Thriller in Istanbul, defeat in London and rescues in Lisbon and Seville: the 5th round of the Champions League closed with a hail of goals

Onana's Mistakes

In the brightest match of the day, Manchester United again lost points in the confrontation with Galatasaray and missed the opportunity to get ahead of the opponent in the Group A table and climb to second position. But if the Mancunians lost at home, then they unbelievably missed the victory away - 3:3.

After the first half, nothing foreshadowed trouble for the favorite. Despite the fact that the hosts got off to an active start and regularly created chances near Andre Onana's goal, the English team managed to take advantage of all the available chances and led 19-2 by the 0th minute. First, Alejandro Garnacho, having received a pass from Bruno Fernandes, did not give up hope of Fernando Muslere, and then a stunning shot from distance was made by the Portuguese himself. The experienced Uruguayan in this episode, with all his desire, could not help out his partners.

To the credit of the Istanbulites, they did not give up, but only increased the pressure. And they managed to revive the intrigue thanks to the set piece and not the most confident play of Onana. At the end of half an hour, he actually hid behind the wall and allowed Hakiem Ziyech to shoot from a free kick into the near corner.

However, when Scott McTominay closed Aaron Wan-Bissaka's cross immediately after the break, it seemed that the intrigue was completely dead. But once again, Okan Buruk's team showed an unbending character. And again he let his teammates down. This time, he failed to cope with the banal delivery of the same Ziyech from a set piece, dropping the ball over the line. And the Moroccan became only the third player in the history of the Champions League after Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar to score two goals from free kicks in one match.

Having got a chance to escape, the hosts clung to him. In a couple of moments, Onana managed to make a save, but he was powerless when substitute Kerem Aktürkoğlu shot into the near corner from under the defender. However, the Mancunians had the opportunity to tip the scales in their favor in the end, but Fernandes' shot was taken by the post.

Goal extravaganza at the Santiago Bernabeu

Real Madrid approached the confrontation with Napoli without much tournament motivation. Madrid, having won four victories in a row in the group stage, guaranteed themselves a ticket to the playoffs after the fourth round. The Neapolitans were also close to solving the problem. If Braga had not beaten Union in the parallel meeting, they would have left the quartet even if they had drawn.

Despite the fact that the Spanish team did not need to kill themselves on the field, they were not going to give points at all. However, already in the ninth minute, the visitors unexpectedly took the lead. He started an effective attack with a wonderful cross to the far post by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. Giovanni Di Lorenzo then made a brilliant save and Giovanni Simeone shot from close range. Andriy Lunin managed to parry the shot, but got the ball from behind the line, which did not escape the goal fixation system.

The hosts' response was swift. No sooner had Walter Mazzari's men celebrated the goal than Rodrygo beautifully sent a ball into the far top corner from outside the penalty area. And in the middle of the first half, the creamy ones took the lead. After a great cross from deep by David Alaba, Jude Bellingham made a precise header. Now the Briton has four goals in the current Champions League draw and 15 for Real Madrid in total. Along the way, he became the first Madrid player to score in each of his first four matches in the Champions League.

The second half also began with a quick ball from the visitors. This time, André Zambo Anguissa, taking advantage of a successful rebound from a defender, unexpectedly shot from a rather tight angle. Lunin was clearly not ready for this. But Napoli failed to build on their success. The appearance of the recovered Victor Osimhen did not help either. The Nigerian even managed to distinguish himself, but from a clear offside position.

But the advantage of the hosts became more and more serious. For the time being, they were frankly unlucky. First of all, this applies to the reserve Joselu, who could well score a hat-trick. At first, he miraculously missed his partner's cross from a meter. Then, in an attempt to shoot with scissors, he missed the target. Finally, the striker failed to send the ball into the net on the rebound. Alex Meret also helped out his teammates. However, in the 84th minute, he failed to cope with a long-range shot by Niko Paz into the near post. For the 19-year-old, this goal was his debut for the cream. And in injury time, the hapless Joselu put an end to it. This is how Real Madrid guaranteed themselves the first place in the group. And Napoli is waiting for a head-to-head meeting with Braga for the second ticket to the playoffs, in which they will be satisfied with a draw.

