Wednesday night’s gameweek five matches in the Champions League could prove to be pivotal in this season’s competition. Here is what happened in some crucial fixtures in Europe’s elite competition:
PSG move above Liverpool
In arguably the big game of gameweek five, PSG recorded a 2-1 win over Liverpool at the Parc des Princes.
PSG dominated the first half and took the lead on 13 minutes. Virgil van Dijk initially cleared Kylian Mbappe’s cross, only for the rebound to fall for Juan Bernat who took a few touches before firing past Allison in the visitor’s goal.
The home looked highly dangerous on the counter-attack in the first period. It was from one of the dangerous counter-attacks that the home side scored their score goal on 37 minutes.
Mbappe showed some trademark pace down the flank and cross for Edinson Cavani, whose flicked effort was parried out by Allison. However, Brazilian star Neymar was on hand to tap home.
Liverpool looked to have a lifeline in first-half stoppage-time. Angel Di Maria made a clumsy challenge on Sadio Mane in the penalty area and James Milner scored from the resulting spot-kick.
The second half was less eventful with chances at a minimum. The victory moves PSG into a qualification spot, while Liverpool need to beat Napoli by two clear goals in gameweek six at Anfield to make the knockout stages of the competition. PSG remain one of the favourites to lift the trophy in May.
Spurs keep qualification hopes alive at Wembley
Tottenham recorded a 1-0 victory over Inter at Wembley, leaving it late to grab a much-needed victory.
In fact, the north London outfit left it until just ten minutes from time to score the all-important winning goal. A good team move involving Moussa Sissoko and Dele Alli eventually saw substitute Christian Eriksen fire a powerful effort high into the roof of the net.
The victory moved Spurs into second spot, level on points with the visitors. However, Mauricio Pochettino’s side now need to match or better Inter’s result in their last group game. That may not seem like a terrible scenario. However, Spurs’ last group match is at Barcelona’s Nou Camp, while Inter face group whipping boys PSV Eindhoven.
Barcelona cruise through to the knockout stages
Barcelona recorded a 2-1 win at PSV Eindhoven to win Group B, which means the Catalan giants have now won their Champions League group in 12 straight seasons.
PSV missed a number of good chances in a goalless first half and were made for their profligacy on the hour-mark. Lionel Messi received the ball from Ousmane Dembele beat four defenders before hitting a powerful effort past Jeroen Zoet at his near post. The goal was the Argentinian’s sixth in the Champions League this season.
Messi was inevitably involved in the visitor’s second goal on 71 minutes. The diminutive forward looked to shoot, only to pick out Gerard Pique who put the ball past Zoet from 12 yards out.
PSV did get a goal back with eight minutes left on the clock, as Luuk de Jong headed home from Angelino’s cross. However, the effort just proved to be a consolation goal for the Dutch side, who have endured a terrible Champions League campaign.
The win means Barcelona top the group on 13 points, while the Dutch outfit has picked up just one point from their five games in Europe’s elite competition.
Wednesday night’s other results
Atletico Madrid 2-0 Monaco
Lokomotiv Moscow 2-0 Galatasaray
Dortmund 0-0 Club Brugge
Porto 3-1 Schalke
Napoli 3-1 Red Star Belgrade
Who recorded the biggest victory in Wednesday night’s Champions League games?
