While Liverpool dominated at home with a 4-0 victory over Xabi Alonso-coached Bayer Leverkusen, Tuesday will be remembered as a day of surprises in the UEFA Champions League.
Real Madrid lost 3-1 at home to AC Milan, Manchester City lost 4-1 to Sporting Lisbon (including future Manchester United manager Rúben Amorim), and Scottish club Celtic defeated German Bundesliga rep RB Leipzig 5-1 in Glasgow.
Here are three quick takeaways from Tuesday’s matches as Matchday 4 begins.
AC Milan stunned Real Madrid at the Bernabéu.
With 22 European championships between them, Tuesday’s match in the Spanish capital pitted the competition’s two most successful teams.
Despite their problems in La Liga, notably a 4-0 home loss to rival Barcelona last weekend, the hosts and current trophy holders remained clear favorites. Meanwhile, AC Milan has had an up-and-down season in both the Champions League and the Italian Serie A.
That is not how things turned out at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium. The Rossoneri were the livelier team from the outset, and the visitors seized the lead after only 12 minutes. Christin Pulisic, a member of the United States men’s national team, assisted in the opening goal with an inch-perfect corner kick that Malick Thiaw nodded home from close range.
Madrid quickly equalized with a penalty kick from Vini Jr. However, Milan took the lead again before halftime. Pulisic was significantly involved again. In the buildup, the American found Rafael Leão with a silky cutback pass. Former Real Madrid striker Álvaro Morata then cleared the rebound off Leão’s attempt.
Tijjani Reijnders scored an insurance goal for AC Milan in the second half. The defeat lowered Real Madrid to 2-2 on the season, placing the 15-time trophy champions 17th in the 36th-team league stage rankings.
In Lisbon, Manchester City suffers a rare defeat.
When Phil Foden put the English Premier League champions ahead 1-0 in Portugal little over three minutes into Tuesday’s game, it looked like the Sky Blues would cruise. Pep Guardiola’s squad often scores nine goals in three games. Instead, things quickly went wrong for the guests after Viktor Gyökeres leveled things with a stunning finish later in the second half.
Sporting’s Maximiliano Araújo scored after the break, but Gyökeres made it 3-1 with a penalty shortly after. City had plenty of time to answer, but they didn’t use it. Gyökeres scored his hat trick from the penalty spot to secure a memorable victory for his club with around 10 minutes of regular time remaining.
The defeat is Manchester City’s third in a row in all competitions, marking the club’s first three-game losing skid since 2018.
While the American midfielder has struggled to secure starts for the national team since his debut two years ago, Tillman’s career season with Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven continued on Tuesday with a Man of the Match performance in a 4-0 thrashing of Spain’s Girona.
The 22-year-old assisted in three of the hosts’ four goals. After assisting on the opener, Tillman scored an unbelievable solo goal off a 40-yard run out of midfield.
Tillman and Pulisic were two of nine Americans to compete in Tuesday’s game. Yunus Musah also started for Milan. Cameron Carter-Vickers and Auston Trusty played central defense for Celtic. PSV’s Ricardo Pepi came on as a late substitute, while Juventus’ Weston McKennie and Tim Weah came off the bench in a 1-1 draw with Weah’s former side, Lille.
Finally, 18-year-old Cole Campbell made his Champions League debut, playing the final 13 minutes of Borussia Dortmund’s 1-0 triumph over Austrian Strum Graz.
