Matchday three of the 2022/23 Champions League group stage concluded on Wednesday evening, with the likes of Actual Madrid, Chelsea, Manchester Metropolis, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain all in motion.
However whereas Actual, Chelsea, Metropolis and Juve have been finally glad with their respective outcomes, it was an evening of disappointment for PSG.
Learn on to see how all of the motion unfolded throughout eight video games.
Crimson Bull Salzburg 1-0 Dinamo Zagreb
Crimson Bull Salzburg had 18 makes an attempt on aim in opposition to Dinamo Zagreb however have been made to attend till the ultimate 20 minutes to interrupt the impasse – and it got here from a Noah Okafor penalty.
It was an vital win for Salzburg because it retains them above Chelsea and places them high of the group on the midway stage of this spherical after leapfrogging AC Milan.
However this group is tight and Dinamo are nonetheless solely two factors off high spot themselves.
Chelsea 3-0 AC Milan
Chelsea made gentle work of a surprisingly poor AC Milan at Stamford Bridge, with Wesley Fofana scoring his first aim for the membership within the first half shortly earlier than going off injured.
Thiago Silva shone on the again for Graham Potter’s Blues, wreaking havoc at set-pieces and commanding issues defensively. The second aim later got here from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, assisted by Reece James, who then rounded issues off with a aim of his personal.
Milan had began the sport with some promise and missed a gilt-edged likelihood in first half stoppage time to make it 1-1, however then regarded unforgivably disinterested after the break.
RB Leipzig 3-1 Celtic
Having misplaced 3-0 to Actual Madrid on matchday one, Celtic nonetheless solely have a single level in Group F on account of one other defeat through which they conceded three targets.
Christopher Nkunku gave the German facet a primary half lead when he discovered the underside nook along with his left foot. However although Celtic did equalise virtually straight after the interval by Jota, Leipzig’s superior high quality and European expertise finally prevailed.
Dominik Szoboszlai noticed a aim chalked off for offside by VAR on the hour mark, moments earlier than Andre Silva truly restored the Leipzig lead. The Portuguese front-man was additionally answerable for taking the sport away from Celtic with simply over 10 minutes to go, scoring from shut vary.
Actual Madrid 2-1 Shakhtar Donetsk
Actual Madrid bounced again from the frustration of their first dropped factors of the season in La Liga on the weekend to take care of a 100% file within the defence of their Champions League title.
Though after 3-0 and 2-0 wins over Celtic and RB Leipzig respectively thus far, Shakhtar Donetsk ran Los Blancos closest when it comes to the score-line.
Shakhtar goalkeeper Anatolii Trubin made 11 saves on the Bernabeu as Actual peppered pictures at his aim. Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior did every rating inside half an hour, but Actual could not prolong their benefit, permitting Oleksandr Zubkov to drag one again and make it nearer than it should have been.
Man Metropolis 5-0 Copenhagen
Manchester Metropolis made such gentle work of Copenhagen on the Etihad Stadium that Pep Guardiola noticed match to withdraw Erling Haaland at half-time – denying the prolific Norwegian what might have been a fourth hat-trick since becoming a member of the membership in summer time.
Haaland was not the one Metropolis participant who impressed, with Jack Grealish and Ilkay Gundogan additionally producing top of the range performances.
Metropolis have been by no means not in management right here, with Haaland’s first coming simply seven minutes in. He doubled his workforce’s lead after half an hour and the hosts went additional forward by an personal aim, earlier than Riyad Mahrez and Julian Alvarez struck in a procession of a second half.
Sevilla 1-4 Borussia Dortmund
To not be outdone by their former marksman, Borussia Dortmund received 4 targets in a noteworthy away win over a Sevilla facet that has struggled thus far on this group stage.
Raphael Guerreiro broke the impasse early and Dortmund have been three targets to the great earlier than time because of additional strikes from younger stars Jude Bellingham and Karim Adeyemi. Youssef En-Nesyri gave Sevilla the faintest of glimmers, earlier than Julian Brandt received Dortmund’s fourth.
At this stage, Dortmund are merely hanging onto Manchester Metropolis’s coat tails, with each golf equipment pulling away from the others within the group.
Juventus 3-1 Maccabi Haifa
Juventus lastly put a nightmarish begin to this season’s Champions League marketing campaign behind, banishing the ache of back-to-back defeats with a welcome win over Maccabi Haifa.
Adrien Rabiot has waited for a aim for the reason that 2020/21 season, however all of the sudden two got here alongside because the Frenchman each began and completed issues on the evening. His first was a left-footed strike excessive into the web, whereas his second got here within the type of a close-range header.
In between, Angel Di Maria assisted Dusan Vlahovic, whereas Dean David at one stage put Maccabi again into the sport by making it 2-1 and probably establishing a nervous end for Juve.
Benfica 1-1 Paris Saint-Germain
Regardless of Lionel Messi’s beautiful curling first-time end for Paris Saint-Germain in opposition to Benfica in Lisbon, it was finally a disappointing evening for the reigning French champions.
PSG merely did not make their better share of the possession depend and, even with Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe on the pitch, have been unable to create sufficient high quality probabilities to increase their early result in permit them to kill the sport off.
It was 1-1 by half-time on account of Danilo Pereira inadvertently discovering his personal web. If something, Benfica had the higher alternatives to truly win the sport.