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UCL Rewind: Atletico hold off Juventus; Liverpool fall to Basel; and more

Turan-ISIPhotos

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By RYAN TOLMICH

In a clash between a pair of reigning champions, Atletico Madrid emerged victorious.

The reigning La Liga winners topped Italian champions Juventus, 1-0, via a second-half finish from Arda Turan at the Vicente Calderon Stadium.

The Turkish midfielder’s finish came in the 74th minute on a close range tap in from a Juanfran cross. The Atletico fullback’s ball soared across the Juventus box and into the path of Turan, who tapped home past a helpless Gianluigi Buffon for the game’s lone goal.

Turan’s finish, which was the first goal that Juventus had conceded this season in all competitions, pushes Group A into a four way tie with Atletico, Juventus, Malmo and Olympiakos all tied with three points apiece.

Here’s a closer look at the rest of Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League action:

LIVERPOOL SLUMP CONTINUES WITH LOSS TO BASEL

Liverpool’s visit to Basel Wednesday served as a perfect example of the issues that have plagued the Reds throughout the start of their season.

After a string of shaky results, Liverpool were once again undone by set pieces and a lack of timely scoring in a 1-0 loss to Swiss side Basel.

The game’s lone goal came in the 53rd minute, as Basel’s Marco Streller converted off a rebound off a Basel corner. Basel midfielder Taulant Xhaka won the initial header off the set piece, but Liverpool goalkeeper palmed the ball away from net and into the path of Streller, who finished past a prone Mignolet to earn Basel the victory.

REAL MADRID COME FROM BEHIND TO DEFEAT LUDOGORETS

After winning a miracle penalty kick shootout to earn a place in the group stages, Ludogorets’ fairy tale tournament run looked set to continue thanks to an early goal and a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty miss.

However, it was not to be for the Belarussian side, as Ronaldo and Karim Benzema each scored in a 2-1 Real Madrid victory.

Ludogorets opened the scoring just six minutes in through midfielder Marcelinho before Ronaldo missed his first penalty of the game just five minutes later. However, the Portuguese star regained his confidence from the spot in the 25th minute by converting a penalty kick, while Benzema sealed the victory with a 77th minute winner.

WELBECK SCORED HAT-TRICK TO LEAD ARSENAL TO VICTORY

Just weeks after Manchester United decided that he was not up to standards, Danny Welbeck paid dividends to new club Arsenal.

The English forward bagged a hat-trick to lead the Gunners to a 4-1 victory at the Emirates over Turkish side Galatasaray.

Welbeck’s trio of finishes were joined by a goal from fellow summer signing Alexis Sanchez as Arsenal cruised to a 4-0 advantage. Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was shown a red card for a challenge in the 60th minute, paving the way for a Galatasaray consolation goal from Burak Yilmaz.

Here’s a full rundown of Wednesday’s results:

GROUP A

Atletico Madrid 1 – 0 Juventus

Malmo FF 2 – 0 Olympiakos

GROUP B

Basel 1 – 0 Liverpool

Ludogorets 1 – 2 Real Madrid

GROUP C

Zenit 0 – 0 Monaco

Bayer Leverkusen 3 – 1 Benfica

GROUP D

Anderlecht 0 – 3 Borussia Dortmund

Arsenal 4 – 1 Galatasaray


What were your thoughts on today’s action? Which teams impressed you most?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. “However, it was not to be for the Belarussian side,” LUDOGORETS are from Bulgaria!

    Ives, you really need a fact-checker, way too many errors!

    Reply
    • Also, and this is admittedly picky, but the initial touch on Basil’s goal didnt come off Xhaka- looked to have ping-ponged off 2 Liverpool players, leading to Mignolet’s save

      Reply
    • Yup, Ives, or whoever writes for him, please don’t be a stereotype of American ignorance and fix this.

      Bulgaria and Belarus are worlds apart and have nothing in common.The Bulgarians played a very even game v. Referee Madrid and this Scottish joker won it for the “giants”…This Thomson referee better never set foot in Bulgaria again. He is not welcome!

      Reply
  2. Scottish referee Thomson won man of the match for Real Madrid today. Disgrace!

    Fantastic performance with 2 penalties (the second one shocking for Ronaldo blatant dive) and letting go a foul on the Ludogorets defender for the second goal.

    Disgusting!

    Reply

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