks to a goal from Yordan Minev, and with everyone apart from Los Blancos on three points in Group B, the return legs of the group stages will be filled with drama as the race for the knockout stages reaches the final stretch.
Arsenal looked dreadful for 89 minutes on Arsene Wenger's 65th birthday but turned an ugly situation around late, as Kieran Gibbs and Lukas Podolski broke the hearts of the hometown fans in Brussels.
Anderlecht more than held their own against the Gunners and took the lead after Dennis Praet found Andy Najar in the centre of the box with a great cross, and the young squad had plenty of opportunities to put the visitors away for good.
Instead, Arsenal's experience shone through in the end, scoring two goals in the span of three minutes. Bleacher Report UK's James McNicholas said what most Gooners were probably thinking:
Group D leaders Borussia Dortmund romped past Galatasaray, as it looks this group is already wrapped up, with Die Schwarzgelben and Arsenal moving to the knockout stages.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice and Marco Reus added a third with a great free-kick, before Adrian Ramos put the final score of 4-0 on the board.
Juventus continued their Champions League struggles with a 1-0 loss in Greece, Pajtim Kasami giving the hosts the deserved three points. Atletico Madrid easily handled Malmo, and the Bianconeri will need a big performance at the Juventus Arena against Olympiakos to avoid relegation to the Europa League.
Goal's Kris Voakes was harsh on the Italian champions, to say the least:
"Since dispatching Celtic with ease in the Round of 16 in 2012-13, Juventus have gone from hopefuls to also-rans in the Champions League. In six trips across the continent they have lost to Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Galatasaray, Atletico and now Olympiakos. Their only point on their travels came against the minnows of Copenhagen.
"
Bayer Leverkusen overcame Zenit St. Petersburg 2-0 in Germany, and thanks to the 0-0 draw between Monaco and Benfica Lisbon, the Bundesliga outfit are the new leaders in Group C.
Tuesday, Oct. 21 Recap
A great deal of attention was centred on the Stadio Olimpico leading into Wednesday's fixtures, where Bayern Munich proved none of their Champions League potency has been lost thanks to a 7-1 win over Roma.
The Italian hosts have been hyped up as a slumbering giant back on the rise after improving their squad tremendously of late, but Pep Guardiola's side were devastating, going in at the break with a 5-0 lead.
Ben Smith of BBC Sport painted a picture of just how one-sided the fixture appeared:
Arjen Robben scored with two sublime finishes to help propel Bayern past a team that should prove to be their toughest group opponents, Der FCB now firmly in the favourites position to top Group A.
Things worked out well for Guardiola's men earlier in the day, too, when Manchester City let a 2-0 lead slip to leave Arena Khinki with just a point, with Seydou Doumbia and Bibras Natkho scoring to end matters at 2-2.
Aleksandar Kolarov was responsible for fouling a player in the 85th minute to give CSKA Moscow a late equalising penalty. As Match of the Day's Gary Lineker points out, Roma's dismantling may yet keep City's hopes of a place in the knockout stages alive:
The other Premier League outfit in action on Tuesday was Chelsea, who strolled past Maribor 6-0, with first-half goals from Loic Remy, Didier Drogba and John Terry setting the Blues on a warpath. Eden Hazard added two late in the game, with Mitja Viler also contributing an own goal.
Per the official Chelsea Twitter account, academy product Dom Solanke made his long-awaited first-team debut against the Slovenians to warm applause:
The west Londoners showed that they're still capable of great things going forward without Diego Costa, and Group G's other kickoff wasn't short of goals, either, with Schalke trumping Sporting Lisbon 4-3 in Gelsenkirchen.
The two teams swapped the lead several times, as the Miners found themselves 3-1 up at one stage only to be pegged back at 3-3 before Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting's 93rd-minute penalty won it for Schalke.
In Group H, Shakhtar Donetsk bagged the biggest goal differential of the evening after handing BATE Borisov a 7-0 hiding in Belarus. As BBC Sport states, Luiz Adriano was in particularly fine form on the night:
A first win of the European campaign puts the Ukrainians in a much better position, but Porto's 2-1 win over Athletic Bilbao means the Dragons keep their place at the pool's summit, with seven points from a possible nine.
ESPN FC's Dermot Corrigan noted the Spaniards' poor form of late:
Group F proved to be shortest on goals but not necessarily on entertainment, with Barcelona beating Ajax 3-1 while Paris Saint-Germain just about earned a 1-0 win away to APOEL Nicosia.
Lionel Messi and Neymar are no shock scorers for Barca, but Sandro Ramirez came on with 30 minutes remaining to net a third. OptaJose shows just how accurate the rising youngster has been since coming into the Blaugrana's senior ranks:
PSG were slow in getting off the mark in Cyprus, but Edinson Cavani was on hand to fire home a rebound in the 87th minute and save his manager's blushes. As a result, the Ligue 1 giants keep their place at the top of the pile, attention gradually turning toward their final group game at Camp Nou.
Tuesday's action proved wonderful depending on which team one supports, with the 40 goals notched so nearly missing out on record status, per OptaJoe:
One can only hope that Wednesday offers up a similar standard of drama as the continental elite continue their duel for European prominence.
