The Champions League’s fourth matchday concluded on Wednesday with eight more matches and no shortage of goals. There were no goalless games and 29 total goals, while Manchester United fans were treated to a wild upset win at Juventus. Here are the scores and takeaways.
Scoreboard
Valencia 3, Young Boys 1
Roma 2, CSKA Moscow 1
Manchester City 6, Shakhtar Donetsk 0
Manchester United 2, Juventus 1
Real Madrid 5, Viktoria Plzen 0
Bayern Munich 2, AEK Athens 0
Benfica 1, Ajax 1
Lyon 2, Hoffenheim 2
Takeaways
A golden victory for Manchester United
Manchester United looked headed towards a defeat that would have seen the team finish the day in third place in the group behind Juventus and Valencia. But late magic helped this team overcome Cristiano Ronaldo’s absurd opener and earn a golden three points on the road with a 2-1 win at Juventus.
First there was Juan Mata’s free-kick goal in the 86th minute and then the fortunate own goal from Alex Sandro in the 89th. Not the prettiest way to win, but when has it been pretty for Jose Mourinho at United?
This victory is huge when it comes to their chances of moving on. These three points move United from the slight favorite to finish second to the heavy favorite.
If United beats Young Boys next time out and Juventus beats Valencia, the Red Devils will be into the knockout stage.
Your thoughts, Mourinho?
Don’t think Real Madrid is back just yet
Don’t look now, but Real Madrid is 3-0-0 under new manager Santiago Solari with 11 goals scored and none conceded. Back? Hardly.
United crushed Viktoria Plzen on Wednesday 5-0, but that’s a result this team should always get with the talent it has. While the results have been good, we have to remember they came against Melilla, Real Valladolid and Plzen.
It’s still way too early to think this team is back to being a contender in any competition. We’ll learn plenty with games against Celta Vigo, Roma and Valencia coming up. For now, Real Madrid fans can at least enjoy all the goals after that horrible goal drought last month, but it’s important to realize that this team won’t just return to the previous form instantly.
City unstoppable and looking like the most in-form team
Name a team in Europe playing better than Manchester City. Yeah, there isn’t one. City has scored six goals in back-to-back games and has 22 goals in their last five matches, cementing themselves as the favorite in every competition they are playing in at the moment. And while it hasn’t been done against the best talent, it’s still one-sided.
City has already defeated Tottenham, Arsenal and Chelsea this season though, and in the next month they’ll take on Manchester United (Sunday) and Lyon. We’ll know plenty about this team soon, but don’t be surprised if they continue to run through everybody, all the way until a huge game against Liverpool on Jan. 3.
Relive Wednesday’s Champions League action
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