A better day for Spain’s Champions League sides on Wednesday, with Barcelona and Atlético Madrid both keeping up their 100% records. Barcelona beat Tottenham 2-4, with Coutinho scoring the first in only the second minute, and Rakitic firing home a spectacular volley midway through the first half to make it two. Harry Kane got one back after the restart, but Messi (who had already hit the post twice) restored the two goal cushion soon afterwards. A few minutes later Lamela got a second for the Premier League club, but with the game coming to a close Messi wrapped things up with his fifth goal in the competition this season. Atlético meanwhile won 3-1 against Club Brugge to top their group together with Borussia Dortmund. Griezmann’s opener was cancelled out before the break by a strike from Groenveld. With twenty minutes to go though Griezmann restored the lead after Diego Costa set him up, and with the game in injury time the French striker laid the ball back from the by-line for Koke to make it three. (03.10.18)
Although it is early days yet, Real Madrid’s season seems to be going off the rails, and for the third match in a row they failed to score after falling to an unexpected 1-0 defeat at CSKA Moscow. With only two minutes on the clock the Russian side took the lead when Vlasic intercepted a loose back pass by Kroos to beat Keylor Navas. And although Casemiro, Benzema and Mariano all hit the woodwork after that, they could not find a way past Akinfeev (who was in fact sent off for protesting in injury time). Valencia also couldn’t score in the other game on Tuesday involving a Spanish side, although a 0-0 draw at Manchester United must be seen as positive in what is a difficult group. Guedes in particular had a couple of chances for the Ches, but Rashford almost won it for Mourinho’s side when he hit the bar with a free kick near the end. (02.10.18)