Barça breathe a little, Ronaldo overthrows Atalanta Bergamo

Published on : 20/10/2021 – 23:33

The evenings go by and look the same for Bayern Munich. The German club signed Wednesday, October 20 its third consecutive victory on a river score in the Champions League. At the same time, the first victim of this series, FC Barcelona, ​​finally snatched a first victory in this 2021/2022 edition. On the side of Manchester United, the providential man Cristiano Ronaldo struck again against Atalanta Bergamo (3-2).

• Group E: Barcelona finally victorious, Bayern is a hit

The victory was imperative, Barcelona obtained it, at home against Dynamo Kiev (1-0), but it is not likely to greatly reassure the leaders, the supporters and the coach Ronald Koeman, who remained on two inaugural routs against Benfica Lisbon and Bayern Munich (3-0).

The only goal of the evening came from defender Gerard Pique, in a half-empty Camp Nou. “We do not have the right to miss so many opportunities. We play our survival in the competition, and we lose ourselves in attack …”, lamented the Dutch coach, who can only see the damage, before the “clasico” Sunday: Barça has only scored 4 shots in 3 C1 matches.

The only good news of the evening on the Blaugrana side, the nugget Ansu Fati (18) extended until 2027, with a delusional release clause set at … one billion euros.

Bayern had already scored eight goals in two games. In Lisbon, for Kingsley Coman’s first start in C1 this season, he added four more (4-0), with a double from Leroy Sané and a new unit for Robert Lewandowski (5 goals already this season).

In the standings, the Bavarians are approaching the round of 16, with 9 points, five more than Benfica and six units ahead of Barça.

• Group F: Manchester United is scared

Without Paul Pogba, a substitute, but with Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford at kick-off, Manchester United drew on their resources to avoid a fifth defeat in eight matches in all competitions, which nevertheless threatened after a first period ended on a alarming score of 0-2.

But against Atalanta, coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was able to count on his Portuguese superstar. Already a man of deliverance against Villarreal (2-1), CR7 returned with an unstoppable header in the 81st minute to give the advantage to Mancuniens, after goals from Rashford and Harry Maguire.

This 137th goal in C1 for Ronaldo replaces “Man U” at the top of the standings (6 pts), ahead of Bergamo (4 pts) and Villarreal (4 pts), winner of the Young Boys of Bern with a goal from young Yeremy Pino, on the day of his 19 years (4-1).

• Group G: Salzburg does the right thing

A defeat would have seriously compromised Lille’s chances of qualifying, but a draw does not offer the Mastiffs the slightest promise: unable to score, but solid defensively against Sevilla, Losc continues to dream of a European spring.

With two points in three matches, the counter does not increase quickly, but neither does that of the opponents: Sevilla FC fails to win and has chained a third draw in a row in the competition, while Wolfsburg is on his side remained docked and has two points, like the Northerners.

The good operation of the evening is to be put to the credit of the Austrians of Red Bull Salzburg, authors of their second victory (for a draw) obtained against Wolfsburg, last of the group (3-1).

Young Swiss forward Noah Okafor scored twice to bring Salzburg to the top of the group with 7 points, four more than Sevilla.

• Group H: Chelsea rolls but loses their attackers

Beaten in Turin by Juventus during the second day (1-0), Chelsea resumed their journey to the round of 16 by crushing the Swedes of Malmö (4-0). Jorginho, in contention for the Ballon d’Or, healed his statistics by scoring two penalties, but the Blues lost Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner to injury.

In the standings, the defending champions (6 pts) remain behind Juve (9 pts), victorious in Saint Petersburg against Zenit (1-0).

With AFP