If all eyes were on Bavaria, where Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain met for a gala poster, other good students of this new formula of
Champions League were on stage all over Europe.
Sensation of this phase of the League, Stade Brestois rose to an unprecedented altitude in its history since the Breton club challenged the great Barça. Although deprived of its nugget Lamine Yamal, the Catalan club obviously approached this meeting with the costume of grandissimo favorite, especially since its last mishap in the championship had stung its pride.
This rating was verified on the green rectangle. Logically, Barça used its experience to achieve an easy success. Hansi Flick’s men broke the deadlock with the inevitable Lewandowski, scorer from the penalty spot (1-0, 10th), before scoring twice in stoppage time (3-0, 90th+1). In the meantime, Barcelona took cover with the break goal from Dani Olmo (2-0, 66th). This victory allows Barcelona to overtake their evening opponent. But for Brest, which concedes its first defeat in this campaign, there is no danger at all.
Manchester City in full doubt
On other European pitches, Manchester City hosted Feyenoord Rotterdam in a much more important match than we could have imagined a few weeks ago. In the midst of a sporting crisis, Guardiola’s gang, who suffered 5 consecutive defeats in all competitions, absolutely had to reassure themselves. She didn’t succeed. Worse, the conceded scenario will leave him with a taste of defeat. A double from Haaland (44th, 53rd) and a goal from Gündogan (50th) had outlined the outlines of an expected victory, but the Sky Blues completely collapsed, conceding 3 goals in the last quarter of an hour by Hadj Moussa ( 75th), Gimenez (82nd) and Hancko (89th). Terrible for this team at a standstill.
Arsenal unfold
Another English cador, Arsenal traveled to Sporting Portugal. The Lusitanian club had demonstrated in previous weeks that it should not be taken lightly, but the departure of its coach Ruben Amorim to Manchester United necessarily changed the situation. This materialized in a one-sided match, where the Gunners played their football (5-1). Martinelli (7th), Havertz (22nd), Gabriel Magalhaes (45th), Saka (65th) and Trossard (85th) took care of their statistics, while Inacio’s goal (47th) will remain anecdotal for Sporting.
Inter and AC Milan ensure
The two Milan clubs were also out. Inter dominated RB Leipzig by the smallest of margins (1-0), while AC Milan did the job at the start of the evening on the pitch of Slovian Bratislava, not without difficulty (3-2). At the same time, Atlético de Madrid made its mark by offering itself a festival on the field of Sparta Prague, notably with a goal from Antoine Griezmann (6-0). Finally, Bayer Leverkusen and Atalanta respectively dominated Salzburg (5-0) and Young Boys Bern (6-1) in similar proportions.
