Halfway through the group stage and it looks like the standings are what many fans would have predicted them to be.
The heavyweights like Paris St. Germain, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, and Barcelona are leading their respective groups.
The teams in the qualifying position for the knock-out stages are pretty much they teams many would have expected to occupy that space.
Club Brugge 0-5 Paris St. Germain
Paris St. Germain – Mauro Icardi 7’ 63’ Kylian Mbappe 61’ 79’ 83’
Galatasaray 0-1 Real Madrid
Real Madrid – Toni Kroos 18’
Olympiacos 2-3 Bayern Munich
Olympiacos – Youssef El Arabi 23’ Guilherme 79’
Bayern Munich -Robert Lewandowski 34’ 62’ Corentin Tolisso 75’
Tottenham 5-0 Red Star Belgrade
Tottenham – Harry Kane 9’ 72’ Heung-Min Son 16’ 44’ Erik Lamela 57
Shakhtar Donetsk 2-2 Dinamo Zagreb
Shakhtar Donetsk – Yevheniy Konoplyanka 16’Dodo 75’
Dinamo Zagreb -Daniel Olmo 25’ Mislav Orsic 60’(pen)
Manchester City 5-1 Atalanta
Manchester City – Sergio Aguero 34’ 38’(pen) Raheem Sterling 58’ 64’ 69’
Atalanta – Ruslan Malinovsky 28’
Atletico Madrid 1-0 Bayer Leverkusen
Atletico Madrid – Alvaro Morata 78’
Juventus 2-1 Lokomotiv Moscow
Juventus – Paulo Dybala 77’ 79’
Lokomotiv Moscow – Aleksey Miranchuk 30’
October 22, 2019
Kylian Mbappe shines bright in ‘Group A’
Paris St. Germain had a narrow 1-0 lead against Club Brugge until Kylian Mbappe came off the bench to join the match in the 52nd-minute. The match ended with Mbappe directly involved in 4 goals (scoring 3 and assisting 1).
Toni Kroos’s deflected strike in the first-half ended up being the only goal of the match between Galatasaray and Real Madrid. Real Madrid gets their first win of the 2019/20 Champions League.
Tottenham makes some amends in ‘Group B’
Bayern Munich finished on the bright end of a ‘3-2’ score to keep their winning start to the competition.
Tottenham made up for the 5-goal deficit against Bayern Munich in their last match by handing Red Star Belgrade a ‘5-0’ thrashing in London.
Sterling was quite unstoppable in Group C
Shakhtar Donetsk and Dinamo Zagreb shared the points after a 2-all draw in Ukraine.
Manchester City came from a goal down to do the expected against Atalanta. The match finished ‘5-1’ in City’s favor. Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero shared the 5 goals; with Sterling grabbing himself a hat-trick.
Dybala saved the day in ‘Group D’
Alvaro Morata decided the match for Atletico Madrid with the only goal of the match. Atletico Madrid beat Bayer Leverkusen to stay top of the group.
Paulo Dybala saved Juventus from a shock defeat at home against Lokomotiv Moscow. Dybala scored two in two minutes to bring Juventus from trailing by a goal to leading by one.
Genk 1-4 Liverpool
Genk -Stephen Odey 88’
Liverpool – Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 2’ 57’ Sadio Mane 77’ Mohamed Salah 87’
Salzburg 2-3 Napoli
Salzburg -Erling Braut-Haland 40’(pen) 72’
Napoli – Dries Mertens 17’64’ Lorenzo Insigne 73’
Inter Milan 2-0 Borussia Dortmund
Inter Milan – Lautaro Martinez 22’ Antonio Candreva 89’
Slavia Prague 1-2 Barcelona
Slavia Prague – Jan Boril 50’
Barcelona – Lionel Messi 3’ Peter Olayinka 57’(og)
RB Leipzig 2-1 Zenit St. Petersburg
RB Leipzig – Konrad Laimer 49’ Marcel Sabitzer 59’
Zenit St. Petersburg – Yaroslav Rakitskiy 25’
Benfica 2-1 Lyon
Benfica – Rafa Silva 4’Pizzi 86’
Lyon – Memphis Depay 70’
Ajax 0-1 Chelsea
Chelsea – Michy Batshuayi 86’
Lille 1-1 Valencia
Lille -Jonathan Ikone 90+5’
Valencia – Denis Cheryshev 63’
October 23, 2019
Liverpool impresses in ‘Group E’
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was the ‘Man of the Match’.
Oxlade-Chamberlain’s lead Liverpool to a ‘4-1’ win against Genk by opening the scoring with two beautifully struck goals.
Erlin Braut-Haland rose back to the top of the goalscoring list with his two goals against Napoli while Dries Mertens score Napoli’s two opening goals to overtake Maradona’s goal scoring record for the team. In the end, it was Lorenzo Insigne’s goal that decided the match in Napoli’s favor. Napoli leads the group.
Barça go 3 points clear in ‘Group F’
Inter Milan gets their first victory of the tournament after a ‘2-0’ victory against Borussia Dortmund. Inter Milan join Borussia Dortmund on 4 points
Slavia Prague fought hard at home against Barcelona but finished the match a goal down. Barcelona tops the group.
Anthony Lopes denies Lyon in ‘Group G’
Marcel Sabitzer scored a beauty to ensure RB Leipzig get a victory at home against Zenit St. Petersburg. RB Leipzig had to recover from being a goal down at the half to win the game ‘2-1’.
Benfica gets their first win in the group after Lyon’s goalkeeper Anthony Lopes’s attempt to throw the ball in for a restart ended up at the wrong feet to give Benfica a win against Lyon.
Ajax is beaten in ‘Group H’
Michy Batshuayi came from the bench to score the only goal of the match. Chelsea beats Ajax in Amsterdam to top the Group.
Jonathan Iknoe came off the bench to score Lille’s equalizing goal for a point against Valencia.
