Champions League Winners and Losers from November 4
The 2014-15 Champions League group stage entered its second half on Tuesday, with 16 of the competition's 32 teams playing their fourth matchday of the schedule.
In Group A, Atletico Madrid went top of the bracket thanks to a 2-0 win away to Malmo, while Juventus fought off Olympiakos to pick up three important points.
Group B saw Real Madrid book their place in the round of 16 after beating Liverpool 1-0. The section's other match was rather more one-sided as Basel shellacked Ludogorets 4-0 in Switzerland.
Bayer Leverkusen ensured at least Europa League football for themselves with a 2-1 win away to Zenit St. Petersburg, and Talisca's late winner helped Benfica to their first victory at the expense of Monaco.
Finally, Arsenal blew a 3-0 lead at home to Anderlecht and wound up with a disappointing 3-3 draw, and Borussia Dortmund ensured progression from Group D with a commanding 4-1 win at home to Galatasaray.
Tuesday's matches included a handful of standout performances as well as a few underwhelming displays, and over the next few slides we'll examine the evening's individual winners and losers.
Let's get to it.
Winner: Son Heung-Min, Who Scored Twice for Bayer Leverkusen
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With two matches remaining in their Group C campaign, Bayern Leverkusen know they'll be playing Europa League football at the very least in 2015.
In fact, they're likely to win the section outright, as Tuesday's 2-1 win over Zenit St. Petersburg put them four points clear of Monaco, who ended up losing to Benfica.
Son Heung-Min scored both his side's goals at Petrovsky Stadium, including a sensational opener from a set piece that came right off the training ground.
The South Korea international, who also scored the winner against Benfica earlier in the competition, then completed his brace after beating goalkeeper Yuri Lodygin to the far post after being set up by Stefan Kiessling.
Losers: The Galatasaray Fans, Who Made More Trouble on Their Travels
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Early last month, a section of Galatasaray's travelling support lit flares at Emirates Stadium and wound up being accused of damaging some of the seats at Arsenal's home ground, as per Goal.
They were back to their troublesome antics on Tuesday when they visited Borussia Dortmund.
Turkish-Football.com captured some of the pyrotechnics and shared the images on Twitter. And the BBC's John Bennett watched as several Galatasaray players implored their fans to stop throwing flares onto the pitch, as he described via Twitter.
In the end, the Turkish side's woeful defending proved to be their ultimate undoing as they lost 4-1 to the Bundesliga side at Signal Iduna Park.
Winner: Andrea Pirlo, Who Scored a Free-Kick Goal on a Landmark Night
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Andrea Pirlo made his 100th Champions League appearance on Tuesday and marked the occasion with a spectacular free-kick goal.
Twenty-one minutes had ticked off the clock when the 35-year-old curled his effort past Olympiakos goalkeeper Roberto Gago, and having watched the strike Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl wondered aloud, via his Twitter account, whether the Juventus midfielder wasn't the best free-kick taker in the world.
Pirlo, for his part, praised the "calm and strength" of his team-mates in a post-match interview with Sky Sport Italia, as relayed by Football-Italia.
"A win was crucial and we knew that it depended on us," he said.
Winner: Koke, Who Maintained His Impressive Form for Atletico Madrid
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Koke was one of the heroes of Matchday 3 when he scored once and assisted on three other goals in a 5-0 win at home to Malmo.
He put in a similarly impressive showing on Tuesday, and thanks to his 30th-minute winner in the return match against the Swedish outfit, the Primera Division champions now sit atop Group A with two matches remaining.
Juanfran did ever so well to rush the ball down the right-hand side in the buildup to the goal, but the finish was all Koke—his backheeled flick leaving goalkeeper Robin Olsen without a hope.
Loser: Arsenal, Who Capitulated at Home to Anderlecht
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At half-time on Tuesday, it looked as though Arsenal were set to cruise past an Anderlecht side they came from behind to beat 2-1 on Matchday 3.
Mikel Arteta had opened the scoring from the penalty spot, and Alexis Sanchez had doubled the Gunners' advantage after turning a blocked free-kick into a well-taken volley.
When Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain put the hosts 3-0 up just prior to the hour mark, it should have been lights-out.
Should have been.
In the 61st minute Anthony Vanden Borre took advantage of a botched offside call to pull a goal back for Anderlecht, and after substitute attacker Aleksandar Mitrovic—who was a difference-maker after coming on—was brought down by Nacho Monreal in the Arsenal area, Vanden Borre completed his brace with a successful penalty conversion.
In the 90th minute Mitrovic completed the unlikely comeback after getting on the end of Andy Najar's delivery and beating Wojciech Szczesny.
The Independent's Jack Pitt-Brooke singled out Gunners defender Per Mertesacker for the mistake that led to the equaliser via his Twitter account.
Winner: Brendan Rodgers, Whose Makeshift Liverpool Team Put Up a Fight
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Having decided to rest the likes of Steven Gerrard, Raheem Sterling and Mario Balotelli from the start against Real Madrid on Tuesday, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers exposed himself to considerable, pre-match criticism.
Gary Lineker, for one, used his Twitter account to label Rodgers' team sheet as "unbefitting" of the club's stature, and the BBC's John Bennett questioned the response of the Liverpool fans to such a selection.
Rodgers' players, however, ended up justifying their manager's faith in them.
Although the Reds lost 1-0 in the Spanish capital, they played with considerably more energy than they showed against the European Cup holders on Matchday 3, when they lost 3-0 at Anfield.
The Mirror's Brian McNally took to Twitter post-match to hail the side's "solidity and pace."
Rodgers can now prepare for Saturday's match against Chelsea having rested the players he wanted to rest and knowing a result away to Real Madrid was always going to be unlikely anyway.
