Tottenham hold Real, Liverpool run riot
Tottenham Hotspur held defending champions Real Madrid to a 1-1 draw in the Champions League yesterday, while Liverpool racked up their biggest ever away win in Europe.
Jurgen Klopp’s side crushed Maribor 7-0 in Slovenia and to cap a good night for English sides, Premier League leaders Manchester City defeated Napoli 2-1.
Spartak Moscow enjoyed a big win in group E, thrashing Sevilla 5-1, and Besiktas made it three wins from three with a come-from-behind
2-1 win at Monaco.
Leipzig defeated visiting Porto
3-2 for their first ever win in the European competition, but the other German side in action - Borussia Dortmund - are left contemplating an early exit after being held to a 1-1 draw by Cypriot side APOEL Nicosia.
Liverpool’s record away win coincided with Maribor’s worst Champions League loss as Roberto Firmino, Philippe Coutinho and Mohamed Salah put Liverpool 3-0 up inside 20 minutes.
Salah and Firmino would go on to grab seconds, before substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Trent Alexander-Arnold completed the rout.
Napoli had ended Manchester City’s Champions League debut in the group stage in 2011, but Pep Guardiola’s side doesn’t look like it will be denied by Napoli this time.
City were quickly 2-0 up with early goals through Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus.
Dries Mertens had the chance to pull one back from the penalty spot after Kyle Walker hauled down Raul Albiol, but Ederson saved the spot kick just as Napoli appeared to be getting back into the game. Amadou Diawara did better with Napoli’s second penalty with just over 15 minutes remaining but there wasn’t to be an equaliser.
In Madrid, much was expected of the meeting of star strikers Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Kane, but the anticipated shootout failed to materialise.
Real’s Ronaldo matched Kane’s tally of five goals from three games when he equalised with a penalty, but the Portuguese forward also missed several chances, while Keylor Navas denied Kane with a fine save in the first half.
The visitors had led when a retreating Raphael Varane turned in Serge Aurier’s cross for Kane in the 21st minute. Ronaldo equalised after Aurier brought down Toni Kroos.
Hugo Lloris produced a string of saves to deny Madrid a winner.