Real Madrid 5-2 Borussia Dortmund
VINICIUS JUNIOR SCORED a sublime hat-trick as Champions League holders Real Madrid came back from two goals down to hammer Borussia Dortmund 5-2 on Tuesday.
After a shock stumble at Lille in their previous European match, Madrid crushed Dortmund, in a repeat of last season’s final, with a superb second-half display.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side claimed a record-extending 15th Champions League crown at Wembley and, as in that match, struggled in the first half against the Bundesliga side, who went two goals up through Donyell Malen and Jamie Gittens.
However, Antonio Rudiger and Vinicius pulled Madrid level with two goals in two minutes and Lucas Vazquez fired home the third after 83 minutes.
Vinicius produced a brilliant solo goal for Madrid’s fourth and slammed in the fifth as Los Blancos ended Dortmund’s 100 percent start to the competition by producing another comeback to add to a vast collection in Europe.
“We know that when we are at home, with our fans, anything can happen,” Vinicius told Movistar.
“We went in (at half-time) very quiet and just listened to the coach, we said just one thing.
“If we scored the first, we would come back once again, and we made another comeback, thanks to the fans and the whole team who gave everything.”
Madrid coach Ancelotti brought Rodrygo into the attack alongside Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius, reverting to a 4-3-3 formation after a brief experiment with three at the back in the narrow La Liga win over Celta Vigo on Saturday.
After midfield maestro Toni Kroos’ retirement and while trying to bed Mbappe into the team, Madrid have struggled to find balance and consistency this season.
They were frustrated for the first half an hour of the game by the visitors, unable to create clear cut openings before the game burst open.
Malen opened the scoring with a cool finish after Julian Brandt won the ball back on the edge of the area and Serhou Guirassy squeezed a pass through a tight gap to find the Dutch winger.
Four minutes later Malen created the second, using his explosive pace to escape Ferland Mendy and crossing for Gittens to gleefully finish.
Madrid responded by carving open Dortmund before the break but without finding a killer finish.
Bellingham, without a goal in 10 games this season, headed straight at Gregor Kobel when he ran onto a scooped pass into the area.
The England international, facing his former club, then struck the crossbar from close range on the rebound after team-mate Rodrygo had also hit the woodwork, with Madrid fans barely able to believe they had not scored.
Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois made a fine save to thwart Brandt before the break when the midfielder let fly from outside the area.
The hosts turned the screw in the second half and Kobel saved well at the near post from Lucas Vazquez but could not keep out Rudiger’s powerful header from Mbappe’s cross after an hour.
Two minutes later Madrid were level when Mbappe was tackled in the area but the ball fell invitingly for Vinicius to stroke home with ease.
Dortmund coach Nuri Sahin, formerly a Madrid player, took off goalscorers Gitten and Malen but his team could not keep the insatiable hosts at bay.
Madrid’s comeback was completed by Vazquez after Rodrygo did well to keep the ball from going out of play, and Vinicius added shine with his fine fourth.
The Brazilian, expected to claim a first Ballon d’Or on Monday in Paris, carried the ball forward without support and produced a lethal low finish.
Vinicius then added a fifth by bursting into the area and rifling past Kobel, also issuing a warning to La Liga leaders Barcelona who visit the Bernabeu on Saturday in La Liga.
“We’ll go for it, in our stadium, with our fans, and we will fight for everything this season like always,” added Vinicius.
Juventus 0-1 Stuttgart
El Bilal Toure snatched a last-gasp 1-0 win for Stuttgart at Juventus on Tuesday, striking in stoppage time to give the Germans their first win in this season’s revamped Champions League.
Mali forward Toure, who signed for Stuttgart on loan from Atalanta in the summer, lashed in the decisive goal in the second minute of added time just as Juve goalkeeper Mattia Perin thought he had saved a point for his team.
Moments before Perin flung himself to his right to deny Enzo Millot from the penalty spot, capping what looked like to be a hugely impressive rare start between the sticks.
