Barcelona and Inter on Wednesday won again in the UEFA Champions League, although both former title holders are looking up in the standings toward upstart newcomer Stade Brestois 29.
Aston Villa started the week atop the 36-team table, but their winning run ended after a bizarre penalty was awarded when defender Tyrone Mings picked up the ball in the area during their game against Club Brugge, resulting in a 1-0 loss that sent the Premier League club plummeting to eighth place.
Barcelona’s blistering scoring form continued in a 5-2 win against Red Star Belgrade — a seventh straight win since the start of last month at a rate of four goals per game.
Photo: Reuters
Robert Lewandowski scored twice and has 21 this season.
Inter stifled Arsenal in a 1-0 win at San Siro sealed by Hakan Calhanoglu’s penalty in first-half stoppage-time.
Inter are unbeaten on 10 points and in fifth place, one below Brest, who won 2-1 against Sparta Prague.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The French debutants look sure to advance to the knockout phase starting in February next year.
Atalanta BC won 2-0 against VfB Stuttgart to stay unbeaten on eight points, while Salzburg got their first goals and points in a 3-1 win against Feyenoord.
Shakhtar Donetsk playmaker Heorhiy Sudakov had a fine assist and an even better goal in a 2-1 win for the Ukrainian champions against Young Boys.
Photo: AFP
Shakhtar’s No. 10 showed why he is expected to be the club’s next big-money sale.
Liverpool, who on Tuesday routed Bayer 04 Leverkusen 4-0, lead the standings at the midway point of the eight-round program.
Liverpool are the only team with four straight wins, while five teams have four losses. They are Leipzig, Sturm Graz, Young Boys, Red Star and Slovan Bratislava.
Two Italian teams — Inter and Atalanta — have yet to concede a goal in four games. Another Italian side, Bologna, are the only team with no goals scored.
Villa had led the standings in the new league-phase format after three straight wins without conceding a goal — and it took a bizarre incident before goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was eventually beaten.
Mings was punished for picking up the ball when Martinez seemed to restart play with a goal-kick passed forward to his teammate.
Mings walked a couple steps to gather the ball with his left hand and returned to place it in the box.
“It’s the biggest mistake I witnessed in my career,” Villa coach Unai Emery said. “It has only happened one time in all my life. Today.”
Brugge captain Hans Vanaken placed the 52nd-minute spot-kick to Martinez’s left as the FIFA World Cup-winning Argentina goalkeeper dived to his right.
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