Champions League Wednesday round-up: Prince William watches famous Aston Villa win, Real Madrid suffers shock defeat

By CNN Newsource

Published October 3, 2024 5:22 AM

By George Ramsay, CNN

(CNN) — A famous win celebrated by royalty, a surprise defeat for the reigning champion and a brilliant Mohamed Salah goal were among the standout moments from a thrilling night of European soccer on Wednesday.

The second round of matches in this season’s Champions League has drawn to a close, with seven teams boasting a perfect record and some pre-competition favorites in a more precarious position.

Here’s a roundup of the latest action across Europe.

Prince William watches Aston Villa stun Bayern Munich

Aston Villa fan Prince William was in the stands to celebrate his team’s memorable win against Bayern Munich.

Jhon Durán’s exquisite second-half lob handed Villa, playing its first home game in Europe’s elite club competition for 41 years, a 1-0 victory. It sparked comparisons to Villa’s victory over Bayern by the same scoreline in the 1982 European Cup final, which remains one of the greatest days in the club’s history.

With 70% of possession, the German giant controlled much of the game but ultimately lacked a cutting edge at a lively Villa Park.

After Pau Torres’ first-half strike was ruled out for an offside in the build-up, the host had to wait until the 79th minute to get the all-important goal when substitute Durán lifted a shot over Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

There were more heroics to come for Villa as Emi Martínez produced two superb saves in stoppage time to deny Serge Gnabry and Harry Kane.

“I’m very happy for our supporters and everyone at Aston Villa – coaches, owners, supporters, workers – to share days like today, playing at this level in the Champions League against Bayern Munich and winning,” said Villa manager Unai Emery.

“The most important thing is how we competed and how we prepared the game plan, how we were transmitting our energy to the supporters and their energy to us.”

The surprise result means that Villa has two wins from its first two Champions League games, while Bayern has been offered a reality check after an emphatic 9-2 victory against Dinamo Zagreb two weeks ago.

A night after some of the biggest names in the competition – the likes of Manchester City, Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund – scored freely, this was a timely reminder that the Champions League can still deliver drama and upsets and that it might be too soon to say that the newly revamped tournament isn’t as good as its former self.

Los Blancos ‘didn’t deserve to win’ against Lille

And Bayern wasn’t the only side to underwhelm on Wednesday. 15-time Champions League winner Real Madrid suffered its first defeat of the season with a 1-0 loss against Lille, an early setback in the team’s European title defense.

Eduardo Camavinga’s handball at the end of the first half allowed Jonathan David to put away a penalty, not long after he had been kept out by reserve keeper Andriy Lunin’s brilliant double save.

Madrid’s best chances fell in the second half as Tiago Santos cleared Antonio Rüdiger’s header off the line before Lucas Chevalier clawed away Jude Bellingham’s follow-up shot.

The goalkeeper denied headers from Rüdiger and Turkish wonderkid Arda Güler later in the contest as Les Dogues, twice beaten in France’s Ligue 1 this season and defeated 2-0 by Sporting CP in its opening Champions League game, held on for a remarkable victory.

“We struggled to get into the game and with the battles,” said Real manager Carlo Ancelotti.

“We might’ve drawn the game and we had chances at the end, but we didn’t deserve to win. We have to learn and know what we have to improve, like the last time we lost. I don’t think it’s too difficult.”

Liverpool’s strong form continues

Less surprising was Liverpool’s 2-0 victory against Bologna, the Reds’ second win of the competition against Italian opposition after a beating AC Milan 3-1 in Matchweek 1.

Two minutes after Bologna had an early strike ruled out for offside, Alexis Mac Allister got Liverpool off the mark with his first goal of the season when he tapped in Salah’s dangerous ball into the box.

Dan Ndoye saw his shot deflected onto the crossbar as the visiting side looked for an equalizer in an open first half, and the forward then rattled the post minutes later.

The highlight of the match, however, was Salah’s brilliant second-half goal, cutting inside onto his left foot and firing a shot into the top corner.

With that, Salah stretched his run of scoring at home in the Champions League to five matches – the first player in the club’s history to do so.

Arne Slot, meanwhile, became the first Liverpool manager to win eight of his first nine games in charge in all competitions.

“It wasn’t an easy one, but that’s normal if you play Champions League, there is always a lot of resistance and a lot of good teams play in the Champions League – and Bologna is one of them,” Slot told reporters after the game.

“You could also see the (other) results tonight where we saw maybe some surprising results. It was good to win, a clean sheet, some good individual performances, so positive overall.”

Juventus wins despite red card

In perhaps the most entertaining match of the night, Juventus came from behind to defeat RB Leipzig 3-2, even after goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio was sent off in the second half.

Dušan Vlahović leveled for Juve after a Benjamin Šeško opener, but the game appeared to swing in Leipzig’s favor when Di Gregorio was shown a red card for handling the ball outside the box.

Another handball decision – this time when Douglas Luiz was blocking a free-kick – allowed Šeško to get his second from the penalty spot, and from there, it looked like the home side would see out the victory.

But the Vecchia Signora, undaunted by being reduced to 10 players, fought back superbly, first as Vlahović fired in an excellent strike from outside the box, then when Francisco Conceição completed the comeback with a sublime piece of individual skill, evading David Raum’s challenge and slotting the ball into the net.

“We showed that we are becoming a team, we fought together, as the coach asked us to, we won deservedly, despite suffering with a man down,” said Vlahović afterwards. “It was a great performance. These victories and these games, we need to get used to this level. We must continue with even more conviction.”

Full Champions League Matchweek 2 results

Home vs. away (winners in bold)

RB Salzburg 0-4 Brest

Stuttgart 1-1 Sparta Prague

Arsenal 2-0 Paris Saint-Germain

Barcelona 5-0 Young Boys

Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 AC Milan

Borussia Dortmund 7-1 Celtic

Internazionale 4-0 Crvena zvezda (Red Star Belgrade)

PSV 1-1 Sporting Clube de Portugal

Slovan Bratislava 0-4 Manchester City

Shakhtar Donetsk 0-3 Atalanta

Girona 2-3 Feyenoord

Benfica 4-0 Atlético Madrid

Liverpool 2-0 Bologna

RB Leipzig 2-3 Juventus

Lille 1-0 Real Madrid

SK Sturm Graz 0-1 Club Brugge

Aston Villa 1-0 Bayern Munich

Dinamo Zagreb 2-2 AS Monaco

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