Instead, with Juve down to 10 men due to Danilo being sent off for the foul which gave away the penalty, Toure showed quick feet in the box before finishing past Perin to inflict a first defeat of the season on Juve, who also lose their perfect record in the competition.
Stuttgart moved up to 16th place on four points with Tuesday’s win, while Juve, on six points, dropped out of the top eight positions which give direct qualification for the last 16.
PSG 1-1 PSV Eindhoven
Paris Saint-Germain’s stuttering start in this season’s Champions League continued as they were held to a 1-1 draw by PSV Eindhoven in the French capital on Tuesday.
The Dutch champions led through a Noa Lang strike just after the half-hour mark at the Parc des Princes, but Achraf Hakimi equalised early in the second half.
Nevertheless, this was a game PSG should have won given the chances they created, but Luis Enrique’s team once again struggled to put the ball in the net, a recurring problem for them in Europe.
PSG’s frustration was summed up when they were awarded a penalty in injury time after a challenge on Marco Asensio in the box, only for the decision to be overturned on review.
The French giants had 25 attempts on goal in this game to their opponents’ seven. They have now scored just twice in their last five matches in the Champions League, with the other an own-goal against Girona last month.
That run goes back to last season’s semi-final against Borussia Dortmund which they lost 2-0 on aggregate.
After a narrow 1-0 victory against Girona and a 2-0 defeat away to Arsenal in their first two matches in the new-look format of the competition, PSG have just four points from a possible nine.
There are still five games to play but they have Atletico Madrid at home next followed by Bayern Munich away, suggesting things will not get any easier.
PSV, meanwhile, are still winless having previously lost away to Juventus before drawing at home to Sporting.
That shows how big a step up playing in Europe is for the Dutch side, who have a perfect record after nine games in this season’s Eredivisie.
Rested in Ligue 1 last weekend and controversially dropped against Arsenal earlier this month, Ousmane Dembele was back in the starting line-up for PSG.
The France winger has never been a deadly finisher and he was guilty of missing a couple of big chances in the first half.
Lee Kang-in, preferred to Randal Kolo Muani in the PSG attack, was first to force a save from visiting goalkeeper Walter Benitez.
Dembele then should have scored in the 19th minute when he arrived unmarked at the back post to meet an inviting cross from the left, but his effort on the half-volley struck the top of the bar.
That was followed by another miss on the half-hour mark as Dembele was played in by a clever Joao Neves pass off the chest, but he blazed over the bar.
Having offered little going forward, PSV went ahead on 34 minutes.
An Olivier Boscagli interception left the home team exposed, and Ismael Saibari supplied Lang who blasted a low shot into the corner from the edge of the area.
PSG were now in danger of a seventh defeat in 15 games in the Champions League since the start of last season, but they found an equaliser on 55 minutes.
Hakimi tried a speculative shot from 25 metres which was simply too powerful for Benitez as the ball passed through the goalkeeper’s legs.
The same player came close to putting PSG ahead before drama ensued in injury time.
Swedish referee Glenn Nyberg pointed to the spot in the 93rd minute when Boscagli lunged into a tackle on Asensio, but the defender played the ball and the penalty was cancelled after a VAR check.
Benitez then saved PSV with a brilliant save from a Marquinhos header, and the final whistle was met with boos by the home fans.
The Qatar-owned club’s prospects of finally landing a first ever Champions League title this season currently seem remote.
Champions League results
- AC Milan 3-1 Club Brugge
- AS Monaco 5-1 FK Crvena Zvezda
- Arsenal 1-0 Shakhtar Donetsk
- Aston Villa 2-0 Bologna
- Girona 2-0 Slovan Bratislava
- Juventus 0-1 Stuttgart
- PSG 1-1 PSV Eindhoven
- Real Madrid 5-2 Borussia Dortmund
- Sturm Graz 0-2 Sporting CP
