Liverpool vs. Ajax was a really intense game. After being crushed 4-1 by Napoli on the opening day of the Champions League and starting off shaky in 7th place in the Premier League, Liverpool were desperate for a win. It started off well for Liverpool with this goal by Salah in the 17th minute:
https://youtu.be/s_qfbgMYCFg?t=41
But ten minutes later Ajax equalized, once again having one of the best goals of the week, with this absolutely smashed finish:
https://youtu.be/s_qfbgMYCFg?t=155
The rest of the way Liverpool had chance after chance but could not get the ball in the back of the net. This included a looping effort by Salah in the 88th minute that hit the very top corner of the bar and somehow stayed out:
https://youtu.be/s_qfbgMYCFg?t=523
Finally, unfortunately, on the resulting corner kick Liverpool broke through. They got a header that yet yet again looked like it had been miraculously cleared off the line, but it crossed the line before the defender blocked it out:
https://youtu.be/s_qfbgMYCFg?t=545
A huge roar went up and the Liverpool fans went wild, with the players running over and celebrating with the crowd.
But probably the best highlight of the whole week in the Champions League came in the Sporting Lisbon vs. Tottenham game. After a really nice early passing move counterattack for Sporting Lisbon that resulted in a chance at goal (the video doesn't show the whole counter):
https://youtu.be/iVGCbK7TvRA?t=42
This happened:
https://youtu.be/iVGCbK7TvRA?t=130
That is one of the nicest individual runs I've ever seen on a soccer pitch. It's such a shame that it didn't finish in a goal, but it shows how nice it was that I think it was the highlight of the week and it wasn't even a goal. That is Marcus Edwards, who I did not know at all until I saw that highlight. He's a 5'6" 23 year old English midfielder who plays for Sporting Lisbon, one of the few Englishmen who play abroad, he's been playing in Portugal since 2019 after coming up through the Tottenham Hotspur system. He's also of Greek Cypriot descent through his mother. It says Mauricio Pochettino compared him early on to a young Messi, and it's easy to see why, he has the ball on a string there so Messi-like.
Tottenham repelled waves of Sporting attack all game, including this really nice Hugo Lloris save in the 90th minute:
https://youtu.be/iVGCbK7TvRA?t=417
But Sporting finally broke through with a header goal on the resulting corner. And then they put it away with this really nice goal in stoppage time to win 2-0:
https://youtu.be/iVGCbK7TvRA?t=546
In their clash of the titans, Barcelona had tons of chances against Bayern Munich, but couldn't put any of them away, and they ended up losing 2-0. Stupid Bayern's second goal was really nice, another sudden burst from Sane:
https://youtu.be/WuJhr9QRoMk?t=425
In a David vs. Goliath matchup, Maccabi Haifa struck first against PSG with this wonderful goal:
https://youtu.be/TM2CXoCuCu4?t=88
And a few minutes later, it looked like they made it 2!! However, the goal was called off for offsides, and the game stayed at 1-0.
But unfortunately, PSG ended up eventually rolling over Maccabi Haifa with a goal each from the trio of Messi, Mbappe, and Neymar. Messi's goal came after really nice work by Mbappe on the wing:
https://youtu.be/TM2CXoCuCu4?t=177
In the second half, Messi returned the favor:
https://youtu.be/TM2CXoCuCu4?t=443
And late on, Neymar put the game away:
https://youtu.be/TM2CXoCuCu4?t=571
Messi looks like he was back at essentially his top level all game. He was all over the highlights with Messi stuff, like this run:
https://youtu.be/TM2CXoCuCu4?t=76
And this chance:
https://youtu.be/TM2CXoCuCu4?t=409
And his nice goal and assist.
