City's Haaland haunts former club Dortmund, Foden nets two in 4-1 win
Manchester City's Erling Haaland came back to haunt Borussia Dortmund with a clinical finish against his former team, while Phil Foden bagged a brilliant brace as the hosts cruised to a 4-1 win in the Champions League on Wednesday to climb to fourth.
Pep Guardiola's side have 10 points after four of the eight league-phase games, while Dortmund fell to 14th on seven points.
City, who hoisted the Champions League trophy in 2023, were dominant from the start at the Etihad Stadium.
City's England midfielder Foden opened the scoring in the 22nd minute when he collected a pass from Tijjani Reijnders and finished with a crisp left-foot strike from just outside the box past goalkeeper Gregor Kobel.
Haaland, who has 27 goals in 17 games for club and country, doubled the lead seven minutes later, finishing coolly from the centre of the box after a blistering run and pinpoint assist from Jeremy Doku.
Foden completed his double in the 57th minute in almost identical fashion to his first, latching onto a pass from Reijnders before bending a curling shot just inside the far post, the first time he had scored more than once in a Champions League game.
Waldemar Anton pulled one back for the Bundesliga club from a free kick in the 72nd to delight Dortmund's travelling supporters who danced and sang all night.
However, City's Rayan Cherki put the game well out of reach with a goal in injury time when he squeezed between two Dortmund defenders before firing home a low effort that took a deflection and spun beyond Kobel's reach.
City thoroughly dominated with nine shots on target to Dortmund's one, controlling the tempo and exploiting the flanks with pace and precision. Doku and Savinho were relentless, stretching Dortmund’s defence and creating space for City’s midfield to operate in.
Savinho narrowly missed what would have been a stunning strike in the second half with a blistering left-foot volley from a Foden pass that sailed narrowly over the bar.
City's goal machine Haaland extended his scoring streak in the Champions League to five successive outings – his best run in the competition since a spell of finding the net in six appearances in a row back in 2020/21.
He also became the first player in Champions League history to score in five consecutive games for three different clubs in City, Dortmund and Red Bull Salzburg.
Battling Barcelona earn 3-3 draw in thriller against Brugge
Barcelona fought back three times to snatch a 3-3 draw at Club Brugge in the Champions League on Wednesday, equalising for the final time late in the game with an own goal from 20-year-old Belgium defender Joaquin Seys.
Barcelona are now 11th in the standings on seven points from four matches while Club Brugge sit 22nd on four points, with both teams still in the hunt for qualification.
In a thriller at Brugge's Jan Breydel Stadium, the home side opened the scoring through Nicolo Tresoldi in the sixth minute, after a quick counter by Carlos Forbs that exposed the vulnerability of Barcelona's high defence.
The 21-year-old jet-heeled Portuguese forward controlled a long ball in his stride to beat the offside trap up the right channel before bursting into the box and crossing low for Tresoldi to score with a tidy finish past the goalkeeper.
Barcelona hit right back with Ferran Torres from close range two minutes later but Brugge regained the lead in the 17th minute with Forbs scoring after another quick counter.
In an end-to-end encounter with both sides creating several chances, Jules Kounde struck the crossbar in the 27th minute as Barcelona tried to find the equaliser, while Ferran Torres missed from close range right before the break.
Barcelona keeper Wojciech Szczesny made a stunning save early in the second half when Seys entered the penalty box in a counter-attack and struck a bullet shot from close range that the veteran Polish keeper blocked away brilliantly.
Barca defender Eric Garcia almost scored in the 59th minute with a thunderous strike from long range that exploded off the crossbar but it was teenager Lamine Yamal who scored a brilliant individual goal one minute later to level the match again.
However, it took Club Brugge only two minutes to get back the lead, with Forbs scoring from another counter-attack, beating Barcelona's high defence again for the umpteenth time before chipping a tidy finish round Szczesny into the net.
Barcelona found their equaliser in the 77th minute when Yamal lifted a cross into the box and defender Seys headed the ball into his own net when trying to clear.
There was more drama as Brugge thought they had scored the winner in added time through Romeo Vermant, thanks to what looked to have been a massive blunder by Szczesny. But the VAR video review ruled out the goal as the forward fouled the keeper in his effort to recover the ball, helping Barca rescue a point.
