Doug McIntyre
football journalist
Liverpool are on the verge of qualifying for the Champions League after securing their sixth successive first-round win with a 1-0 win over Girona in Spain on Tuesday.
Mohamed Salah’s blistering form continued, with the Egypt star scoring the only goal of the second half that came from the penalty spot.
Elsewhere in Europe, Real Madrid picked up a decisive win, Bayern Munich came back to demolish Shakhtar Donetsk and Aston Villa and Brest’s Cinderella seasons continued.
Here are three brief takeaways from Tuesday’s actions:
Salah comes to the rescue again as the Reds remain perfect.
Liverpool, in first place with 6 wins in 6 Champions League games so far, will have to decide the winner of the last 16 games with the second round of qualifying remaining. But the three points on Tuesday were hard earned. Girona fans will be questioning whether they have made any profit at all.
This was one of the most unconvincing performances of the season from Arne Slot’s team. A video review was needed to send Salah to the spot after a foul on Luis Diaz inside the penalty area, which was not originally whistled.
Salah made no mistake even from 12 yards. Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker, playing his first game after missing two months with a hamstring injury, kept a clean sheet and made five saves to secure the result, but United were lucky in this game.
It’s not the first time recently, but Liverpool also used Salah. The goal was the 32-year-old’s 16th in 22 appearances across all competitions in 2024-25 and his third in as many games. No wonder Manchester United finally offered the club legend a new contract recently. With so much of Slot’s attention focused on the Champions League-Premier League double this spring, they can hardly afford to throw their best player’s future to the wind any longer.
Mbappe scores, ankle insult Real Madrid defeats Atalanta
The last time we saw Kylian Mbappe in the Champions League, the French superstar was walking dejectedly towards the tunnel at Anfield, having just missed a penalty in Real’s 2-0 defeat by Liverpool.
It didn’t take long for Mbappé to show that Tuesday would be different. It took the 25-year-old less than 10 minutes to send it. blank On his way to victory in Italy with a fierce right-footed shot:
The goals, combined with second-half efforts from Jude Bellingham and VinÃcius Jr., gave the visitors a much-needed 3-2 win. The defending team and record 15-time champions entered Matchday 6 with three losses and just six goals from their first five games. excursion.
But that night was bittersweet. Mbappe was taken out of the game in the 36th minute of the first half due to an ankle injury. His rollercoaster first season in Madrid shows no signs of slowing down.
Villa, Bayern, Brest, Leverkusen win
Aston Villa squandered one-goal leads at RB Leipzig on two occasions on Tuesday, but the German still remains third in the 36-team standings thanks to a fortuitous Ross Barkley goal with five minutes remaining in the game. .
The game-winner, who improved Villa’s record in the club’s competitions to 4-1-1, took a vicious deflection before beating Leipzig goalkeeper Péter Gulácsi.
Bayern fell behind early against Shakhtar but fought back with five goals in the final 85 minutes at the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, with the Ukrainian club “hosting” the game due to the ongoing Russian invasion.
Meanwhile, Brest remain in fifth place, three places ahead of Bayern, after a 1-0 win over PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday. Julien Le Cardinal scored the only goal for France just before halftime.
And then there was the second half in Leverkusen when Nordi Mukiele’s 90th-minute strike sent Bayer past 2023 finalists Inter Milan. It was the first goal allowed by Inter this Champions League season.
Doug McIntyre is a football reporter for FOX Sports. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he worked as a staff writer for ESPN and Yahoo Sports, where he covered: USA Men’s and women’s national teams participating in the FIFA World Cup on five continents. Follow him @Author: Doug McIntyre.
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