Tuesday's Champions League action saw tight games all around as Manchester United fell to Galatasary in a game that saw Casemiro pick up a red card and Mauro Icardi miss another penalty before scoring from open play. It was one of the few things able to upstage Jude Bellingham's heroics to help pull Real Madrid to a come-from-behind victory as he had a goal and an assist for Los Blancos. Manchester United are in a place where it may be hard to even make Europa League but they're not the most worried English club as that title would go to Arsenal after Bukayo Saka left the pitch with a non-contact injury in a surprising loss to Lens.
Here's the day's scoreboard:
All times Eastern
Union Berlin 2, Braga 3
Red Bull Salzburg 0, Real Sociedad 2
Napoli 2, Real Madrid 3
Manchester United 2, Galatasaray 3
Lens 2, Arsenal 1
Inter 1, Benfica 0
PSV 2, Sevilla 2
Copenhagen 1, Bayern Munich 2
Lens has secured the victory over Arsenal following a gritty comeback. United has fallen to Galatasaray behind Icardi's heroics. Late equalizers in the Netherlands, Inter taking care fo business and Real Madrid showing that they'll always be the team to beat, knocking off Napoli.
The game has been on skates with three goals scored after the 86th minute but a 90+5 equalizer is just nuts for the Dutch side. This could be a critical point after dropping their opening match to Arsenal.
Box office
No team lulls you into thinking that a result can be secured quite like Real Madrid does as Valverde ripped Napoli's soul out with his finish.
Galatasaray had a chance to go ahead from the spot and Icardi missed yet again. He's been excellent from open play but almost comical from the spot but it won't matter as Icardi does score from open play as he's held on by Amrabat. United's defense gets worse by the second and it could see them crash out of Champions League.
He has had the ball in the back of the net three times to register his brace as Manchester United now will need to rely on their defense yet again to hold the lead against Galatasaray. The match has been a coming out party for the Danish striker but it won't matter if it doesn't also lead to all three points.
Thuram has opened the scoring for Inter as they're now ahead of Benfica. Most of the matches are level but Inter aren't one of them but now it's time to get an insurance goal because a one goal lead is far from safe at this stage.
It was a weird goal to concede but the German giants are struggling in Denmark. Kim's clearance fell to the foot of Lerager who skidded a finish off the pitch to score from an awkward position. These are the kind of bounces that are needed to topple Bayern who should be controlling the match.
Still no sighting of Victor Osimehen from the penalty spot after a Real Madrid handball but Zielinski was able to bury his chance with some help from the post. But facing Madrid, it's only a matter of time until Jude Bellingham is involved in yet another goal.
While the match went into the half scoreless it wasn't from lack of trying for Inter. With an xG of .72 and two shots on target, they're still in a good spot to get a result versus Benfica as long as Martinez can get involved in the second half. Despite taking 21 touches, the Argentine striker didn't register a shot in the first half which won't get the job done.
Somehow since coming to Real Madrid, Bellingham has actually been able to replace the production of Karim Benzema as he pulled Los Blancos out of an early hole to Napoli. With a goal and an assist, Bellingham is benefitting from the return of Vini Jr as Real Madrid's attack is a force to be reckoned with. Defensively things will need to tighten up in the second half but with Bellingham on their side, Madrid's UCL magic continues in a big way.
It's a non-contact injury for Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka, who exits in the 34th minute. Not the greatest of news with Manchester City coming up on Sunday. Saka has been critical to Arsenal's attack this season registering the assist on Gabriel Jesus' opener. Saka has four goals and two assists in Premier League play so far this season and doesn't have a natural replacement on the roster.
But then Wilfred Zaha snatched it away, it's more of the same for United as even when their attack does the right thing, the defense squanders it away. This is becoming quite a concern for the Red Devils who absolutely need all three points in this match.
It was always a question of when not if Arsenal would take the league as 14 minutes into the clash the Gunners are off and running with a Gabriel Jesus goal assisted by Bukayo Saka. They allowed Lens to get some possession in the match early before bearing down and scoring the opener. With a match against Manchester City during the weekend, it's an excellent start for Arsenal to be able to rest their starters after 60 minutes or so.
Lens are off to a fast start winning a corner but that'll just give Arsenal a chance on the counter. That game, Manchester United and Napoli vs Real Madrid are the headliners of the slate but there are plenty of enticing matches all around.
Union Berlin thought they had a winner in the match but Andre Castro called game from outside the box. It's the second stunner of the match for the Portuguese side who have now secured their first three points of their first UCL campaign in almost three years. Never a dull moment with this lot.
Match prediction: Manchester United 1, Galatasaray 1: United's defense will let them down again, allowing Icardi to sneak through for an equalizing goal. Despite having chances, the attack will also falter as depth concerns are growing by the week. Ten Hag's casting out of Jadon Sancho leaving United with a serious deficit of wingers leaves them without the ability to bring fresh legs off the bench that could've turned the tide in the match.
Artur Jorge is sent off after a disagreement with the referee. He tries to plead his case but it won't be enough as the Portuguese manager will head down the tunnel.
With Kane in the middle, Bayern are looking to take control of the group quite quickly.
Most likely to score a goal: Victor Osimhen: Despite what happened in the past week, when his agent claimed that the player is considering taking legal action against his club after a video posted on the club's official TikTok account, it seems that the chaos is now over after the player already scored two goals in the last two games against Udinese and Lecce.
An astonishing four goals in 50 minutes as this match has truly tuned into end to end stuff. It's Bruma with the goal but Union Berlin will need to defend better if they want to stay in Europe as Braga are out for goals in the tie. It was quite a hit as well.
With seven minutes between their first and second ever UCL goals, Union Berlin are in control following strong play by Sheraldo Becker. He may have been offside in the build up to their first attempt at a goal but all is well now with a brace to make up for it. Braga would net another goal after the half as this game has everything.
It's quite a start for the Spanish side as they've bagged yet another goal as Mendez turns scorer after being the provider in their opening goal. After a strong start in La Liga, they're now keeping things rolling in Champions League with an excellent counterattack.
Real Sociedad only needed seven minutes to score their first goal of the match as their Champions League campaign is off to a flying start. Oyarzabal nets the goal assisted by Mendez and with their team defense, this could be enough to win the match alone.
Union Berlin thought they had their first ever Champions League goal but Becker was judged to have been offside in the build up. The game is off to quite a fast start in Germany though.
Both of the early matches have kicked off in what should be an exciting day of action.
Champions League soccer is back in action and we're getting started with a few solid fixtures as Union Berlin hosts Braga and Real Sociedad travels to Austria to face Red Bull Salzburg. Teams are getting into the full swing of things so strap in for wall to wall soccer for the next six hours!
