Barcelona, Inter, and Brest Win in Champions League Showdowns; Aston Villa Falls Into Controversy

new UEFA Champions League model for 2024-25 season includes a surprise increase in number of teams and games, moving away from conventional group stage and towards a league phase with 36 clubs. Each team will play at least eight matches against different opponents, considerably increasing competitiveness and engagement among supporters. Early results show Liverpool dominating table with four victories, emphasising volatility of this format, while established clubs like as Bayern Munich and Real Mrid struggle in lower ranks, demonstrating a more competitive field than ever before.

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UEFA Champions League Wednesday Results: Barcelona, Atletico Mrid and Inter Beat ir rivals

Barcelona and Inter Milan won again in Champions League on Wednesday though both former title holders are looking up in standings toward upstart newcomer Brest.

Aston Villa started week atop 36-team table but its winning run ended after a bizarre penalty was awarded when defender Tyrone Mings picked up ball in area at Club Brugge, resulting in a 1-0 loss that sent English club plummeting to eighth place.

Paris Saint-Germain, in its first season without Kylian Mbappé, trails far behind in 25th after Atletico Mrid scored in stoppage time to seal a 2-1 win for Spanish team at Parc des Princes.

Barcelona’s blistering scoring form continued in a 5-2 win at Red Star Belgre — a seventh straight win since start of October at a rate of four goals per game. Robert Lewandowski scored twice and has 21 this season.

Inter Milan stifled Arsenal in a 1-0 win at San Siro sealed by Hakan Çalhanoğlu’s penalty in first-half stoppage time.

Inter is unbeaten on 10 points and in fifth place, one below Brest which won 2-1 at Sparta Prague. French debutant looks sure to vance to knockout phase starting in February.

Atalanta won 2-0 at Stuttgart to stay unbeaten on eight points and Salzburg got its first goals and points in a 3-1 win at Feyenoord.

Bayern Munich won 1-0 at home to Benfica in a game that was delayed 15 minutes by crowd congestion and n was played in a muted atmosphere because of a medical incident for a fan.

Shakhtar Donetsk playmaker Heorhiy Sudakov h a fine assist and an even better goal in a 2-1 win for Ukrainian champion against Young Boys. Shakhtar’s No. 10 showed why he is expected to be club’s next big-money sale.

Liverpool, which on Tuesday routed Bayer Leverkusen 4-0, les standings at midway point of eight-round program.

Liverpool is only team with four straight wins, while five teams have four losses. y are Leipzig, Sturm Graz, Young Boys, Red Star and Slovan Bratislava.

Two Italian teams – Inter Milan and Atalanta – have yet to concede a goal in four games. Anor Italian side, Bologna, is only team with no goals scored.

Villa slides

Villa h led standings in new league-phase format after three straight wins without conceding a goal — and it took a bizarre incident before goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez was eventually beaten.

Mings was punished for picking up ball when Martínez seemed to restart play with a goal kick passed forward to his teammate. Mings walked a couple steps to gar ball with his left hand and returned to place it in six-yard box.

“It’s 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 52nd-minute spot-kick to Martínez’s left as World Cup-winning Argentina goalkeeper dived to his right.

Bayern and Dinamo

It was standout result of inaugural week of new Champions League in September: Bayern Munich 9, Dinamo Zagreb 2.

It was first time a team h scored nine times in a game in 32-year Champions League era, and Dinamo fired its coach two days later.

Since n? Bayern lost twice, including a 4-1 rout at Barcelona, and Dinamo won twice. At end of play Wednesday, Bayern was 17th on six points, one place below Dinamo on seven. If those placings hold until January, y meet again twice more in knockout playoffs round.

Next up

fifth round in three weeks’ time has perhaps stellar attraction of 144 games in league phase: Liverpool vs. Real Mrid.

That game on Nov. 27 is a rematch of 2022 and 2018 finals, both won by Mrid, and 1981 European Cup title match that Liverpool won.

re is anor final rematch: Bayern Munich hosts PSG on Nov. 26 in a repeat of pandemic-season final played in August 2020 without fans in Lisbon. Also, sixth-place Barcelona hosts Brest, a fixture which might have been overlooked when draw was me in August yet French team is currently fourth.

Only top eight teams in January vance directly to round of 16 in March.

(AP)