On another great night of Champions League football there were big wins for Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, while Bayern Munich came out on top of a spicy affair away to Paris Saint-Germain.
The return of Xabi Alonso and Trent Alexander-Arnold to Anfield was another subplot to the SBOTOP match of the week. A mural of Trent in Liverpool had been defaced in the run-up to the game as feelings ran high among Reds fans who felt their former star manufactured a move to Madrid. Former Liverpool midfielder Alonso spared his star, giving Trent a place on the bench, but he still suffered a chorus of boos from a section of the home crowd while he warmed up.
Liverpool have been on a shocking run of form, but they took the game to Los Blancos and Madrid keeper Thibaut Courtois kept the visitors level at the break with a stunning save to deny Dominik Szoboszlai. And he was at it again in the opening moments of the second half, keeping out headers from Virgil Van Dijk and Hugo Ekitike.
But the goal came, on the hour when the excellent Szoboszlai whipped in a cross which MacAllister met and the Argentine smashed the ball through Courtois and into the roof of the net. The Reds had their tails up and the crowd was hostile, booing Trent’s arrival as he replaced Arda Guler on 81 minutes. Then the roof came off the stadium when the ref blew the final whistle!
The clash of the top two between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich delivered some sizzling action in a first half packed with Champions League 2025 highlights as the Bavarians went two up and down to ten men.
The Bundesliga giants set off like a house on fire as Michael Olise had a shot saved on three minutes and, a minute later they were ahead when Luis Diaz fired low into the bottom left corner. And, the former Liverpool man played the same trick again on the half hour; he found space in the middle of the penalty area to find the bottom left corner again. In between the Colombian’s strikes the returned Ousmane Dembele thought he’d equalised but his goal was ruled out by VAR. And the off-field official was busy again, just before the half time break when Diaz clattered into Achraf Hakimi and the referee delivered a yellow card.
VAR intervened, upgraded it to a red and Diaz’ all-action performance ended halfway through the game!
With a man over PSG launched at the Germans to try to get back into the match and Vitinha saw his goal-bound effort saved in the top right corner and, with 15 minutes to play the hosts were back in it when Joao Neves finally beat Manuel Neuer. But, even with 70 per cent possession and 25 shots, nine on target; it was not going to be the Parisians’ night.
Merino fires for the rampant Gunners
The Champions League 2025 betting odds took a turn towards North London as Arsenal made it ten wins on the bounce, in all competitions, with an impressive 3-0 win away to Slavia Prague at the Eden Arena. Mikel Merino was the hero as he scored a double while the Gunners had a historic night. An eighth clean sheet equalled a club record set in 1904, and Mikel Arteta’s team is the first English club to win its first four games in the Champions League without conceding.
And, with the game won, Arsenal brought on the youngest player ever to appear in the Champions League, Max Dowman at 15 years and 309 days.
Bukayo Saka set the Gunners on their way with a first half penalty and, a minute after the break the game was won. Merino, stepping up after Viktor Gyokores picked up a knock in the 2-0 win at Burnley last Saturday, showed what a good makeshift striker he can be when he poached Arsenal’s second of the night. And the former Real Sociedad star scored his second when he met a Declan Rice cross to head the Gunners to the top of the league.
In the other early kick-off Napoli welcomed Eintracht Frankfurt, hoping to double their three points tally but the Eagles were in a stubborn mood, holding the Italian champions to a goalless draw. Napoli dominated possession and had 18 shots to Eintracht’s seven, but only three on target. Rasmus Hojlund came close, deep into stoppage time, but his effort was saved in the top right corner as Frankfurt also inched up to four points.
Elsewhere there were wins for Atletico Madrid and Monaco; but special mention goes to Arsenal’s near neighbours Spurs, who whacked FC Copenhagen 4-0.
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