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Rediff.com  » Sports » Of highs, lows and upsets at the UEFA Champions League

Of highs, lows and upsets at the UEFA Champions League

By Rediff Sports Desk
Last updated on: September 14, 2017 16:30 IST
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Wednesday night saw a few surprise results while a debutant club makes a mark

Defensive lapses cost Liverpool again

Liverpool's Roberto Firmino and Sevilla’s Simon Kjaer vie for possession

IMAGE: Liverpool's Roberto Firmino and Sevilla’s Simon Kjaer vie for possession. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

Juergen Klopp’s men did just enough to save themselves of an embarrassing defeat at home against Sevilla in their Champions League match on Wednesday.

Sevilla ended Liverpool's six-game European winning streak at Anfield, holding them to 2-2 draw.

 

And once again the snoozing defence is what did them in.

The Premier League club had 24 shots on goal while their opponents had just seven -- and scored from the two that were on target.

Of course, Roberto Firmino’s missed penalty -- striking a post just before halftime – could be considered a big factor in costing them the match but the club’s defensive errors are hard to miss.

Sevilla scored from their first effort on goal when Dejan Lovren failed to deal with Sergio Escudero's cross from the left and Ben Yedder tapped home from close range.

Despite Liverpool dominating much of the second period, their defending again let them down and it was Sevilla who scored through Joaquin Correa.

Correa was given plenty of time to recover after miscontrolling the ball and shot beyond Loris Karius for the equaliser.

"It was pretty much a winning performance for 85, 86 minutes, and the team played well against a side who play well," Klopp told BT Sport. "We had answers for everything apart from the goals.

"It is a draw, it does not feel too good but I am fine with big parts of the performance."

Dream start for Shakhtar vs Napoli

Shakhtar's Taison got the opening goal for the Turkish club against Napoli

IMAGE: Shakhtar's Taison got the opening goal for the Turkish club against Napoli. Photograph: UCL/Twitter

Upsets happen in the Champions Legue but one would not expect them to happen early this early in the competition.

Shakhtar Donetsk's manager Paulo Fonseca had said on Tuesday that his side needed to be "practically perfect" if they were to beat Serie A's Napoli in their opening Champions League group stage match.

And that is exactly how they played to produce of the earliest shocks in the competition.

Starting their fourth consecutive European campaign away from home city due to the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Shakhtar got off the mark with as forward Ferreyra flicked the ball to Taison with a neat back-heel for the Brazilian to score from the edge of the box in the 15th minute.

Argentine Ferreyra, made a stronger presence in the game when he doubled the lead when he met Taras Stepanenko's cross to head in the ball past keeper Pepe Reina.

Napoli pulled one back in the 70th minute when Arkadiusz Milik converted a penalty but that was all the Italian club could muster as the Ukanians got off to a dream start.

Napoli finished third in Serie A last season and reached the last 16 in the Champions League.

Porto stunned by Turkish Besiktas 

It wasn’t the best of nights for Porto as they faced their first defeat this season after Talisca, Cenk Tosun, and Ryan Babel scored for Besiktas at Estadio do Dragao.

According to Sports24.com, Porto has won only two of its last eight home matches in European competitions.

Besiktas opened the scoring in the 13th minute when Anderson Talisca headed home from close range from a Ricardo Quaresma cross.

But Porto equalised via an own goal by Besiktas defender Dusko Tosic.

Tosun then put the Turkish side back in the lead in the 28th minute

Ryan Babel then closed the deal for Besiktas, shooting from the centre of the penalty area in the 2nd half.

Another fine result was logged by debutants Leipzig who managed a 1-1 draw against Monaco at home.

50 golden goals in Europe for Kun Aguero

Sergio Aguero celebrates on scoring goal number 50 for Manchester City in the Champions League

IMAGE: Sergio Aguero celebrates on scoring goal number 50 for Manchester City in the Champions League. Photograph: UCL/Twitter

Striker Sergio Aguero scored his 50th goal in European club competitions as ManchesterCity romped to a record 4-0 victory over Feyenoord in their Champions League Group F clash at De Kuip on Wednesday.

Aguero reached his milestone with a typically clinical finish from Kyle Walker’s cross as City made a fast start to the game, scoring three times in the opening 25 minutes to stun their hosts and kill off the contest.

Aguero has been a phenomenon for City since he came to the Etihad in 2011 and the numbers prove that.

The Argentinian striker has now scored 172 goals for the Manchester Club and is only five goals short of former England international Eric Brook's all-time record of 177.

With inputs from Reuters

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