Raphinha’s hat-trick was too much for Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Barcelona defeated Bayern Munich 4–1 (3-1) in the meeting between the football giants in the league stage of the Champions League.
The hero of the match is the one who caught the hat trick Raphinhawhich struck just 58 seconds into the game, just before the break in the 45th minute and just under the hour mark. Fifteen goals this season, including all series Robert Lewandowski accounted for the winners’ second strike.
Bayern played well in the away match, but its defensive line fell into decisive errors. Harry Kane controlled the 1-1 equalizer from the air.
Barcelona, who unexpectedly bowed to Monaco 1-2 in the opening round, has beaten Young Boys 5-0 at home and now also the Bundesliga’s top club. Bayern opened the UCL with a 9-2 crushing win over Dinamo Zagreb, but have since lost away to Aston Villa 0-1 and Barcelona.
Kairinen’s blow to Sparta Praha
Manchester City returned Sparta Prague, which started strongly in the Champions League, to the surface with a 5-0 crushing victory. Erling Haaland hit twice Phil Foden, John Stones and Matheus Nunes (rp) once.
Haaland’s 2-0 goal was created directly from the air with an acrobatic “back hammer”, which was once Zlatan Ibrahimovic specialty. Foden has made seven complete hits in the last eight UCL matches.
Scored in the last two UCL games Kairinen too was, as usual, in the Czech club’s starting line-up and played the 89th minute.
The defeat was the first for Sparta Praha, who beat Salzburg 3–0 and played away to Stuttgart 1–1.
City were held to a goalless draw against Inter in the UCL opener, but have since beaten Slovan Bratislava by four goals and Sparta Prague by five goals.
Liverpool rose to nine points alongside Aston Villa
Darwin Nunez sealed Liverpool’s 1–0 away victory over RB Leipzig with his goal. The win was Pool’s third in a row.
Atletico Madrid melted by Julian Alvarez despite the opening goal, to a 1–3 home loss to Lille. Feyenoord defeated Benfica 3–1 away from home Antonio Milambo by two and Ayase Uedan with one hit.
Dinamo Zagreb took the 2-0 away points from Salzburg and Inter sealed the deal By Marcus Thuram away win over Young Boys with a 1–0 extra time goal.
The Champions League progresses after the 3rd round at the pace of the English clubs, as the top three in the 36-team series are Aston Villa, Liverpool and Manchester City.
Match statistics here, table here