Champions League evening

Conference with BVB and Liverpool, LIVE from 9pm

Benfica Lisbon and FC Barcelona played out an exciting duel.

(Bild: APA/AFP/FILIPE AMORIM)

Benfica Lisbon and FC Barcelona delivered a real thriller on the seventh matchday of the Champions League. After it had long looked like a sensation for the Portuguese side, Barcelona showed fighting spirit and managed a 5:4 victory in the last second. League leaders Liverpool won 2:1 against Lille, while Juventus Turin only managed a 0:0 draw against Club Brugge. 

Liverpool also won their seventh game in the league phase of the Champions League. The "Reds" beat Lille 2:1 on Tuesday and are through to the round of 16, as are second-placed FC Barcelona, who won a thrilling match at Benfica Lisbon 5:4 thanks to a goal in the 96th minute. Borussia Dortmund slipped even deeper into crisis, and the 2:1 defeat at Bologna could have been their last appearance under coach Nuri Sahin.

Another German Bundesliga club, Bayer Leverkusen, also suffered a defeat, losing 2-1 at Atletico Madrid despite taking the lead. The Spaniards worked their way up to third place thanks to their fifth win. Bayer are sixth. Of the teams in action on Tuesday, Atalanta Bergamo (4th / 5-0 against Sturm Graz) and Aston Villa (8th / 0-1 at Monaco) are also in the top eight for the time being. There were also wins for PSV Eindhoven (3-2 at Red Star Belgrade) and VfB Stuttgart (3-1 at penultimate-placed Slovan Bratislava/with Kevin Wimmer). No goals were scored in Club Brugge's duel with Juventus Turin, which featured few chances.

Liverpool dictated proceedings
Liverpool dictated proceedings at Anfield Road and took the lead through a counter-attack finished off by Mohamed Salah (34). The 32-year-old striker underlined his top form with his 22nd goal in his 31st competitive game of the season. Despite a yellow card for Aissa Mandi (59), Lille equalized out of nowhere through Jonathan David (61). However, the hosts, coached by Arne Slot, hit back immediately and deservedly secured the next three points thanks to "joker" Harvey Elliott (67').

Liverpool had the game largely under control

(Bild: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

At the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon, Vangelis Pavlidis was the man of the match in the first half with a treble (2nd, 22nd, 30th/penalty). For the second goal, he benefited from a collision between Barca goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and Alejandro Balde. Szczesny also scored the penalty afterwards. A mishap by Benfica goalkeeper Anatolij Trubin, who shot Raphinha on the head and the ball landed in the goal, brought the Catalans back into the game (64').

Even an own goal from Ronald Araujo (68') did not prevent a turnaround. Robert Lewandowski first completed his penalty brace (74'), then Erik Garcia (87') and Raphinha scored for the second time after a counter-attack in the rain. Their sixth successive win in the top flight was therefore a very fortunate result.

Bologna with double strike
Dortmund got off to a positive start thanks to a penalty foul by Emil Holm. However, Serhou Guirassy was also lucky that his casually pushed penalty could only be deflected into his own goal by goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski (15'). Otherwise, the visitors did not put in a convincing performance, the Italians pressed for an equalizer and were rewarded thanks to a double strike in the second half. Thijs Dallinga (71) and Samuel Iling-Junior (72) turned the game around in less than two minutes. Sahin's days as BVB coach could be numbered after the fourth consecutive defeat in a competitive match. Marcel Sabitzer was not substituted by the Dortmund coach. At the other end, Stefan Posch did not get any minutes either.

Dortmund were still able to celebrate at first

(Bild: APA/AFP/Alberto PIZZOLI)

Atletico weakened themselves early on with a red card for Pablo Barrios (23) after a rude tackle on Nordi Mukiele. Leverkusen went ahead through Piero Hincapie (45.+1). After the break, however, Julian Alvarez's moment came. The ex-Manchester City striker was the match-winner with a brace (52nd, 90th). Hincapie was no longer on the pitch for the attacker's sixth CL goal of the season after being shown a yellow card in the 77th minute. Bayer's run of eleven consecutive wins in competitive matches came to an end. Atletico have won 15 of their last 16 competitive matches.

Monaco kept their chance of a direct ticket to the round of 16 alive with a narrow 1-0 win over Aston Villa. The Monegasques, coached by Adi Hütter from Vorarlberg, scored an early goal even without their new striker Mika Biereth, who is not yet eligible to play internationally. After a corner from Lamine Camara, Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was able to keep out a header from Thilo Kehrer, but was powerless to stop Wilfried Singo's close-range header (8'). The English side then tried everything, but it remained the only goal. It was Monaco's fourth win in their seventh game and an important victory as they ended a run of four games without a win and two defeats.