Real Madrid’s big stars turned on the style to revive the Spanish giant’s faltering Champions League title defense on Tuesday.
Galacticos Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham all scored in a thrilling 3-2 win at Italian league leader Atalanta. But Madrid still had to ride its luck as Mateo Retegui fired over from in front of goal in stoppage time when handed a golden chance to level the game.
It was only Madrid’s third win in the competition’s revamped league phase and leaves the 15-time champion in the unseeded playoff positions in 18th place.
“It’s a very important win. Not everyone wins here. We suffered and competed. In the Champions League, you have to suffer,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “It’s still difficult to finish in the top eight, but we have two games left to earn points.”
Six-time champion Liverpool leads the way after maintaining its perfect record in Europe this season with a 1-0 win against Girona.
Like Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain also picked up a much-needed win, beating Salzburg 3-0 to sit in the last playoff spot in 24th place.
Bayer Leverkusen is second after a 1-0 win over Inter Milan, while Aston Villa beat Leipzig 3-2 and is third.
The top eight teams advance directly to the round of 16. Positions nine to 24 face a playoff to reach the next phase.
Real response
After three losses in its opening five games of the league phase, the pressure was mounting on Madrid.
Questions were also being asked of Mbappe after his uncertain start since his offseason move from PSG. But he produced a moment of class to fire Madrid 1-0 up after 10 minutes at Gewiss Stadium — controlling the ball with his left foot and then finishing low with his right.
It was the 25-year-old Mbappe’s 50th Champions League goal. Lionel Messi is the only player to have reached that number at a younger age.
Mbappe was substituted off before halftime with an apparent physical issue and Charles De Ketelaere leveled the game before the break from the penalty spot. But two goals inside three second-half minutes from Vinicius Junior and Bellingham put Madrid in control.
Ademola Lookman’s goal made it 3-2, but Madrid survived Retegui’s late effort and held on.
Salah’s landmark
Mohamed Salah’s 50th Champions League goal maintained Liverpool’s perfect record in the competition this season.
The Egypt forward struck a 63rd minute penalty to seal the win in Spain that kept Liverpool atop the 36-team league.
But even after a sixth straight win for the Merseyside club, head coach Arne Slot was critical of his players in a game that saw goalkeeper Alisson pull off several saves to keep Girona out.
“If you ask me about all the six games, I’m really pleased with all the results, I am really pleased with the five (other) games with the way we played. I’m far from pleased about the performance tonight,” he said.
Salah’s goal was his 16th in 22 appearances overall this season.
Girona was 30th with just one win from six games.
“I almost feel sorry for them because they deserved so much more in this Champions League campaign than the three points they have until now. But we have an incredible goalkeeper,” said Slot, whose team also leads the Premier League.
Liverpool’s two remaining games are against Lille at home and PSV Eindhoven away in January.
U.S. international Christian Pulisic is the only player to have scored against Liverpool in this season’s Champions League in a 3-1 loss for Milan in September.
Bayern rout
Bayern Munich routed Shakhtar Donetsk 5-1 to move into the automatic qualifying positions for the round of 16.
Michael Olise scored a wonderful solo goal by dribbling past a host of players for his first of two in the game. Bayern’s win came after going 1-0 down inside five minutes to a goal from Brazilian winger Kevin.
PSG fightback
PSG is not done yet.
A miserable start to the league phase saw the French giant pick up just four points from five games as it adjusted tp life without stars like Mbappe, Messi and Neymar, who have all departed in the past two seasons.
But victory at Salzburg moved PSG up into the playoff positions.
Goncalo Ramos, Nuno Mendes and Desire Doue all scored.
Leverkusen rising
Leverkusen is back on a roll after struggling to repeat the success of last season’s stunning German league and cup double.
It’s now six straight wins in all competitions, with Nordi Mukiele’s 90th minute goal securing victory against Inter and moving Leverkusen into second on 13 points — five behind Liverpool.
Villa, Inter and Brest are all on 13 points as well.
Inter dropped to fourth after conceding for the first time in this season’s competition.
Villa is third after its own resurgence in form. Victory against Leipzig was its third in a row after an eight-game winless run.
Brest is one of this season’s surprise packages on its Champions League debut and is fifth after beating PSV Eindhoven 1-0.
Sporting Lisbon, in 12th, couldn’t build on taking a third-minute lead at Club Brugge — losing 2-1 in Belgium. Brugge is 14th.
Dinamo Zagreb drew 0-0 with Celtic and both teams remain in the playoff positions.
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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
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