ASTON VILLA’S IMPRESSIVE impressive Champions League debut continued as they strengthened their chances of automatic qualification to the last 16 after a 3-2 win at RB Leipzig.
Ross Barkley’s 85th-minute winner gave them victory after they had twice squandered the lead in Germany.
John McGinn and Jhon Duran goals at the start of each half were cancelled out by Leipzig’s Lois Openda and Christoph Baumgartner.
But Barkley had the final say less than two minutes after coming off the bench as his deflected effort earned the points which sent his side third in the Champions League’s new league phase.
The top eight automatically qualify for the next stage and with games against Monaco and Celtic to come, Unai Emery’s men are a good bet to avoid the need for a play-off round in their first foray in this competition.
The result sees Leipzig crash out of the competition having lost all six of their games.
Villa enjoyed a dream start and were ahead with less than three minutes on the clock.
Matty Cash, playing in a more advanced position on the right, crossed for Ollie Watkins, who nodded down into the path of McGinn and the skipper made no mistake from close range.
That gave the visitors confidence, and they had enough chances in the first 15 minutes to have the game wrapped up.
Lucas Digne’s cross from the left was begging to be converted but Watkins could not make contact from close range and then Morgan Rogers shot straight at Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi.
Then Youri Tielemans found himself with time and space on the edge of the area from Watkins’ tee-up but the Belgium international disappointingly dragged wide.
All that good work was undone in the 27th minute, though, as Emiliano Martinez was left red-faced.
The Argentinian was too casual waiting to collect Nicolas Seiwald’s long ball and Openda nipped in to get the ball first and tap into an empty net.
Duran was introduced at the break and needed just a couple of minutes to fire a warning when he drilled wide after a loose ball fell to him 14 yards out.
But the Colombian got his goal in the 52nd minute, though it was another moment for the goalkeeper to forget.
Duran was invited to drive forward and unleashed a 25-yard shot, which was hardly an Exocet, but still was too much for Gulacsi, who barely even jumped.
It was his 10th goal of the season and sixth from the bench as he continues his super-sub role.
The striker was not complaining and he thought he had doubled his tally shortly after when he converted Cash’s centre but the provider was ruled offside by VAR.
Five minutes later, Villa found themselves pegged back again with a finish of real quality.
Openda was sent clear by another long ball and his cross was perfect for Baumgartner to cushion a far-post volley back across goal and into the corner.
Digne brought a save out of Gulacsi and then Openda shot straight at Martinez as both sides pushed for a winner.
It was Villa who got it as Barkley saw his deflected effort wrong-foot Gulacsi and hit the back of the net.
Mohamed Salah’s enduring consistency extended the Champions League’s only 100 per cent record to six matches, as his penalty secured Liverpool a 1-0 victory in Girona to virtually guarantee the competition’s current leaders a place in the last 16.
The Egypt international became the 11th man to reach 50 Champions League goals, overtaking Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Kylian Mbappe with Thierry Henry (51) and Thomas Muller (54) now in his sights.
Having missed from the spot a fortnight ago against Real Madrid, there was no mistake this time when presented with the opportunity in the 63rd minute to extend an impressive record of scoring in 11 of his last 16 matches.
And while the chatter and conjecture over the summer expiration of his contract – reports last week suggest he has at least now been offered a new deal – it is not affecting the 32-year-old’s output.
It was his 16th goal of the season, his 47th for the Reds in European club football’s premier competition, and Liverpool’s 50th.
He also equalled Steven Gerrard’s club record of six Champions League penalties and is now just one goal behind Billy Liddell, fourth on the club’s all-time goalscoring list.
Salah benefited from a VAR intervention after it spotted Luis Diaz’s left boot had been removed by former Manchester United midfielder Donny van de Beek’s ambitious attempt to nick the ball in the penalty area.
But it was not only Salah’s reliability which Liverpool were indebted to as goalkeeper Alisson Becker, making his first appearance in two months after a hamstring injury, helped extended their run without conceding in this competition to just short of nine hours.
In his absence Caoimhin Kelleher had kept five clean sheets in 11 matches, including against Real Madrid and Manchester City, but once the Brazil international was fit again head coach Arne Slot did not hesitate to bring him back.
At his pre-match press conference Slot had said: “For so many years Alisson has been so outstanding for this club and we are expecting him to do the same over the next few months” and the 32-year-old backed up those words.
He was employed more than he would have hoped to have been in a first half during which the visitors allowed a strong start to slip and should have been behind at the break.
Joe Gomez came as close as he has at any time in the last decade to scoring his first goal for the club when his early near-post header was tipped over by former Tottenham and Fulham goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga from Liverpool’s first corner.
Darwin Nunez, who has only one goal in his last 10 appearances, was twice denied by Gazzaniga but the Uruguay international had another of those now all-too-common frustrating performances with his fluffed header from Dominik Szoboszlai’s hanging cross meaning the supporting Curtis Jones and Salah were unable to profit.
But the hosts were undeterred and would have been ahead had it not been for Alisson and Daley Blind’s lack of composure in front of goal.
The ex-Manchester United, Ajax and Bayern Munich defender’s last goal was 11 months ago and that looked evident from his swish-and-miss at Miguel Gutierrez’s cross into the six-yard area.
Alisson saved Alejandro Frances’ follow-up attempt, batted away a Gutierrez shot, flung himself to his right to keep out Yaser Asprilla’s long-range drive and, straight from the second-half kick-off, denied Arnaut Danjuma.
Andy Robertson forced the first save from Gazzaniga just before the hour but Diaz had already been fouled by Van de Beek, although not spotted by referee Benoit Bastien.
Trent Alexander-Arnold’s late dipping free-kick fully extended Gazzaniga as Liverpool closed out a professional, if unspectacular, victory against the European debutants.
Elsewhere, Real Madrid revived their Champions League title defence by winning a tough encounter at Atalanta 3-2.
Goals from Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham were enough for Madrid to win in Bergamo and move up to nine points from six matches.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side would have been at risk of dropping out of the play-off places but came through a tough test at Serie A leaders Atalanta.
The away side are now three points from the top eight positions which give direct qualification for the last 16 with two matches remaining in their league campaign and a round of fixtures coming up on Wednesday.
Madrid inflicted on Atalanta a first defeat in this year’s revamped competition and are now only two points behind Gian Piero Gasperini’s ambitious team who performed well against 15-time European champions Madrid but now sit ninth.
Bayern Munich won 5-1 away to Shakhtar Donetsk while PSG came away from RB Salzburg with a 3-0 victory.
Additional reporting – © AFP 2024
Written by David Sneyd and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say