Real Madrid fought back from two goals down as Vinicius jnr grabbed a hat-trick in a thrilling 5-2 win over visitors Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday.
In a rematch of last-season’s final, Dortmund lit up the game with a two-goal blitz around the half-hour mark from Donyell Malen and Jamie Gittens to silence the Bernabeu crowd.
However, the champions were livelier after the break and broke Dortmund’s resistance with Antonio Rudiger’s header on the hour before Vinicius equalised with a close-range strike.
Lucas Vazquez put Real ahead in the 83rd with an unstoppable strike after a counter-attack and Vinicius, with two magnificent pieces of individual brilliance, wrapped up the win to leave his side level with Dortmund on six points from three games.
Aston Villa beat Bologna 2-0 thanks to second-half goals from John McGinn and Jhon Duran as they extended their perfect start to their first Champions League campaign in 41 years to three victories.
Unai Emery’s side had a flurry of chances before McGinn got on the scoresheet in the 55th minute, sending a free kick sailing over a sea of heads into the far corner. After a VAR check for a possible handball, the goal stood.
Duran, whose late-game heroics lifted Villa past Bayern Munich three weeks ago, doubled the lead in the 64th when Morgan Rogers lifted a cross towards the box and a lunging Duran held off defender Jhon Lucumi to flick it into the bottom corner.
Villa’s win put them provisionally top of the table in Europe’s elite club competition with nine points.
Arsenal needed an own goal to seal a scrappy 1-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday to make it two wins out of three in the Champions League and soften the blow of their first domestic league defeat of season at the weekend.
The hosts missed a penalty in the second half and squandered a number of decent chances, but the reality was they never found top gear and had to withstand some late pressure from their Ukrainian opponents.
Arsenal made a fast start with Brazilians Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus both having good opportunities before a fortunate opener in the 29th minute. A low shot from Martinelli rebounded off the post and off the back of Shakhtar keeper Dmytro Riznyk for what turned out to be the only goal of the game.
Shakhtar, who are yet to win in the Champions League this season, put more pressure on Arsenal after the interval, forcing a number of errors and some desperate defending, but they could have few complaints about the outcome given the chances the hosts spurned.
VfB Stuttgart claimed an impressive 1-0 win at Juventus thanks to El Bilal Toure’s stoppage-time strike as the hosts suffered their first loss this season.
Paris St Germain’s weaknesses on the biggest stage were once again exposed when they were held 1-1 at home by PSV Eindhoven.
AC Milan secured their first points in the Champions League this season with a 3-1 home win over Belgian champions Club Brugge on Tuesday as Dutch midfielder Tijjani Reijnders scored twice in the second half.
Monaco forward Takumi Minamino netted a double as they overpowered visitors Red Star Belgrade 5-1to advance to seven points from their first three matches of this season’s competition.
Nuno Santos and Viktor Gyokeres scored goals in either half as a dominant Sporting Lisbon eased to a 2-0 away victory over Sturm Graz in their clash at the Woerthersee Stadium.
Girona fullback Miguel Gutierrez scored in the first half and defender Juanpe added a second from a free kick in the 73rd minute as they beat visitors Slovan Bratislava 2-0 on Tuesday to record their first victory in the Champions League.
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