Champions League: Bellingham glides through Napoli with hint of Maradona
Jude Bellingham’s brilliance produced two goals during eight first-half minutes to help Real Madrid to a 3-2 win at Napoli in Champions League Group C.
Madrid’s new talisman intercepted a pass from Napoli’s captain, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, and immediately set up Vinícius Júnior to equaliser after Leo Østigård’s opener at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Then the England international slalomed through Napoli’s defence before slotting in a goal that was reminiscent of the way Maradona used to perform in the stadium now named after him.
“What surprises me is that he’s only 20 years old. He has extraordinary qualities and he’s showing how much talent he has,” said Madrid’s coach, Carlo Ancelotti, who was facing one of his former clubs.
Bellingham now has two goals in two Champions League matches since joining Madrid from Borussia Dortmund in the summer – to go with six in seven Spanish league matches.
Bellingham also scored in his Champions League debut for Madrid in a 1-0 win over Union Berlin to open the Spanish club’s campaign.
Madrid’s winner went down as an own goal by Napoli’s goalkeeper Alex Meret following a powerful strike from
Federico Valverde that deflected off Di Lorenzo before hitting the crossbar. A leaping Meret then had the last touch but couldn’t prevent it from going into his net.
Portugal’s Braga scored a stoppagetime winner through Andre Castro after coming from two goals down to snatch a 3-2 win at Union Berlin . Union have now lost their last six matches in all competitions. They also conceded a late goal in their opening group-stage loss at Real Madrid.
Thomas Müller came off the bench to set up the winning goal for fellow substitute Mathys Tel as Bayern Munich came from a goal down to beat Denmark’s FC Copenhagen 2-1 in their
Group A clash at the Parken Stadium.
With his side struggling to create against the Danish champions, the 34year-old Müller entered the game in the 77th minute and used his vast experience to first outrun the defence and then out-muscle it before teeing up Tel to take all three points.
Bayern did not manage a shot on target until late in the first half as Copenhagen’s compact defence neutralised the threat offered by the pace of Kingsley Coman and Leroy Sané on the Munich flanks.
That allowed the home side to take a shock lead in the 56th minute when Bayern failed to clear Viktor Claesson’s shot, and Lukas Lerager followed up with a clever bouncing drive to put the Danish champions in the driving seat.
Bayern struck back in the 67th minute as Jamal Musiala jinked left and right on the edge of the area before dispatching a low shot into the corner of the net.
Making his 144th appearance in the Champions League, Müller wasted no time getting involved as he crossed for Leon Goretzka, but the midfielder’s header drifted wide of the target.
Undeterred, Müller embarked on a lung-busting run to track down Harry Kane’s flick-on, and he firmly stood his ground before passing for Tel to fire home the winner two minutes later.
The victory leaves Bayern top of the group on six points, two ahead of Galatasaray, who beat Manchester United 3-2 at Old Trafford to leave United bottom.
Internazionale beat Benfica 1-0 at San Siro thanks to a brilliant secondhalf goal from Marcus Thuram.
Neither team could make a breakthrough in the first half but the Serie A leaders, runners-up in the Champions League last season, dominated the second with Lautaro Martínez twice striking the crossbar. Thuram finally gave Inter the win in the 61st minute, finishing off a cross from Dumfries, set up by a superb long pass from Nicolò Barella.
“We are happy for the three points; winning the second game of the group was crucial. It’s even better to do it in front of our fans. If I hadn’t scored, someone else could have, but I did it tonight and I’m very happy about that,” said Thuram.
Inter lie second in Group D behind Real Sociedad, who won 2-0 at Red Bull Salzburg via early goals from and Mikel Oyarzabal and Brais Méndez.
Jordan Teze scored five minutes into second-half stoppage time as PSV salvaged a thrilling 2-2 draw with Sevilla. The Spanish side had taken the lead with a header by Youssef En-Nesyri in the 87th minute, only a minute after Luuk de Jong had converted a penalty to level Nemanja Gudelj’s strike. Group B is wide open after Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat at Lens.