PSV Eindhoven comeback

Sevilla, like Napoli, was in the lead, but lost to PSV. Although for the current Europa League holder, everything started amazingly. In the 24th minute, Sergio Ramos opened the scoring. Along the way, the Spaniard became the author of several statistical achievements at once. Firstly, he scored the 10,16th goal in the history of the Champions League, secondly, he scored his debut goal after returning to the team, and thirdly, with <> effective shots, he rose to the top of the list of the top scorers of the main European competition among defenders.

And when Youssef En-Nesyri converted a one-on-one situation immediately after the break, the local fans breathed a sigh of relief. Moreover, the opponents did not succeed much, and Marko Dmitrovich remained practically unemployed.

All the more unexpected was the return of the Eindhovens. In fact, the game was divided into before and after by the ridiculous sending off of Lucas Ocampos. At the end of an hour, he made a dangerous tackle against his counterpart on the flank, but at the last moment he tightened his legs. However, referee Davide Massa still got the second yellow card. All the substitutions of Peter Bosch were also extremely useful.

Remaining on the power play, the visitors immediately reduced the gap through the efforts of Ismael Saibari. In the 81st minute, another reserve, Jørbe Vertessen, pushed the ball into the net along with Nemanja Gudel, receiving a backheel pass from Luuk de Jong in the penalty area. Finally, in the 92nd minute, the fresh Riccardo Pepi closed the cross of the same Vertessen.

Beating "Lens"

The other match of Quartet B ended in a formal defeat. Arsenal left no chance for Lens at home and at the same time took revenge for the away defeat in the first round. It took some time for the Londoners to warm up, but soon Kai Havertz opened the scoring, closing in a cross from Gabriel Jesus.

Then the balls literally fell into the goal of Brice Samba. The Gunners carried out one attack after another and converted almost all the chances they had. The already mentioned Jesus added an accurate low shot from 15 meters to the assist. Just a minute later, Bukayo Saka finished off the ball into the net with his belly after the goalkeeper's save, and then Gabriel Martinelli beautifully curled the ball into the far corner, shifting from the left flank to the center.

Having completely demoralized the French squad, Mikel Arteta's wards took a break and even allowed the opponents to seize the initiative. In one of the episodes, Facundo Medina almost reduced the gap, but hit the post. And in injury time, Martin Odegaard made a beautiful shot in the fall and completed the beating of the visitors. Before Arsenal, no English club had finished the first half in the Champions League with a five-goal lead. Also, for the first time in the history of the tournament, five different performers scored as part of the same team before the break.

In the second half, Arteta removed some of the leaders from the field, giving them a rest, and the pace naturally dropped. The players calmly finished the match. However, the British team still had the last word. Lens Uzbek defender Abdukodir Khusanov touched the ball with his hand in his own penalty area, and Jorginho converted the penalty.

This result turned out to be a great gift for PSV, who guaranteed themselves a place in the last 1 together with the Gunners. Lens, on the other hand, only needs to draw with Sevilla in the final match to continue the fight in the Europa League.

João Mário's hat-trick

Another incredible comeback was made by Inter, who secured a ticket to the playoffs after the fourth round. Moreover, the Nerazzurri in the confrontation with Benfica found themselves in an almost hopeless situation. They went into the break trailing 0-3.

And the evil genius of the team was its former midfielder João Mário. The Portuguese moved to the Italian team after Euro 2016, but failed to become its leader and went on his first loan a year and a half later. In particular, he managed to shine in Lokomotiv. In 2021, the athlete's long-term contract came to an end and he moved to the camp of the Lisbon team as a free agent, without bringing the blue-blacks a single euro.

Now he punished them in a head-to-head meeting, scoring the debut hat-trick of his career in just half an hour. Already in the fifth minute, he opened the scoring with a strong shot that bounced off the turf. In the next two episodes, the midfielder had not to miss from close range. It is noteworthy that he scored only four goals for Inter.

But the visitors equalized just as easily after the break. The rescue was initiated by veteran Marko Arnautovic. Then Davide Frattesi left no chance for Ukrainian goalkeeper Anatoly Trubin with a beautiful shot in the fall. Finally, Alexis Sanchez confidently converted a penalty kick.