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Righto, that’s it from me for tonight. But fear not, it’s not the end of the sport – there’s loads more of that, and it’s proper.
And of course we’ve more of both tomorrow, then again the day after. In the meantime, though, peace out.
“I have just seen Real Betis’ winner against Lille,” says Niall Mullen, “and may I say, c’est Troy bien.”
It is indeed. He worked the defender, setting up the finish he wanted to try and executing it to perfection. It’s lucky Spurs aren’t struggling for goals, or else they’d be regretting the decision to let him go.
I didn’t love Madrid’s performance tonight, nor the team that Mourinho picked, but I did enjoy the way they pressed and put it in. Perhaps they’ve finally accepted that you can’t win on talent alone.
I meant to say at the time, but Mbappe’s goal tonight was his 71st in the Champions League. That takes him level with Raúl; above him are Benzeam with 90, Lewandowski with 109, Messi with 129 and Ronaldo with 141.
It’s all going on…
Tonight’s results
FULL TIME: Porto 0-2 Manchester City
FULL TIME: Borussia Dortmund 3-2 Villarreal
A stupidly entertaining second half and three points for Dortmund – though the loss of Karetsas will sting.
FULL TIME: Lille 2-3 Real Betis
A really entertaining game – find the highlights online would be my advice.
The corner comes to nowt and that’ll be that, I think.
A ball into the box, a challenge, a touch from Anton and it drops to Veiga … but his shot is deflected behind. Corner!
FULL TIME: Real Madrid 2-1 Inter
That was a lot of fun. Madrid are a long way away from the side Mourinho will want them to be, but they put in a shift for him and took advantage of their opponents’ oversights.
GOAL! Borussia Dortmund 3-2 Villarreal (Guirassy own goal 90+3)
A free-kick down the right, just outside the box, is drilled at the keeper who parries the ball into Guirassy’s face .. and in, for a hat-trick of sorts. Villarreal have two minutes to find an equaliser.
GOAL! Porto 0-2 Manchester City (Haaland 90+1)
It’s 59 Champions League goals in 59 Champions League appearances, and City might just be settling under Maresca.
FULL TIME: Millwall 0-1 Newcastle
No penalties for us, then. Why do bad things happen to good people?
Mkhitaryan, on as sub for Unter, lashes a rising shot from outside the box, Courtois dives to parry, and the rebound won’t quite fall for Inter. They do win a corner, but it comes to nowt, and well have three additional minutes. Bring em on!
This has been a wild second half, so much so that I didn’t have time to note John Stones replacing Pavard at half-time. Madrid, meantime, brought on Diomande and Tchoumeni for Diaz and Alexander-Arnold then, just a minute or two ago, Carreras for Vini, who took too long to leave the pitch, so Madrid had to spend a minute down to 10 as punishment; great stuff.
GOAL! Borussia Dortmund 3-1 Villarreal (Guirassy pen 85)
Gulasci dives right and Guirassy hammers left. That should be it.
PENALTY TO DORTMUND
From the corner, Guirassy has hold of Mourino, who reciprocates, wrestles him to the ground, and I’m not sure I’d give that because the scuffle was initiated by the attacker. VAR, though, opts not to intervene, so Guirassy will try to finish it…
Kaua Prates wins the all high and it breaks to Fabio Silva, who’s made a difference since coming on. He looks for the far post, but Gulasci plunges left to make a fine save.
FULL-TIME SCORES
Sunderland 1-0 Hull
Bournemouth 4-0 Lincoln
GOAL! Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Villarreal (Guirassy 80)
A ball slipped in behind for Fabio Silva, who slides across the face, and Guirassy, who’s never stopped making runs and angles, slides in from five yards.
GOAL! Millwall 0-1 Newcastle (Willock 81)
They didn’t threaten much in the first half, but Newcastle, enjoying life under Matthias Jaissle, have scored what’s probably a winning goal.
FULL TIME: Leyton Orient 1-3 Bradford City
I missed the clinching goal, but it happened.
GOAL! Real Madrid 2-1 Inter (Carlos Augusto 77)
Now then! As I was saying, Inter were knocking at the door, and Bisseck slips a pass down the side for Martinez, who cuts back hard, and Augusto snaps home. Game on!
Inter have run out of puff and hope – they were the better side for long stretches of this match, but now are doing well to keep the score down to two.
FULL TIME: Crystal Palace 3-0 Middlesbrough
An important win for Pierre Sage’s men.
Lovely from Madrid, Mbappe sending Vini flying through the inside-left channel, but Bisseck times his tackle beautifully to avert what looked like a third goal. And soon after, he leaves the field dabbing at his face, after sitcking his head in the road of a shot that denotes off Valverde’s laces.
GOAL! Bournemouth 3-o Lincoln City (Christie 88)
I managed to miss this goal too, but Christie has a hat-trick.
Bellingham wins the ball with an excellent slide-tackle, sticking Vini away, and he’s one on one with Bastoni but opts to slide square for Mbappe, who moves it one more to Diaz when he might shoot. Diaz, thogh doesn’t quite have the lane for an effort and should probably play another pass, but instead dips inside to create one, before passing a shot just wide of the far post. That ought to have been 3-0, but they kept trying to work the perfect opportunity and made a mess of it.
GOAL! Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Vlillarreal (Mourino 66)
A near-post corner and a really good header inside it. Villarreal have responded really well to going behind.
“You looked at your phone!” begins John Parry. “I assumed all Guardian MBM journalists were surrounded by multiple screens while dressed in full body haptic suits, generally thinking their thoughts onto the screen. Disappointed.”
I’ve got two screens and a phone, but I’m working on getting more.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 3-0 Middlesbrough (Kamada 72)
I’ve not seen this one, but we can safely say Palace are going into the next round.
Beautiful from Diaz, tricking his way past Bastoni down the side of the box, then putting the ball by Jones and racing around the other side before standing up a cross to the far post. Bellingham should nod in to the unguarded net, but instead opts to take it down, allowing Martinez to kick away. He’s had a really good game, save the crucial second goal he donated to Madrid.
Back in Madrid, just a few minutes ago, Courtois made a ridiculous double save, blocking from Lautaro then from jJnes – though the flag was up, he wasn’t to know.
GOAL! Sunderland 1-0 Hull (Talbi 71)
A composed finish, sitting the keeper down and sliding by him into the far corner.
RED CARD! Ethan Mbappe of Lille is sent off for an elbow!
He can have no complaints about that. Not so long ago, he provided a gorgeous assist for the opening goal, but now his team are losing and he’s let them down.
GOAL! Bournemouth 2-0 Lincoln City (Christie 69)
A corner to the far post and a header home.
Phew. Just before that, Nwaneri’s shot clipped Guirassy’s heels and hit the post, while in Madrid, Jones had a shot saved by Courtois.
GOAL! Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Villarreal (Renato Veiga own goal 53)
Ryerson dashes down the left, beating his man on the outside, and his cross clips the keeper, then hits Veiga first on the chest and arm, then on the foot, no striker anywhere near him. Whoops.
#Real #Madrid #Inter #Millwall #Newcastle #Champions #League #Carabao #Cup #happened #Football
