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Champions League Wednesday: Prince William watches Aston Villa, Real Madrid suffer shock defeat
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Champions League Wednesday: Prince William watches Aston Villa, Real Madrid suffer shock defeat



CNN

A famous victory celebrated by the royal family, a surprise defeat for the reigning champions and a brilliant goal from Mohamed Salah were among the standout moments of an exciting European football evening on Wednesday.

The second round of this season’s Champions League has come to an end, with seven teams enjoying a perfect record and a number of pre-league favorites in a more precarious position.

Here’s an overview of the latest promotions across Europe.

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

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

With 70% possession, the German giants controlled much of the match, but ultimately missed out on a lead in a lively Villa Park.

After Pau Torres’ first-half strike was disallowed for offside in the build-up, the hosts had to wait until the 79th minute to score the all-important goal when substitute Durán fired a shot over Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

Durán scores against Bayern Munich.

More heroics followed for Villa as Emi Martínez produced two superb saves in stoppage time to deny Serge Gnabry and Harry Kane.

“I am very happy that our supporters and everyone at Aston Villa – coaches, owners, supporters, employees – can share days like today, play at this level in the Champions League against Bayern Munich and win,” said Villa manager Unai Emery.

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

The surprise result means Villa have two wins from their first two Champions League games, while Bayern have received a reality check after an emphatic 9-2 win against Dinamo Zagreb two weeks ago.

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

And Bayern was not the only team that was impressed on Wednesday. 15-time Champions League winners Real Madrid suffered their first defeat of the season with a 1-0 loss to Lille, an early setback in the team’s European title defense.

Eduardo Camavinga’s handball late in the first half allowed Jonathan David to put away a penalty, not long after being kept out by reserve keeper Andriy Lunin’s brilliant double save.

Madrid’s best chances came in the second half when Tiago Santos cleared Antonio Rudiger’s header off the line before Lucas Chevalier cleared Jude Bellingham’s follow-up shot.

Kylian Mbappé, who hoped to win the first Champions League of his career, was left frustrated against Lille.

Later in the match, the goalkeeper denied headers from Rüdiger and the Turkish prodigy Arda Güler Les Doguesdefeated twice in the French Ligue 1 this season and defeated 2-0 by Sporting CP in the opening match of the Champions League, held on for a remarkable victory.

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

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

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

Two minutes after Bologna had an early goal disallowed for offside, Alexis Mac Allister got Liverpool clear from the spot with his first goal of the season when he tapped Salah’s dangerous ball into the penalty area.

Dan Ndoye saw his shot hit the crossbar as the visiting side searched for an equalizer in an open first half, and the striker rattled the post minutes later.

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

In doing so, Salah extended his goalscoring streak at home in the Champions League to five games – the first player in the club’s history to do so.

Salah celebrates Liverpool's second goal.

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

“It was not easy, but that is normal when you play the Champions League. There is always a lot of resistance and there are many good teams playing in the Champions League. Bologna is one of them,” Slot told reporters afterwards. game.

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

In perhaps the most entertaining match of the evening, Juventus came from behind to beat 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 match seemed to turn in Leipzig’s favor when Di Gregorio was shown a red card for handling the ball outside the penalty area.

Another handball decision – this time when Douglas Luiz blocked a free kick – allowed Šeško to grab his second goal from the penalty spot, and from then on it looked like the home side would get the win.

But the Vecchia Signoraundaunted by being reduced to ten players, he fought back superbly, first when Vlahović fired in an excellent strike from outside the penalty area, and then when Francisco Conceição completed the comeback with a sublime display of individual skill, dodging David Raum’s challenge and ball in the net.

Di Gregorio receives a red card against RB Leipzig.

“We have shown that we are becoming a team. We fought together, just like the coach asked us to. We deserved to win, despite losing with one man less,” Vlahović said afterwards. “It was a great performance. These victories and these matches, we have to get used to this level. We must continue with even more conviction.”

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 guys

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

Shaktar Donetsk 0-3 Atalanta

Girona 2-3 Feyenoord

Benfica 4-0 Atletico Madrid

Liverpool 2-0 Bologna

RB Leipzig 2-3 Juventus

Lille 1-0 Real Madrid

SK Sturm Graz 0-1 ClubBruges

Aston Villa 1-0 Bayern Munich

Dinamo Zagreb 2-2 AS Monaco