90min

Champions League Roundup: Inter Survive, Bayern Held by Atletico & Marseille Break Duck

By Matt O'Connor-Simpson

Romelu Lukaku was the hero for Inter
Romelu Lukaku was the hero for Inter / Lars Baron/Getty Images
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Another Tuesday night, another gigantic helping of Champions League football.

Matchday five treated us to a couple of 'shocks' that are happening so frequently this season they weren't actually that surprising. We had Real Madrid falling to a(nother) defeat, Inter making it hard for themselves and Manchester City being a bit boring.

Here's all of that - as well as everything else - rounded up in one neat little package.

There's only one place to start - Real's shocking 2-0 defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk. The Ukrainian side also bested Los Blancos in the reverse fixture and Zinedine Zidane's charges seemed to have not learned anything from that embarrassing performance, serving up another pitiful display in Kiev.

To be fair, they did start the game fairly well but they faded badly in the second half with Shakhtar taking full advantage to win 2-0.

Meanwhile, Inter came very close to surrendering a 3-1 lead against Borussia Monchengladbach, eventually surviving a late disallowed goal scare to claim all three points with a 3-2 victory.

The result leaves Group B delicately poised going into matchday six with all four teams still in with a chance of progression. One to keep an eye on next week for sure.

Group A is also delicately balanced after Atletico Madrid held runaway leaders Bayern Munich to a 1-1 draw, while Lokomotiv Moscow fell to a 3-1 defeat to Red Bull Salzburg. The pick of the goals in this group was a fine strike from Salzburg striker Karim Adeyemi (see above), who celebrated with an even more impressive backflip.

As for Liverpool, they had stand-in goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher to thank after he made a fine save late on to deny Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. This helped Liverpool secure a 1-0 win over Ajax, a result which confirmed the Reds' progression. They will be joined by either Atalanta - who were held 1-1 by whipping boys FC Midtjylland - or Ajax, who face off against each other next.

Group C closes our round up. Why? Because it might be the most boring Champions League group of all time.

The only thing of note to report is that Andre Villas-Boas' Marseille finally got off the mark with a 2-1 win over Olympiacos, breaking their 13-game losing streak in the competition. Oh yeah, and Manchester City drew 0-0 with FC Porto to guarantee top spot.