PARIS: It was a great night for English clubs, and for Barcelona captain Raphinha.

Premier League leaders Liverpool moved level on points with Aston Villa at the top of the Champions League standings on Wednesday by extending their perfect record to three wins, and Manchester City set a new record for the most consecutive games undefeated in the history of the competition.

Liverpool edged RB Leipzig 1-0 with a goal from Darwin Nunez as the outstanding start to Arne Slot’s reign continued. City routed Sparta Prague 5-0 with Erling Haaland producing another moment of magic.

In a clash that pitted five-time winners Barcelona against six-time champions Bayern Munich, it was the home side that stole the show thanks to a triple from Brazilian attacker Raphinha and a goal from in-form veteran Robert Lewandowski to end a series of six consecutive wins for the German team in their head-to-head meetings that included a humiliating 8-2 loss for Barca in the quarter-finals in 2020.

This time, Barca came out on top of an entertaining contest with a 4-1 statement win.

After three rounds in the revamped tournament, Liverpool and Aston Villa have a two-point lead over seven clubs including City and another Premier League team, Arsenal.

In Barcelona, the hosts opened the scoring within a minute at the Olympic Stadium as Raphinha was found by Fermin Lopez’s through ball, then rounded Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer with ease.

Bayern levelled the score in the 18th minute with Harry Kane’s acrobatic volley from a Serge Gnabry cross, but Barcelona responded with ex-Bayern player Lewandowski pouncing on a loose ball after Lopez had snuck behind the visiting defence in the 36th minute.

Raphinha got his second on the stroke of half-time with a curling effort off his right side.

The Brazil international’s third on 56 minutes showcased Barca’s danger on the counter as he galloped onto a swept pass from Lamine Yamal before arrowing home a left-footed finish with both centre-halves trailing in his wake.

It was Barca’s first win over Bayern since the 2015 Champions League semi-finals as the La Liga leaders laid down a marker ahead of Saturday’s clash against rivals Real Madrid.

“In my opinion this game could have been a [Champions League] final, to be able to win it in this way, so well, in front of our fans, is quite special and I leave here happy,” Raphinha told Movistar. “What we are doing on the pitch answers what Barça can do in this Champions League.”

The result leaves Bayern in the bottom half of the table, while Barcelona have two wins and are 10th.

Leipzig’s Lois Openda was twice denied by the assistant’s flag as Liverpool fought to a narrow win in Germany.

Nunez tapped in the only goal in the 27th minute from Moha­med Salah’s header back toward goal and could have earned a penalty in the 38th when he appeared to be tripped by Willi Orban.

Slot has guided Liverpool to first place in the Premier League early in his tenure as Jurgen Klopp’s replacement and now has the team on a maximum nine points in the Champions League.

Against one of the clubs that Klopp will be overseeing in his new role as head of global football at Red Bull, Slot’s men set two new club records — the first Liverpool side to win their first six away games of a season, and the first to triumph in 11 of their opening 12 matches.

“For the 70 previous minutes — except, maybe, for the first 10 — we dominated,” Slot told TNT Sports. “We needed Virgil [van Dijk] and Ibou [Konate] and our goalkeeper. If we left this place with a draw then I would’ve felt we lost something.”

Irish goalkeeper Caoimhin Ke­l­l­eher ably deputised for the injured Alisson Becker and produced several fine saves in the second half to protect Liverpool’s lead.

Leipzig are the only team from the big five leagues to lose their three opening matches.

CITY IMPROVE UNITED’S RECORD

City’s new record won’t please the red half of Manchester.

By beating Sparta Prague, the English champions set the record for consecutive games undefeated in the history of the competition — even stretching back before 1992 into the European Cup era. City are now on 26 matches unbeaten. Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United team from 2007-09 managed to stay unbeaten for 25 matches.

In a one-sided contest at the Etihad Stadium, Haaland scored a brace, including a spectacular backheel at shoulder height.

“I saw it when the ball came in. It’s unbelievable. He’s a statue. So tall and so flexible,” said City boss Pep Guardiola in admiration of the Norwegian’s goal.

It was an effort reminiscent of his strike against old club Borussia Dortmund two years ago that won Champions League goal of the season.

The Czechs had contained the hosts to a one-goal lead at half-time after Phil Foden’s strike.

But the floodgates opened in the second period with Haaland’s amazing goal. John Stones made it 3-0, Haaland grabbed his second and Matheus Nunes added more lustre to the emphatic win.

Lille continued to enjoy life against teams from the Spanish capital, following up their surprise win at home to Real Madrid last time out by beating Atletico Madrid 3-1.

The French side had just three shots on target, including a penalty kick, at Atletico, who were unbeaten in their last 11 home matches in the tournament.

Julian Alvarez put the hosts in front with an early opener before Edon Zhegrova curled in an equaliser close to the hour mark. Jonathan David then scored from the spot in the 74th minute and completed a brace in the 89th minute.

“We may not have played a great, great game, but we played the game we needed to tonight,” Lil­le’s Benjamin Andre said.

A superb goal from Pierre Lees-Melou helped minnows Brest to a 1-1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen as both teams remained unbeaten.

The French team played with verve throughout the second half but were unable to find the second goal at Stade de Roudourou.

Playing in Europe’s top competition for the first time, the newcomers faced their toughest test yet against the German champions, who had also won their first two matches in the revamped tournament.

Florian Wirtz’s low shot gave Leverkusen the lead in the 24th minute. It was his seventh goal in all competitions this season. Lees-Melou, who recently returned from a broken leg, levelled with a right-footed volley from outside the box. It was his first goal since March.

Substitute Marcus Thuram scored in stoppage time as Inter Milan snatched a dramatic 1-0 win at Young Boys.

The Italian champions looked set to be held to a frustrating draw at the Wankdorf Stadium in Bern, with Marko Arnautovic failing to convert a second-half penalty, before Thuram steered home Federico Dimarco’s cross in the third minute of added time to break Young Boys’ hearts.

Celtic produced an impressive response to their thrashing against Borussia Dortmund by holding Atalanta to a goalless draw in Italy.

Brendan Rodgers’ side followed their 7-1 defeat in Germany by keeping their first Champions League clean sheet in seven years.

The result left Celtic on four points from three matches having played their toughest two away fixtures on paper in the eight-game league format.

Looking for a third consecutive win, Benfica lost 3-1 to Feyenoord with 19-year-old Antoni Milambo bagging a double in Lisbon.

In the night’s other fixture, Dinamo Zagreb recorded a 2-0 win against 10-man RB Salzburg.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2024