PARIS: Inter Milan and Barcelona won again in the Champions League on Wednesday though both former title holders are looking up in the standings towards upstart newcomers Brest, while a 93rd-minute winner ensured Atletico Madrid left Paris with all three points.

Aston Villa started the week atop the 36-team table but their winning run ended after a bizarre penalty was awarded when defender Tyrone Mings picked up the ball in the area at Club Brugge, resulting in a 1-0 loss that sent the English club plummeting to eighth place.

Paris St Germain, in their first season without Kylian Mbappe, trail far behind in 25th after Angel Correa fired a stoppage-time winner to seal a 2-1 win for Atletico at Parc des Princes — the Spanish side’s second win in this season’s competition.

Robert Lewandowski struck twice as Barca’s blistering scoring form continued in a 5-2 win at Red Star Belgrade — a seventh straight win since the start of October at a rate of four goals per game.

Barca’s third successive win in this season’s revamped competition lifted them up to sixth.

Inter stifled Arsenal in a 1-0 win at San Siro sealed by Hakan Calhanoglu’s penalty in first-half stoppage time.

Inter are unbeaten on 10 points and in fifth place, one below Brest who won 2-1 at Sparta Prague. The French debutant looks sure to advance to the knockout phase starting in February.

Elsewhere, Bayern Munich claimed hard-fought three points in a 1-0 win against Benfica.

Desperate to win after losing their last two Champions League games, Bayern needed time to finally break the deadlock in the 67th minute thanks to Jamal Musiala.

VfB Stuttgart suffered their second defeat in four games with a 2-0 loss at home to Atalanta, who stay unbeaten on eight points, while Red Bull Salzburg got their first goals and points in a 3-1 win at Feyenoord.

Liverpool lead the standings at the midway point of the eight-round programme as the only team with four straight wins. Only the top eight teams in January advance directly to the round of 16 in March.

Arsenal experienced defeat for the first time in Europe this season and lie three points and seven places behind Inter.

The match at the San Siro looked set to go into the break goalless until a penalty was signalled against Mikel Merino after Mehdi Taremi’s flick deviated the ball into the Arsenal player’s raised hand from close range.

“We were very harshly done by,” Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta told TNT Sports. “There is no deflection, nothing you can do in the box, so can he get away from it?”

Calhanoglu stroked home the resulting spot-kick three minutes into first-half injury time.

Yann Sommer and Denzel Dumfries combined on the line to deny Gabriel Magalhaes a leveller shortly before the hour.

Arsenal cranked up the pressure in the second half but were unable to break down Inter’s solid defensive block as the Premier League side fell to a second defeat in four days.

“I think we played a great game against a strong side who play with great intensity,” said Inter coach Simone Inzaghi.

Barca started their campaign with a 2-1 setback at Monaco, but have won the following three matches by scoring four goals or more — including a 4-1 thrashing of Bayern.

The Catalans took the lead on 13 minutes via a stooping header by defender Inigo Martinez but Red Star sparked a reaction as Rade Krunic threaded the ball through the Barcelona defence for the run of Silas Mvumpa, who chipped a fine finish over the onrushing Inaki Pena.

Lewandowski restored Barça’s lead in the 43rd and was again on target in the 53rd. Raphinha netted just two minutes later and Fermin Lopez added his name to the scoresheet in the 76th before Felicio Milson curled in a late consolation for the hosts.

Brest continued their excellent start to life at European football’s top table as they won in Prague.

Edimilson Fernandes and Kaan Kairinen’s own goal put Brest in control before Victor Olatunji scored Sparta’s stoppage-time consolation.

Villa had led the standings in the new league-phase format after three straight wins without conceding a goal — and it took a bizarre incident before goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez was eventually beaten.

Mings picked the ball up in the area thinking Martinez had not taken his goal-kick, but German referee Tobias Stieler ruled otherwise and Brugge skipper Hans Vanaken converted the subsequent spot-kick.

“It’s the biggest mistake I witnessed in my career,” Villa coach Unai Emery said. “It has only happened one time in all my life. Today.”

PSG IN TROUBLE

Warren Zaire-Emery broke the deadlock for PSG with a dinked finish past Jan Oblak in the 14th to delight the home fans, but their lead was short lived as Nahuel Molina drilled in an equaliser four minutes later.

The home team pressed as the match wore on but left themselves exposed as Oblak’s throw found Antoine Griezmann on the break and the Frenchman’s pinpoint pass landed at the feet of Correa, who cut in and finished past Gianluigi Donnarumma.

“The team put in a great effort at a difficult stadium. Paris played very well, they attacked the whole match, but we were confident, we worked hard in defence and as a team, and we got our goal at the end to claim victory,” Correa told Movistar.

PSG are now winless in three Champions League games, in a run that includes two defeats.

Bayern coach Vincent Kompany will breathe a sigh of relief as he managed to ease any mounting pressure with a narrow win against Benfica.

The Bavarians had a dominant performance from start to finish but struggled to find their way through a stubborn Benfica.

But they were finally on target after Harry Kane’s header was cleared, but Musiala was free to power a header past goalkeeper Anatolyi Trubin.

“Sometimes 1-0 is enough. It was important to take the three points today,” Musiala told broadcasters DAZN.

In Stuttgart, the home team pushed hard for an equaliser after Ademola Lookman struck the opener for Atalanta in the 51st.

But the Italians kept their perfect record of not conceding a goal so far in the league phase and sealed the victory thanks to Nicolo Zaniolo in the 88th.

In the Netherlands, Karim Konate scored either side of the interval for Salzburg before VAR upgraded Feyenoord midfielder Chris-Kevin Nadje’s yellow card to a red.

The home side hit back through Anis Hadj-Moussa, but Daouda Guindo restored Salzburg’s two-goal advantage.

Ukrainian champions Shak­htar Donetsk registered their first win, 2-1 against Young Boys in a ‘home’ tie in Gelsenkirchen, condemning the Swiss side to a fourth consecutive defeat in the competition.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2024