Vinicius Junior scored a second half hat-trick as Real Madrid came back from a 2-0 half time deficit to hammer Borussia Dortmund 5-2.
The 2024 Champions League final rematch between Los Blancos and BVB was a match between one of the tournament favourites and the club which sat top of the league after two games. The Champions League 2024 betting odds say Carlo Ancelotti’s reigning champions will be the one to push Manchester City the hardest, but it was Dortmund, with two wins already in their locker, who went ahead on the half hour. Serhou Guirassy shielded the ball well in the penalty area before sliding it through to Donyell Malen who took a touch and smashed it past Thibaut Courtois.
If that was bad enough for Los Blancos matters became quickly worse as English wonderkid Jamie Bynoe Gittens doubled the lead within five minutes. Malen raced down the wing and crossed for Gittens who couldn’t really miss from point blank range.
The Bundesliga side looked pretty comfortable with half an hour to go but two goals in two minutes turned the tie on its head and almost brought the roof off the stadium. First Anton Rudiger powered a header home from a Kylian Mbappe cross, and then Vinicius Junior levelled. The linesman had flagged the Brazilian offside but VAR took a long look and awarded the goal to set up a grandstand finish.
As the game reached the last ten minutes Courtois made a brilliant save to deny Maximilian Beier and then, cometh the hour cometh the man, and up popped Lucas Vazquez who played a one-two with Mbappe before firing the ball home from a tight angle. Dortmund were shattered and, as the Germans pushed in vain for a leveller, Los Blancos finished them off, Vinicius rounding off a fast break with a superb strike. And the Brazilian ace scored his hat-trick in emphatic style as he smashed the ball high into the net, deep into stoppage time.
Real Madrid move up to six points alongside BVB.
Villa on Cloud Nine
Champions League newcomers Aston Villa followed up their stunning 1-0 win over Bayern with a comfortable victory against Bologna, a result which takes the Villains up to nine points and top of the table, with a win over Young Boys also under their belts. After an entertaining first half, just lacking a goal, the Clarets bagged two early in the second half. First John McGinn fired a cross shot of a free-kick straight into the net and then, after good work from the lively Morgan Rogers, Jhon Duran flicked the ball home to make it 2-0.
The other English side on show tonight, Arsenal, also picked up a win, beating Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 thanks to an own goal from keeper Riznyk.
Reijnders double gives Milan lift-off
In the early kick-off, two second half goals from Tijjani Reijnders gave AC Milan a 3-1 win over Club Brugges. I Rossoneri came into the game with two defeats from their opening two games, against Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen, so they entered this match with plenty riding on it and they delivered, thanks to the Dutch midfielder, a spectacular opener from Christian Pulisic and a VAR red card which reduced the Belgians to ten men.
Pulisic can do no wrong at the moment, with ten goal contributions in his last ten games and his opener at the San Siro on Tuesday night came direct from a corner, swinging in and evading everyone before nestling in the net. When Brugge’s Raphael Onyedika left his studs on Reijnders the ref originally gave him a reprieve; but VAR didn’t and the Nigerian midfielder saw red.
The ten men of Brugge fought back and levelled when Kyriani Sabbe fired home early in the second half and that prompted Paulo Fonseca to ring the changes; and his substitutes delivered. Noah Okafor and then Samuel Chukwueze squared for Reijnders on 61 and 71 minutes to take the game away from the visitors. And there was still time for a piece of history when 16 year old substitute Francesco Camarda became the youngest Italian and the youngest Milan player to feature in the Champions League.
Camarda would have been the youngest player ever to score in the competition but the spoilsports at VAR chalked his clever flick off as he was inches offside.
In the other 5-45 kick off Monaco slapped Red Star Belgrade 5-1 as Takumi Minamino helped himself to a brace. And there were also wins on Tuesday for Girona, Stuttgart and Sporting Lisbon.
Here at SBOTOP we’ll be back with more Champions League 2024 updates on Wednesday night when Barcelona against FC Bayern is the eye-catching tie but, for now, the celebrations are in Madrid, Birmingham and Milan.
●●●
CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE FOOTBALL STORIES & ODDS
Stay updated with everything sports and betting.
Follow us on social Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
