Sparta Prague players react after Manchester City‘s Phil Foden scored the opening goal Source: TASR/AP/Dave Thompson
MANCHESTER – Sparta Prague suffered its first loss in the Champions League, losing 0:5 to Manchester City. Slovakian winger Lukáš Haraslín also started in the starting line-up of the “Reds”, but during the break he substituted due to a muscle injury.
Sparta did not catch the beginning of the meeting at Etihad Stadium and conceded after less than three minutes from the first shot on goal. After Manuel Akanji’s pass, Phil Foden broke through the middle of the field and headed from inside the penalty area to the left post – 1:0. In the 10th minute, Erling Haaland could have increased the lead, his header was miraculously caught by Peter Vindahl. The Czech representative had the first chance in the 26th minute, Haraslín kicked the ball to Veljko Birmančevič, who made his way from the right side to the penalty area, but Stefan Ortega pushed out his cross-court shot. After that, Vindahl had his hands full, thanks mainly to Sparta’s narrow deficit.
Haraslín did not start the second act, as he requested a substitution due to muscle problems. After the change of sides, the onrushing Nathan Ake made a breakthrough, but VAR revealed that the City defender had first touched the ball with his hand. Only Haaland added the second goal of the English champion, in the 57th minute he still headed Vindahl, but two minutes later he beat him with his left hand in a “Zlatan” manner from an acrobatic position. The “Reds” were no longer able to stop the home team’s offensive actions, John Stones made it 3-0 with a header and then added his second goal in the match after Haaland’s quick action.
Photo gallery (12) Source: SITA/AP/Dave Thompson
Nunes sealed the victory from the penalty kick. “Citizens” didn’t concede even in the third match in the main phase of the LM, they followed up on the previous sovereign victory 4:0 from the Slovan Bratislava stadium. In addition, they created a new record for the number of matches in the Champions League and the European Champions Cup without losing in regular time (26).
Hancko at a valuable triumph
Feyenoord won in Lisbon over Benfica 3:1, Antoni Milambo scored twice. Hancko played the entire match for the Dutch club. The Slovakian representative started as a stopper, performed several reliable defensive interventions and in the 57th minute finished after an excellent run after a set piece into the post. Gernot Trauner got the ball into the net from the goalpost, but VAR interfered and the goal was disallowed for offside.
Atlético Madrid suffered their second loss in a row, losing at home to Lille 1:3. Although “Los Colchoneros” led from the 8th minute thanks to Julian Alvarez, the guests turned the score around thanks to a goal by Edon Zhegrava and two accurate hits by Jonathan David.
Stade Brest and Bayer Leverkusen are still undefeated, in a match between two 100% teams until then they played a draw 1:1 and thus have seven points on their account. “Pharmacists” started more actively and took the lead in the 24th minute when, after a pass from Jonas Hofmann, Florian Wirtz made a low shot to the near post. Moments later, the German international could have added his second goal, but this time he did not beat Marc Bizot. Brest managed to equalize in the 39th minute, Pierre Lees-Melou flashed an elusive volley after Mahdi Camara’s cross.
In the second act, the reigning German champion was closer to the winning goal, but he did not use his other chances. The duel in Guingamp, France was led by Slovak referees led by the main Ivan Kružliak, he was assisted on the lines by Branislav Hancko and Ján Pozor, the fourth referee was Peter Kráľovič.
In the next meeting, Celtic Glasgow played a valuable draw 0:0 at the field of the reigning European League champion Atalanta Bergamo. The Scottish champion was held up by goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel several times, and Mario Pašalich’s header was saved by the crossbar. Celtic scored for the second time after defeating Slovan Bratislava 5:1 at home in the opening round.
Champions League – 3rd round of the league phase:
Atalanta Bergamo – Celtic Glasgow 0:0
Stade Brest – Bayer Leverkusen 1:1 (1:1)
Goals: 39. Lees-Melou – 24. Wirtz. Judges: KRUŽLIAK – HANCKO, ATTENTION (all SR)
Atlético Madrid – OSC Lille 1:3 (1:0)
Goals: 8. Alvarez – 74. and 89. David (from 11 m), 61. Zhegrova
FC Barcelona – Bayern Munich 4:1 (3:1)
Goals: 1st, 45th and 56th Raphinha, 36th Lewandowski – 18th Kane
Benfica Lisabon – Feyenoord Rotterdam 1:3 (0:2)
Goals: 66. Aktürkoglu – 33. and 90.+2 Milambo, 12. Ueda
/D. Hancko (Feyenoord) played the whole match/
Manchester City – Sparta Prague 5:0 (1:0)
Goals: 58. and 68. Haaland, 3. Foden, 64. Stones, 87. Nunes (from 11 m)
/L. Haraslín (Sparta) played until the 46th min/
Photo gallery for the article Number of photos: 12
- Author: © List/
- Source: TASR
