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The UEFA Champions League's Matchday 3 is over after eight more games on Wednesday brought 23 goals, far less than the 35 goals we saw on Tuesday. Manchester United overcame a 2-0 deficit to beat Atalanta at Old Trafford with Cristiano Ronaldo netting the winner, Bayern Munich were tied at half time but found four goals in a short span in the second half, and both Chelsea and Juventus won games they were supposed to.
Here a look at the entire results from Wednesday.
Results
- Salzburg 3, Wolfsburg 1
- Barcelona 1, Dynamo Kyiv 0
- Lille 0, Sevilla 0
- Manchester United 3, Atalanta 2
- Juventus 1, Zenit 0
- Bayern Munich 4, Benfica 0
- Chelsea 4, Malmo 0
- Villarreal 4, Young Boys 1
Match of the day
Manchester United 3, Atalanta 2: They came back ... again. Manchester United, known for coming from behind more often than not, have made it back-to-back comeback wins in Champions League. After doing it to Villarreal at the end of September, they were down 2-0 to Atalanta after just 28 minutes and pulled it off.
Down 2-0 in the second half, Marcus Rashford got his team back in it with a delightful finish off a fine ball from Bruno Fernandes. Then it was Harry Maguire 15 minutes from time with a strong strike when he was left wide open in the box. With a quarter of an hour to go, it felt inevitable that the comeback would get finished, and six minutes later, it did. Luke Shaw delivered one of his signature crosses that found the head of Ronaldo in the heart of the box. You know how this ends ...
Ronald to the rescue once again, and Manchester United stop the bleeding when it comes to their recent results. They can only hope this one is the turning point to some more stability on the pitch. They weren't great, but they delivered when in mattered the most after being booed off the pitch at the half.
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Player of the day
Leroy Sane. He was just special. Over the course of the match he completed 94.4 percent of his passes in the final third, scored two goals and recorded an assist. Those goals came off of an expected goals total of 0.64, including an absolutely incredible free kick that you just have to see to believe.
On a day where not many attacking players were overly dominant, Sane was far and away the best.
He scored the winner in the 70th minute, he assisted Robert Lewandowski in the 82nd, and then he got his second in the 84th in what was an electric 15 minutes.
Best goal
Again, it's Sane. Just look at this winning goal from about 23 yards out:
That was hit absolutely perfectly. He gets it over the wall, allows it to dip down and had some serious pace to get by the goalkeeper and silent the home fans. A textbook free kick and one that was enough for the three points in the end.
Runner-up goal
Andreas Christensen, the Chelsea central defender, got his team's winning goal eight minutes in with what was a brilliant finish. On a ball from the wing, he rushed the goal and put the cross away like a veteran No. 9. Take a look:
Biggest surprise
This is a tough one to choose because the big boys all won. Barca were far from convincing, United looked headed for a defeat, and Juventus really took a long time to get going. If anything, at least at half time, the biggest surprise was Benfica being level with Bayern Munich. And that's not just because Bayern are arguably the best team in the world, because Benfica very well could have been leading.
Darwin Nunez, Benfica's young, incredibly talented Uruguayan striker, nearly put the hosts in the lead with an incredible curling effort that Manuel Neuer pushed over the goal. In the end, Bayern may have dominated, but Benfica's ability to compete well for at least an hour should give them confidence to finish second in the group.
