Champions League results: Matchday 3
After a lengthy international break, which did genuinely seem to go on forever, the Champions League was back in town.
Tuesday night's action offered up some absolute thrillers involving Europe's big guns, including tough shifts for both Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain against Atletico Madrid and RB Leipzig respectively.
There was plenty to look forward to on Wednesday, too, with Bayern Munich, Man Utd and holders Chelsea all on show as we reach the halfway point of the group stage.
Here's 90min's roundup of a busy couple of days...
Tuesday
Group A
Club Brugge 1-5 Man City
Man City put aside their defeat to Paris Saint-Germain last time out and strolled to a resounding 5-1 win at Club Brugge.
Joao Cancelo gave the visitors a deserved lead before Riyad Mahrez doubled the lead from the spot before half-time.
Kyle Walker and substitute Cole Palmer finished off superb team moves after the break before Hans Vanaken grabbed a consolation, and Mahrez rounded off proceedings in the final ten minutes.
You can see how we rated Man City's players here.
PSG 3-2 RB Leipzig
Lionel Messi’s second-half brace helped PSG secure a 3-2 victory over RB Leipzig - a result which put them top of Group A.
After an early scare PSG took the lead in the tenth minute with Kylian Mbappe finishing off a sweeping counterattack. Andre Silva then levelled things up after the break following a great cross from Angelino, and the former Manchester City man also set up Nordi Mukiele to make it 2-1 early in the second period.
PSG looked bereft of ideas in response but eventually burst into life with Mbappe and Messi combining to equalise. Soon after, the former was fouled in the box and Messi converted a Panenka to put his side in front.
Before the end Mbappe had a chance to add a fourth, but he blazed over from the spot after his teammate had passed up on the chance to complete his hat trick.
You can read player ratings for both sides here.
Group B
Atletico Madrid 2-3 Liverpool
Liverpool were made to work for their 3-2 win away at Atletico Madrid, with Mohamed Salah opening and closing the scoring.
The Egyptian gave the Reds an eighth minute lead before Naby Keita's super volley put them two to the good.
Antoine Griezmann secured a first-half brace to level the scores, but was sent off for a high challenge on Roberto Firmino just after the break.
Mario Hermoso clumsily brought down Diogo Jota in the box and Salah converted from the spot to seal three points for the visitors.
You can read player ratings for both sets of players here.
Porto 1-0 Milan
Milan slipped to a costly defeat away to Porto, leaving them point-less in Group B with three consecutive defeats.
Winger Luis Diaz netter the winner, pouncing on a loose ball to slot into the bottom from the edge of the box.
Although they had barely threatened themselves, the Rossoneri were left incensed, feeling there had been a foul on Ismael Bennacer in the build-up, but the goal stood.
Group C
Besiktas 1-4 Sporting
This thumping win for Sporting will be best remembered by the neutral for a stunning disallowed goal.
Besiktas' Alex Teixeira produced an incredible collapsing volley from the angle in first-half stoppage time, only to see it ruled out for offside. Ouch.
Sporting were already 3-1 up at the time through a Pablo Sarabia penalty and unlikely headed brace from Sebastian Coates, before Paulinho added a fourth in the last minute.
Ajax 4-0 Borussia Dortmund
Arguably the biggest surprise of Matchday 3.
Ajax absolutely thumped Dortmund in Amsterdam, and it could even have been even more. Things got off to a bad start for BVB when their captain Marco Reus put through his own net early on, before Daley Blind thumped home a second shortly afterwards.
Antony produced a fine finish to make it three, and Sebastien Haller got a goal of his own with a header 18 minutes from time having provided two assists already.
Group D
Shakhtar Donetsk 0-5 Real Madrid
Real Madrid bounced back from a shock 2-1 defeat to Sheriff Tiraspol in their previous Champions League outing in the most emphatic way possible.
Los Blancos thrashed Shakhtar Donetsk 5-0 away from home on matchday three, putting in a dominant display to leave Kiev with a much-needed victory.
A comedic own goal opened the scoring in the first half, before a Vinicius Jr brace and goals from Rodrygo and Karim Benzema sealed a second-half rout for Carlo Ancelotti's men.
You read player ratings for Los Blancos here.
Inter 3-1 Sheriff Tiraspol
Inter overcame a second-half wobble to secure a vital first three points of the group stage against Sheriff.
The hosts led at the break thanks to a wonderful volley from Edin Dzeko, but were pegged back after Sebastian Thill whipped home a stunning 30-yard free kick.
The Nerazzurri responded well though, and two goals in ten minutes secured the win. First, Arturo Vidal slotted past the keeper, before centre-back Stefan De Vrij produced a striker's finish to volley in from Denzel Dumfries' header.
You can see how Inter's players rated here.
Wednesday
Group E
Barcelona 1-0 Dynamo Kyiv
Barcelona won their first Champions League match of the season at the third time of asking, beating Dynamo Kyiv 1-0 at Camp Nou.
Ronald Koeman's side had suffered successive 3-0 defeats to Bayern Munich and Benfica in Group E and were in desperate need of a result against the Ukrainian outfit to give them a fighting chance of reaching the knockout stages.
