UEFA Champions League: Group Stage pt 2 - Rashford hattrick, Madrid teams comebacks, Atalanta V Ajax stalemate and more

 Matchday 2 ⚽🏆

Hey there ladies and gentlemen! The second round of the group stage has passed and my, was it the treat! 😋🍿 Real Madrid nearly lost again, Chelsea got their first win of the competition, Barca defeated a 'Ronaldo-less' Juve and Dortmund saw-off Zenit. Let's get to it!

Tuesday, 27 October 2020

Borussia Monchengladbach vs Real Madrid

Real Madrid made the headlines once again by clawing their way back into this game. Marcus Thuram scored a stunning goal to put the German team in front and scored and easy tap-in goal to get his brace. Los Blancos fought back as Karim Benzema finished off a quite exquisite shot in the 87th minute. In extraordinary fashion, Casemiro was the man to rescue his team, in the 93rd minute of stoppage time, as he latched onto a Sergio Ramos header, restoring parity between Madrid and Monchengladbach. When asked how Real Madrid felt about this game, forward Eden Hazard said "Uh, like 3 points, haha, but it's not 3 points."

Real Madrid escape defeat

Atletico Madrid vs RB Salzburg

A fire-cracking game this one. Atletico were in control of play and through that they opened the scoring thanks to a left-footed strike from Marcos Llorente. Despite that, Salzburg got themselves back into the game from a fizzing shot by Dominik Szoboszlai (pronounciation practice 😅) . One all at the break. In the second-half, Salzburg took the lead and the goal went down as an own goal from Felipe Luis to further ache Atletico's head. However, wonderkid Joao Felix captured a brace for his team with a well-taken penalty in the 52nd minute followed by a well-controlled shot in the 85th to secure 3 important points for the Spanish side.

A win for Felix and Atletico

Atalanta vs Ajax

My feature game for the night. Ajax found themselves leading in the first-half after goals from Lassina Traore, who scored quite spectacularly, and from a penalty dispatched by Dusan Tadic. Atalanta mangaged to find their rhythm in the second-half and a header from Duvan Zapata made it game-on! 6 minutes after that goal, Atalanta organised a swift counter-attack upon Ajax with the ball ending up at Zapata's feet, allowing him to move with it into space and unleash a scorching strike to draw both teams level. The game could've gone either way but both sides ended up sharing the spoils.

All square in Bergamo

Wednesday, 28 October 2020

Manchester United vs RB Leipzig

The team that made headlines last week made the headlines again, or should I say the man? Marcus Rashford came out guns-blazing in this match as he scored a hat-trick in the second-half, one in the 74th minute, the second in the 78th minute and the third in the 92nd to cap off a mighty display for the Red Devils. Mason Greenwood opened the scoring when Paul Pogba found him in space and onside. Anthony Martial also got onto the scoresheet, as he slotted one home from the penalty-spot. Rashford commented on his performace, saying "Of course, I'm very happy. I felt good going into the game and to make an impact coming on from the bench."

Match ball deserved 🔥⚽🎩

Krasnodar vs Chelsea

The last time I wrote about Chelsea, we got battered by Bayern 💀😂. That's in the past now. Chelsea got off their first win of the competition. Jorginho missed a penalty in the first-half, but that didn't stop the Blues from opening the scoring through Callum Hudson-Odoi. Chelsea got three more in the second-half thanks to a Timo Werner penalty, Hakim Ziyech art piece and Christian Pulisic. It was a second Champions league clean sheet for Chelsea keeper, Edouard Mendy. Well done fellas 😉🔵 

Sealed them points

Juventus vs Barcelona

The feature game for the night. Juventus came into this game without the services of talisman, Cristiano Ronaldo, due to Ronaldo testing positive for COVID-19 again. Barca piled the pressure on the Italian team in the first-half and through that they managed to get a goal in the 14th minute from a deflected Ousmane Dembele shot. Juventus actually scored three goals in the game but Alvaro Morata was denied on 3 occasions for being offside. Juventus were then reduced to 10-men when Merih Demiral made a careless tackle on Pjanic. In the 91st minute of stoppage time, Barca were awarded a penalty and nobody else but Leo Messi stepped up to wrap up the game for the Catalans. 2 wins from 2 for Barca.

A downpour for Juventus

The results for Matchday 2 were as follows:

Tuesday, 27 October 2020

Lokomotiv Moskva 1-2 Bayern Munich

Shakhtar Donetsk 0-0 Inter Milan

Atletico Madrid 3-2 RB Salzburg                ←Click here to watch this game

B. Monchengladbach 2-2 Real Madrid       ←Click here to watch this game

Porto 2-0 Olympiacos

Marseille 0-3 Man. City

Atalanta 2-2 Ajax                                     ←Click here to watch this game

Liverpool 2-0 Midtjylland

Wednesday, 28 October 2020

Krasnodar 0-4 Chelsea                 ←Click here to watch this game

Istanbul Basaksehir 0-2 Paris Saint-Germain

Sevilla 1-0 Rennes

Club Brugge 1-1 Lazio

B. Dortmund 2-0 Zenit

Ferencvaros 2-2 Dynamo Kyiv    ←Click here to watch this game

Juventus 0-2 Barcelona            ←Click here to watch this game

Man. Utd 5-0 RB Leipzig           ←Click here to watch this game

That's a wrap of the second matchday guys. Looking forward to what lies ahead of matchday 3. Until then, I'll be busy with other human activities 😁

Stay tuned and see you next matchday ⚽🏆❗🛣