By Razeen Gutta
Aston Villa made a statement with a 1-0 win over Bayern Munich as Real and Atletico Madrid both succumbed to defeats on a crazy Uefa Champions League night.
Unai Emery’s side showed the spirit of 1982 all over again at Villa Park as super sub Jhon Duran grabbed the winner off the bench to end Bayern’s seven year league phase streak in the competition.
After going unbeaten for 41 group stage games, Harry Kane and company arrived at Villa looking in total control with 70 percent of the ball and 17 shots to the hosts’ five.
But it was not to be for the Bundesliga leaders, who were outdone by an Emery masterclass as Emi Martinez stopped everything in his eye-line to complete a sensational victory.
At the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Kylian Mbappe and Real Madrid were left just as shook as Jonathan David got the only goal of the game for Lille.
It was Los Blancos’ first defeat in the Champions League since May 2023 and their first in the group stages since October 2022.
Their city rivals Atletico were even more stunned as they suffered their heaviest ever defeat to Portuguese opposition in the competition.
Benfica thumped the La Liga giants 4-0 in Lisbon, with Angel Di Maria among the goal scorers on a famous night for them.
Anfield’s return to the Champions League was marked with a 2-0 win for Liverpool over Bologna, as Mohamed Salah overtook Didier Drogba to become the highest scoring African in the tournament’s history.
In other results, ten men Juventus picked up a 3-2 win over Leipzig while Dinamo Zagreb and Monaco finished 2-2.
The earlier games saw Feyenoord beat Girona 3-2 and Atalanta defeating Shakhtar 3-0 away from home.
Pictured above: Aston Villa
Source: @avofficial
