Lewandowski shines for Barcelona; Napoli stun Liverpool; Atleti win thriller
Sports Desk, Sep 7 (EFE).- Robert Lewandowski had a triple Wednesday in his first Champions League match for Barcelona to lead the Blaugrana 5-1 over Viktoria Plzen, while his erstwhile Bayern Munich teammates cruised 2-0 against Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid scored twice in stoppage time to beat Porto.
The day’s shocker unfolded at Diego Maradona Stadium in Naples, where Napoli thrashed Liverpool 4-1.
Tottenham Hotspur beat Marseille 2-0, Club Brugge nipped Bayer Leverkusen 1-0, Ajax pounded Rangers 4-0 and Sporting Lisbon dominated Europa League champions Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0.
Franck Kessie and Ferran Torres scored the other goals for Barcelona against overmatched Plzen and both Pedri and Ousmane Dembele had their moments, but Lewandowski’s sixth Champions League hat trick was the headline.
The Pole trails only Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, with eight apiece.
Atleti and Porto completed 90 minutes deadlocked 0-0, but the contest came to life in what would end up being more than 11 minutes of stoppage time.
The crowd at Madrid’s Wanda Metropolitano erupted when Mario Hermoso put the hosts ahead in the 91st minute, three minutes before he got caught handling the ball, setting up a penalty for Porto.
Matheus Uribe converted to make it 1-1, only to see Antoine Griezmann head-in the winner for Atleti in the 101st minute.
Leroy Sane was the spark for Bayern at the San Siro. He scored in the 25th minute and it was while attempting to clear a ball from the German international that Inter’s Danilo D’Ambrosio made the deficit 2-0 with an own goal in the 66th minute.
Napoli were better from the start against Liverpool and grabbed the lead in the 5th minute with Piotr Zielinski’s penalty after a James Milner hand ball.
It would have been 2-0 in the 18th if Alisson hadn’t saved Victor Osimhen’s effort from the spot after a second penalty.
The reprieve lasted only until the 31st minute, when Zambo Anguissa scored, and Napoli led 3-0 at the break after a goal by Giovanni Simeone, son of Atletico coach Diego Simeone, who came in for the injured Osimhen.
Zielinski got his second goal of the night two minutes into the second half before Luis Diaz finally put the visitors on the board in the 49th minute.
A flat first half between Spurs and Marseille in London gave way to a livelier second period after the visitors went down to 10 men in the 47th minute with the expulsion of defender Chancel Mbebmba, who drew a straight red card for bringing down Son Heung-min at the edge of the box.
Spurs went ahead in the 76th minute with a goal by Richarlison and the former Everton man went on to make it 2-0 five minutes later.
Abakar Sylla’s goal in the 42nd minute was enough for Brugge to win for only the fifth time in their last 33 Champions League games.
Ajax crushed Rangers with goals from Edson Alvarez, Steven Berghuis, Mohammed Kudus and Steven Bergwijn. In Frankfurt, Sporting got goals from Marcus Edwards, Francisco Trincao and Nuno Santos. EFE
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