They strolled to three points on Wednesday night with a routine win against a lifeless Dynamo side.
Sergino Dest nearly gave Barcelona the lead after just 90 seconds when Jordi Alba picked him out from a deep cross, but the USA international couldn't keep his header down.
Luuk de Jong had a huge chance to put Barça in front when he met Memphis Depay's free-kick, but his free header was way off target.
The towering Dutchman then had a shot tipped over by Heorhiy Bushchan as the visitors tried and continually failed to build from the back.
Bushchan was on hand again to save Dynamo to deny Dest from close range, but was powerless to keep out Gerard Pique's volley following another great looping ball from Alba, scoring Barcelona's first Champions League goal this season.
Koeman threw on Philippe Coutinho and Ansu Fati at half-time with Dynamo there for the taking, and the duo had real joy running at the Ukrainian defence.
Fati robbed Bushchan just two yards from his goal, and attempted to beat the goalkeeper by flicking the ball in the air to score with an overhead kick, but the teenager's effort went wide.
Barcelona created little else in terms of clear cut chances, but eased their way to victory due to Dynamo's complete inability to do anything useful in possession.
You can read 90min's player ratings here.
Benfica 0-4 Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich sent a real message to the rest of Europe with a thumping 4-0 win away at Benfica.
The German champions were made to wait for the floodgates to open however, with Benfica keeping them out for 70 minutes after two away goals were ruled out by VAR.
Leroy Sane opened the scoring with a stunning free-kick from 25 yards, before Everton turned the ball into his own net.
Robert Lewandowski grabbed his customary goal soon after with a tap in at the far post, and Sane rounded off the scoring a couple of minutes later to round off a memorable night for Bayern.
Group F
Man Utd 3-2 Atalanta
Man Utd came from behind to take control of their Champions League group with an exhilarating 3-2 victory over Atalanta at Old Trafford.
Strikes from Mario Pasalic and Merih Demiral gave Atalanta a deserved first half lead as the pressure cranked up on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
But the Red Devils responded perfectly after the break, swarming the Serie A side and mounting a stunning comeback.
Marcus Rashford scored his second goal since returning from injury to pull one back, and Harry Maguire thumped home the equaliser following Bruno Fernandes' cross.
And, of course, Cristiano Ronaldo completed the comeback with a towering header ten minutes from time as United picked up a huge win.
You can read 90min's player ratings here.
Young Boys 1-4 Villarreal
Villarreal left it late to see off the challenge of Young Boys and earn their first Champions League win of the season.
Yeremi Pino became the youngest player to score on his birthday to give Unai Emery's side the lead (he's 19 if you want to send him a belated card), before Gerard Moreno doubled the lead after a quarter of an hour with a powerful header.
But Young Boys kept fighting to the bitter end, and pulled one back through Meschack Elia with just over ten minutes remaining and in the ascendancy.
But Alberto Moreno and Samuel Chukwueze killed any late hopes of a comeback with the clock running down as Villarreal moved level on points with Atalanta.
Group G
Salzburg 3-1 Wolfsburg
Austrian champions Salzburg maintained their place at the top of Group G with an emphatic 3-1 win over Wolfsburg.
The highly-coveted Karim Adeyemi fired the hosts into a third-minute lead, but Lukas Nmecha took advantage of confusion in the Salzburg penalty area to equalise not long after.
Salzburg were clearly the better side though, and eventually sealed the three points thanks to a second-half brace from Noah Okafor, opening up a four-point gap at the top of the group.
Lille 0-0 Sevilla
Lille and Sevilla played out one of the dullest games of the season to boost neither of their chances of reaching the knockout stages.
Renato Sanches and Rafa Mir failed to make the most of sloppy back passes on a night of little action in northern France.
Group H
Chelsea 4-0 Malmo
European champions Chelsea eased to a 4-0 win over Malmo, but were dealt a double blow with Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner picking up first-half injuries.
Andreas Christensen tucked away a superb volley to score his first Chelsea goal and hand the hosts an inevitable lead, before Lukaku was injured winning a penalty after a strong challenge from Lasse Nielsen.
Jorginho converted from the spot, and substitute Kai Havertz put the game beyond doubt shortly after the interval with a wonderful dinked effort, before the Italy midfielder scored another penalty to round off the scoring.
You can read 90min's player ratings here.
Zenit 0-1 Juventus
A late header from substitute Dejan Kulusevski maintained Juventus' perfect start to the new Champions League season.
A game of few clear-cut chances eventually went Juve's way after 86 minutes of battering down the Zenit door.
Kulusevski flicked Mattia De Sciglio's cross into the far corner of the net, propelling Massimiliano Allegri's men onto nine points in the group, and sending them home with another 1-0 win.
You can read 90min's player ratings here.
How to watch every Champions League game on TV
UK audiences will be able to watch live coverage on BT Sport, with a full highlights show broadcast on both Tuesday and Wednesday evening.
US viewers can watch games on fuboTV and Paramount+, while DAZN will be broadcasting every Champions League game live in Canada.
Viewers from around Europe can find full TV listings here.
