FOOTBALL – LIVERPOOL’S Alexis Mac Allister headed home a second-half winner as they earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Real Madrid in a battle between European giants last night, handing the LaLiga leaders their first defeat in the Champions League this season.
Arne Slot’s men climbed to sixth in the table with nine points after four games of the league stage, one place below Real who are level on points but lead on goal difference.
Liverpool, who three days earlier had halted a dreadful Premier League losing streak, were ferocious from the opening whistle and kept Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois on his toes before Mac Allister finally broke the deadlock in the 61st minute.
Dominik Szoboszlai, who was outstanding all night, sent in a beautiful free kick and the Argentinian rose the highest to head home and send Anfield into raptures.
Earlier, Arsenal equalled a 122-year-old club record of eight successive games in all competitions without conceding a goal as they swept past Slavia Prague 3-0 to go top with four wins out of four.
Mikel Merino, replacing injured striker Viktor Gyokeres as a makeshift forward, scored twice in the second half after England winger Saka had put the Premier League leaders ahead in the 32nd minute.
Bayern Munich made it 16 wins from 16 games this season to underline their credentials as early favourites, beating holders Paris St Germain 2-1 away as Luis Diaz scored two goals and was shown a red card.
The Colombian winger struck twice before being sent off for a violent tackle on Achraf Hakimi on the stroke of halftime.
Tottenham Hotspur central defender Micky van de Ven scored a sensational solo goal in his side’s 4-0 rout of FC Copenhagen.
The flying Dutchman won the ball in his own penalty area in the 64th minute and sped the length of the pitch through a flimsy defence to smash home a shot and make it 3-0.
Brennan Johnson had put a dominant Spurs side ahead in the 19th minute and Wilson Odobert doubled the advantage in the 51st after good work by Randal Kolo Muani.
After Van de Ven’s magic moment, substitute Joao Palhinha was played in by Cristian Romero following another sweeping forward move to make it 4-0.
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