After losing in a shock defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in the opening game, Chelsea still do not have a win after they drew 1-1 with Salzburg. Raheem Sterling opened up the scoring with this goal after the ball trickled all the way through to him:
https://youtu.be/xTXXI6lPEhQ?t=177
But the Chelsea defense was sloppy here and Salzburg got the draw by putting away this nice goal:
https://youtu.be/xTXXI6lPEhQ?t=273
AC Milan beat Zagreb 3-1, and their 2nd goal was really really nice:
https://youtu.be/DlukpLPqbdw?t=332
Orsic scored again for Zagreb off this really nice passing move and gave them hope:
https://youtu.be/DlukpLPqbdw?t=415
But Milan put the game away off a really good give-and-go with an absolutely smashed finish:
https://youtu.be/DlukpLPqbdw?t=521
Things looked great for a long while in the Dortmund vs. City game after the 19 year old Englishman Jude Bellingham scored this wonderful little flick on header goal for Dortmund:
https://youtu.be/dfVSbOtsMOs?t=151
But stupid City came back to win it with two ridiculous goals after the 80th minute. First, the center back John Stones launched this rocket:
https://youtu.be/dfVSbOtsMOs?t=351
And then it was Haaland yet again, for already absurdly his 13th goal of the season, with this ridiculous goal:
https://youtu.be/dfVSbOtsMOs?t=419
In the Copenhagen vs. Sevilla game, this guy for Copenhagen had a sparkling run:
https://youtu.be/dkjAa23Pk20?t=259
But he didn't score and the game ended 0-0.
The young 21 year old Ukranian left winger Mudryk was a star again for Shakhtar Donetsk in their game against Celtic, he looks really good. He got the equalizing goal on this sweeping counterattack:
https://youtu.be/0Wi5hQZf3nQ?t=163
And then soon after he got to the ball on the line and put in a perfect sliding cross for what would have been the go-ahead goal:
https://youtu.be/0Wi5hQZf3nQ?t=225
But it was called off because it went out right before he could get the cross in.
Leverkusen opened the second half against Atletico Madrid by hitting the crossbar and then the post on the same play:
https://youtu.be/o3I2a5Ht-sY?t=186
Later in the second half, Atletico had this really nice passing move:
https://youtu.be/o3I2a5Ht-sY?t=265
In Atletico Madrid's first Champions League game of the season against Porto, it was 0-0 until stoppage time, when all of a sudden the game went insane. Atletico scored in the first minute of stoppage time, Porto unbelievably equalized in the 6th minute of stoppage time, and then Atletico somehow ridiculously scored the winner 11 minutes deep into stoppage time.
In this Atletico game, it was again scoreless until the 84th minute, until Leverkusen took the lead with this goal:
https://youtu.be/o3I2a5Ht-sY?t=427
And then they put the game away 3 minutes later with this wonderful goal:
https://youtu.be/o3I2a5Ht-sY?t=483
Leipzig held Real Madrid until the 80th minute, until those idiots broke it open with this goal after great work by Vinicius Jr. on the wing:
https://youtu.be/RImjTlsNwzA?t=261
And then put the game away 2-0 with this preposterously nice goal:
https://youtu.be/RImjTlsNwzA?t=437
The Napoli Rangers match got very wild. The Napoli keeper came up with this really good save:
https://youtu.be/mYBqdMx0cvk?t=103
Napoli had tons of excellent passing moves and chances, including hitting the post, hitting the crossbar here:
https://youtu.be/mYBqdMx0cvk?t=189
And lots of cool passing moves like this:
https://youtu.be/mYBqdMx0cvk?t=360
And then things got insane:
https://youtu.be/mYBqdMx0cvk?t=375
After the American James Sands was sent off for Rangers and Napoli got a penalty, the Rangers keeper saved the penalty but the Napoli kicker put in the rebound. However, in the most mind-bogglingly absurd decision in soccer history, the ref called off the goal because the keeper jumped off the line early for the save, even though Napoli scored, so doing so was directly rewarding Rangers for no reason for breaking the rule. And of course:
https://youtu.be/mYBqdMx0cvk?t=435
The Rangers keeper saved it again, and this time Napoli did not put it back in. So the game somehow completely unjustly stayed 0-0, until Napoli got another penalty:
https://youtu.be/mYBqdMx0cvk?t=503
And this time they put it away for good. Although the keeper almost saved it once again.
A Napoli player had this really nice run:
https://youtu.be/mYBqdMx0cvk?t=605
They won the game 3-0 with these two really nice late goals:
https://youtu.be/mYBqdMx0cvk?t=731
https://youtu.be/mYBqdMx0cvk?t=797
Benfica took down Juventus with a surprise victory. They really nicely hit the post in the first half:
https://youtu.be/4AB7YSXgBOQ?t=173
And came back to win it with this goal produced from a unique little improvised pass:
https://youtu.be/4AB7YSXgBOQ?t=373
Inter's first goal was nice vs. Plzen in a 2-0 win:
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