Champions League: Galatasaray 1 (Osimhen 16) Liverpool 0
Liverpool fell to a second straight defeat as Arne Slot’s side saw their first Champions League trip of the season end in a 1-0 defeat to Galatasaray.
The reigning Premier League champions were looking for a response to Saturday’s last-gasp 2-1 loss at Crystal Palace but wilted on an intense evening in Istanbul.
Victor Osimhen’s first-half penalty after Dominik Szoboszlai was adjudged to have caught Baris Alper Yilmaz with a trailing arm proved the difference as Galatasaray triumphed at rocking Rams Park.
Cody Gakpo had seen an effort cleared off the line moments before the decisive spot-kick on an evening that saw Slot surprisingly decide to drop Mohamed Salah and Alexander Isak to the bench.
READ MORE
The Liverpool boss turned to the pair in the 62nd minute in a bid to shake-up his disjointed side shortly after losing Alisson Becker to an injury seemingly sustained when stopping Osimhen scoring a second.
Hugo Ekitike would also limp off as Liverpool failed to bounce back from their Selhurst Park setback, with a late penalty for a foul on Ibrahima Konate overturned after a VAR review.
Bodo/Glimt 2 (Hauge 53,66) Tottenham Hotspur 2 (van de Ven 68, Gundersen 89 og)
An 89th-minute own goal by Jostein Gundersen spared Tottenham’s blushes and earned them a fortunate 2-2 draw away to Bodo/Glimt in the Champions League.
Spurs were back at Aspmyra Stadion four months on from success in the Europa League semi-finals, but this time they were second best for long periods.
After a one-sided first half where Kasper Hogh missed a penalty for the Norwegian minnows, Bodo looked on course to claim revenge after two fine strikes shortly after the break by Jens Petter Haugh.
Tottenham’s stand-in captain Micky van de Ven reduced the deficit in the 68th minute and Thomas Frank watched his side fight back for the third time this month when Gundersen inadvertently deflected the ball in after Bodo goalkeeper Nikita Haikin saved Archie Gray’s shot.
It earned Spurs a point to move them onto four in the Champions League, but Bodo boss Kjetil Knutsen would have wondered how his team failed to win after a dominant display.
Chelsea 1 (Rios og) Benfica 0
Jose Mourinho’s Stamford Bridge homecoming ended in defeat as Chelsea got their Champions League season going at the second attempt with a 1-0 win over Benfica.
It was the seventh time since his sacking in 2015 that the three-time Premier League winner had returned to sit in the away dugout but there was to be no fairytale for his underdogs, an own goal from midfielder Richard Rios after 18 minutes the difference.
Enzo Maresca’s side had been been outclassed despite a brave, ambitious showing in losing to Bayern Munich in their opening game but Mourinho’s visitors posed a different challenge, sitting deep and challenging the home side to pick through them.
They managed it just once but decisively, Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho the goal’s twin architects – one with a cross, the other with a brilliant sliding reach, and the unfortunate Rios did the rest.
Other results:
Kairat 0 Real Madrid 4
Atalanta 2 Club Brugge 1
Marseille 4 Ajax 0
Inter Miland 3 Slavia Prague 0
Pafos 1 Bayern Munich 5
