Champions League Winners and Losers from October 21
A record 40 goals were scored in the Champions League on Tuesday—the most in any single day of competition in European club football’s most prestigious competition—and 21 of them came in three incredible matches.
In the Italian capital, visiting Bayern Munich thumped AS Roma 7-1, while in London, hosts Chelsea shellacked Maribor 6-0. Shakhtar Donetsk also ran up the score in Belarus, where they hammered BATE Borisov 7-0.
CSKA Moscow came back from two goals down to draw Manchester City 2-2, and until Edinson Cavani’s late winner in Cyprus it looked as though Paris Saint-Germain were headed to a share of the points against APOEL.
Elsewhere, Barcelona beat Ajax 3-1 at Camp Nou, Porto were 2-1 winners at home to Athletic Bilbao and Schalke scored a controversial winner to prevail 4-3 over Sporting CP in Gelsenkirchen.
Following are some of the winners and losers from an unbelievable day of Champions League action.
Winner: The Messi-Neymar Combination, Which Continues to Only Get Better
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Lionel Messi and Neymar exchanged goals and assists on Saturday against Eibar (a 3-0 Barcelona win), and the pair were at it again when the Catalan giants defeated Ajax 3-1 on Tuesday.
Only seven minutes had ticked off the clock at Camp Nou when Messi set up Neymar for the opening goal of the encounter, and in the 24th minute Neymar ran decoy for his teammate, who controlled Andres Iniesta’s pass before putting the hosts 2-0 up.
There is hardly a more lethal one-two punch in world football at the moment than the pair of South Americans, who will no doubt be central to Barcelona’s plans when Saturday’s Clasico showdown with Real Madrid kicks off at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.
"We were very much the better team in the first half," Barcelona coach Luis Enrique told FCBarcelona.com. "There were 10 minutes when (Ajax) could have got back into it, but they were 10 very isolated minutes… We ended up winning deservedly. We were much more powerful than our opponent."
Losers: Manchester City, Whose Champions League Nightmare Continues
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Manchester City just can’t seem to get it right in Europe.
On Matchday 1 the Premier League champions lost 1-0 away to Bayern Munich, and after taking the lead in their next game at home to AS Roma they eventually allowed the Serie A side to escape Etihad Stadium with a 1-1 draw.
Things seemed to be going better for City on Tuesday when Sergio Aguero and James Milner opened up a 2-0 lead heading into the break at CSKA Moscow, but they simply stopped playing after the restart and invited their hosts onto them throughout the second half.
Seydou Doumbia pulled a goal back for the Russian side in the 65th minute, and Natkho equalised from the spot in the 86th.
City are now third in Group E after three matches and seven points adrift of leaders Bayern Munich.
Winner: Arjen Robben, Who Helped Inspire Bayern Munich to a Big Win in Rome
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At 30 years of age, Arjen Robben is playing the best football of his career.
He had a terrific World Cup during the summer with the Netherlands, and since returning to club side Bayern Munich he has continued in his rich vein of form.
After only eight minutes against a very good AS Roma side at Stadio Olimpico, Robben pulled the ball past Ashley Cole and opened the scoring with a well-laced finish that left goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis with no chance.
Then, on the stroke of the half-hour mark, the Dutchman bagged his second of the night after again cutting in from the right.
A memorable evening was capped in the 78th minute when Robben’s exquisite through ball found teammate Franck Ribery, who put Bayern 6-1 up.
They would end up winning 7-1.
Winner: The Brazilians in Belarus, Who Powered Shakhtar to a Memorable Win
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It was an all-Brazilian affair for Shakhtar Donetsk on Thursday.
The Ukrainian outfit romped to a 7-0 win over BATE Borisov in Barysaw, and all seven goals came from the feet of Brazilian players.
Alex Teixeira was the first to get the party started when he found the back of the net in the 11th minute, and by the time Douglas Costa made it 3-0 to Shakhtar teammate Luiz Adriano had already beaten goalkeeper Sergei Chernik as well.
Adriano would go on to score four more goals for the guests, and the first three of his quintuple came within a seven-minute span in the first half.
With the victory Shakhtar leapfrogged BATE in the Group H table and pulled to within two points of leaders Porto.
Loser: Sergei Karasev, Who Awarded a Nonsense Penalty in Gelsenkirchen
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He may have taken the advice of his assistant, but referee Sergei Karasev awarded a preposterous penalty deep into stoppage time in Gelsenkirchen on Tuesday.
At the time of the decision Schalke and Sporting CP were about to play out the string on an entertaining 3-3 draw. But then the ball struck Sporting left-back Jonathan Silva in the face, and Karasev pointed to the spot for handball.
Eric Choupo-Moting stepped up and scored what proved to be the winner for Schalke, but even he will have known it came as the result of controversial circumstances.
Winner: Edinson Cavani, Who Scored a Late Winner for PSG
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Paris Saint-Germain haven’t exactly been flourishing in the absence of injured striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and with second-half injury time approaching in Cyprus it looked as though they were destined for an embarrassing, scoreless draw with APOEL.
Edinson Cavani, however, had other ideas.
Following Jean-Christophe Bahebeck’s lofted ball, the Uruguayan striker proceeded to contort his body in order to release an acrobatic attempt that ended up beating goalkeeper Urko Pardo.
Crucially, the win allowed PSG to remain a point above Barcelona in the Group F standings.
