The excitement and abundant goals continued in the third round of the group stage of the European Football Championship, and the highlight of tonight's matches was the rescue Rimontada for Manchester United led by Cristiano Ronaldo, and the victory of Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Juventus.
Ronaldo scored a header in the 81st minute to crown Manchester United's return after falling 0-2 to defeat Atalanta 3-2 in an exciting match in Group F at Old Trafford, to save the Portuguese star from a new fall at home, and the coach from the specter of imminent dismissal if he was defeated or even a tie.
Mario Pasalic gave Atalanta the lead in the 15th minute from close range with a low cross from Davide Zappacosta and United, who have won one in their last five games in all competitions, looked lost in confidence.
🥅⚽️ Mario Pasalic opens the scoring for Atalanta, without a defense from United #European_League |
#Manchester_United_Atlanta #UCL #beINUCL pic.twitter.com/Tagwon0J0s
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) October 20, 2021
It was not surprising that the Italian team doubled their lead in the 29th minute after Merih Demiral rose at the near post to header into the net after a corner kick by Ton Copmaners.
Fred and Marcus Rashford missed good chances for United before the break, but the home team returned to the atmosphere of the match in the 53rd minute.
Bruno Fernandes passed a smart ball to Rashford, who ran into the center of the field from the left and fired into the far corner.
United equalized when Harry Maguire put the ball into the net at the far post after the Atalanta defense failed to clear a ball from Fernandes inside the penalty area.
The winning goal came when Luke Shaw sent a superb cross pass from the left and Ronaldo rose in an amazing way to head perfectly past goalkeeper Juan Musso.
Ronaldo snatches the winning goal in the Theater of Dreams 🦸 # Champions League # Ronaldo # Manchester United # beINUCL # UCL pic.twitter.com/1hgIyJVFVa
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) October 20, 2021
United leads the group after three matches with six points, while Atalanta and Villarreal are two points behind.
And the English team benefited its fans, after a series of negative results in the recent period, as the team had achieved only one victory in the last five matches it played in all competitions, and that victory came against Villarreal of Spain in the second round in the same group of the Champions League.
In another match in the same group, Villarreal of Spain swept away its Swiss host, Young Boys, 4-1.
Bayern continues to shine
Bayern Munich continued its impressive start, with a big 4-0 victory over its Portuguese host, Benfica, in Group E, which also witnessed a difficult victory for Barcelona, ​​Spain, 1-0, against its Ukrainian guest, Dynamo Kiev.
Bayern tightened its grip on the lead, after raising its score to 9 points, achieving the full mark so far, after winning all three matches it played in the group, while Benfica remained in second place with 4 points, and Barcelona ranked third with three points, two points ahead. On Dynamo Kiev (ranking bottom).
In the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, Bayern’s goals came in the last third of the match, as Leroy Sane opened the scoring for the Bavarian team in the 70th minute, before Benfica’s Everton scored a reverse goal for the German team’s reformers in the 80th minute.
🎯 And finally.... an unmistakable goal from Sani 🥅⚽️# Champions League #UCL #beINUCL pic.twitter.com/pc2xAyQc5d
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) October 20, 2021
Robert Lewandowski added Bayern's third goal in the 82nd minute, while Sane concluded the goals festival by scoring the fourth goal in the 85th minute, so the Bavarian team continued its good results away from home, after maintaining its unbeaten record in its stronghold Allianz Arena for the 20th consecutive match.
Bayern scored 16 victories and 4 draws during that series.
Chelsea defeats Malmo and loses Lukaku
Chelsea also won 4-0 at home to Malmo in Group H in a one-sided match, thanks to goals by Andreas Christensen and Kai Haverts and two penalty kicks by Jorginho.
But the victory of the European champions, who was looking to recover from a 0-1 loss to Juventus in the last round of the group, saw strikers Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner injured and leave the field in the first half.
Christensen, who played his 137th game for Chelsea, scored his first goal with the team in the ninth minute when he hit the goal directly with a cross from Thiago Silva.
Nine minutes later, Lukaku fell into the penalty area after being fouled by Lacey Nielsen, causing the Belgian striker to be substituted, and Jorginho added the second goal from a penalty kick.
Callum Hudson-Odoi ran half of the field to pass to Haverts to score the third goal with a shot from a difficult angle that hit the post and netted in the 48th minute.
Eight minutes later, Chelsea got another penalty kick when Eric Larson obstructed Antonio Rudiger inside the area before he paid, Jorginho scored his second personal goal from a penalty kick as well.