Champions League scores: RB Leipzig hand Real Madrid first loss of season; Juventus bounced from group stage—RB Leipzig have brought Real Madrid’s unbeaten start to the season to an end with a 3-2 victory at home that puts the German side in a great spot to advance to the Champions League knockout stage. A balanced, clinical attack was enough to take advantage of Real Madrid’s defensive issues before holding them off near the end of the match, preventing Los Blancos from winning their group. In Group F, Real have 10 points to lead, while RB Leipzig have nine. Shakhtar Donetsk should have nine, but more on that in a little.
Meanwhile, Juventus were eliminated from contention for the knockout rounds despite their frantic second-half comeback after a 4-3 loss to Benfica. The score doesn’t do Benfica’s dominance justice as the Portuguese side were ahead 3-1 by halftime but the game did see American Weston McKennie score. The result sees both Benfica and PSG qualify for the round of 16, but PSG were cruising to qualification no matter what with a 7-2 victory over Maccabi Haifa. Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe both secured braces in the match while Neymar scored a goal and forced an own goal.
With a draw against Celtic behind a brilliant goal from Mykhaylo Mudryk, Shaktar Donetsk control their own destiny as a win on Matchday 6 will see them reach the round of 16. Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund also qualified for the knockouts with a 0-0 draw that also saw Manchester City win Group G.
In the early matches of Champions League Matchday 5, a Kai Havertz wonder strike put Chelsea into the round of 16 with a 2-1 victory over RB Salzburg. With a little help from AC Milan, Chelsea have also won Group E.
They got just enough as Mateo Kovacic was forgotten outside the box on Chelsea’s opener before Junior Adamu equalized for Salzburg after the half. American Christian Pulisic was able to keep possession well to set up Havertz for an unlikely duo to book Chelsea’s place in the knockouts as the Blues stay undefeated under Graham Potter. Sevilla also did enough to stay alive in Group G with a 3-0 victory over Copenhagen.
Tuesday’s results
Red Bull Salzburg 1, Chelsea 2
Sevilla 3, FC Copenhagen 0
Paris Saint-Germain 7, Maccabi Haifa 2
Borussia Dortmund 0, Manchester City 0
Dinamo Zagreb 0, AC Milan 4
Benfica 4, Juventus 3
Celtic 1, Shakhtar Donetsk 1
RB Leipzig 3, Real Madrid 2
Here is what to know:
Who clinched?
Chelsea, Dortmund, PSG and Benfica all punched their tickets to the round of 16 on Tuesday. They join Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Club Brugge, Napoli and Manchester City as teams to have advanced.
CBS Sports has a brand new daily soccer podcast, covering everything you need to know about the beautiful game. Make sure to give House of Champions a follow for coverage of the biggest games, stories, transfer news with Fabrizio Romano, and everything else going on in the world’s most popular sport.
Shocking moment of the day
If Shakhtar Donestk don’t make the round of 16, they may look at this very moment. Danylo Sikan had an absolutely golden chance to give his team a 2-1 lead at Celtic with a wide-open goal, yet he did this:
Chelsea’s form continues
In all competitions, the Blues now have six wins and three draws in their nine matches under Grahm Potter as everything he touches turns into a goal. Even this match where he made an unorthodox decision of playing both Raheem Sterling and Pulisic as wing-backs worked in his favor with Pulisic doing a good job to keep the ball under pressure before setting up Havertz for the winner while Serling created quite a few chances floating inside. But was Mateo Kovacic’s goal that stole the show. He went from tying his boot to hanging around the box, and once the ball found him, he knew what to do with it. Questions should be asked of the RB Salzburg defense for picking up on his run so late but it took quite a finish to open the scoring.
A moment to forget for Riyad Mahrez
While Erling Haaland was hooked at the half for Manchester City, after having an uncharacteristically human day, City had an excellent chance to win the match from the penalty spot as Mahrez took a penalty in the 57th minute. But it wasn’t a great take as Gegor Kobel guessed right to keep the low penalty out of the net. Mahrez has now only made one of three penalties that he has taken in Champions League this season as he has also struggled to score from open play with only two goals and one assist in all competitions. We could be witnessing the decline of Mahrez as the 31-year-old has been more of a liability than a help when on the pitch this season. With Julian Alvarez pushing for more time, the right-wing position is one to watch. (*)