Villarreal stunned in 1-0 Champions League loss to Pafos
Villarreal fell to a humbling 1-0 defeat away to Pafos on Wednesday, as their dismal Champions League campaign continued after Derrick Luckassen scored to give the Cypriot side their first win of the competition.
The Spanish club may be riding high in third place in LaLiga, but remain on one point in Europe, while Pafos move on to five points.
Given both clubs' campaigns so far, a goal fest was never likely. Villarreal scored twice in three games, both coming in a 2-2 draw with Juventus, while Pafos had netted only once, which came in a 5-1 loss to Bayern Munich.
The hosts created an early chance with Quina making a mazy run into the area and curling a shot just over the bar before Villarreal wasted a couple of opportunities to take the lead.
Georges Mikautadze completely missed the ball when Ayoze Perez squared a headed pass to him all alone in front of goal and Pape Gueye put his effort straight at the keeper when sent through on goal.
The visitors were rocked in the opening minute after the break when Pafos won a corner and unmarked defender Luckassen powered a header into the net.
Villarreal's search for an equaliser lacked any real conviction to leave the home fans celebrating a famous win.
Newcastle make it three in a row with win against Athletic Bilbao
Newcastle United secured a third successive Champions League victory with Dan Burn and Joelinton both on target in a 2-0 defeat of injury-plagued Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday.
England defender Burn curled in a majestic header after 11 minutes and Joelinton doubled the Premier League club's lead shortly after the restart with another header as Newcastle moved into the top eight in the table with nine points.
Despite a host of injuries that left them without eight first-team players including Spain international Nico Williams, Athletic did cause plenty of problems for Eddie Howe's side.
The closest the visitors came was a thunderous shot against the post by Adama Boiro shortly after Burn's opener while Unai Gomez was also close to an equaliser.
Athletic have only three points from their opening four games and will need to improve if they are not to miss out on a chance of reaching the knockout phase.
Newcastle began their campaign with a defeat against Barcelona but have since beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and now Athletic Bilbao by an aggregate of 9-0.
It is the first time they have won three games in a row in the competition since 2002-03.
Newcastle face Olympique de Marseille away in their next Champions League game after the international break while Athletic are at Slavia Prague.
Inter battle past Kairat 2-1 to stay perfect in Champions League
Last year's finalists Inter Milan had to battle before beating Kairat Almaty 2-1 at the San Siro on Wednesday, with the Italians keeping their perfect record in this season's Champions League despite conceding their first goal of the competition.
Inter are on 12 points after four games, alongside Bayern Munich and Arsenal, while Kairat remain on one point despite a brave performance which almost paid off.
Kairat had lost 5-0 to Real Madrid and 4-1 to Sporting and, after Inter had racked up nine goals in three games this looked the perfect chance for Cristian Chivu's side to improve their goal difference even further.
Instead, they struggled to find a breakthrough and, when they did, Kairat pegged them back before Carlos Augusto's winner brought relief to the home fans.
Inter's first chance came when Kairat's keeper Temirlan Anarbekov saved from Federico Dimarco and Lautaro Martinez's follow-up effort was headed off the line by defender Egor Sorokin.
Martinez sent another shot over the bar and it looked like Inter's opener would come from the penalty spot after Ofri Arad was judged to have fouled Yann Bisseck in the area but after a VAR check the referee overturned his decision.
Inter's slow, methodical build-up play failed to unlock the Kairat defence and the visitors grew in confidence as the opening half went on and from their first corner Yann Sommer was forced into a save from Edmilson's header.
Kairat's Dastan Satpayev sent a curling shot goalwards which took a deflection and clipped the crossbar, and the visitors were unable to hold out until the break.
On the stroke of halftime, Denzel Dumfries sent a cross into the box and, after Francesco Pio Esposito and Martinez both had efforts blocked, Martinez managed to bundle the ball over the line while falling backwards.
Inter had an early chance after the interval, Anarbekov getting down to save Esposito's shot from the edge of the area but Kairat stunned the San Siro 10 minutes into the second half with an equaliser from a corner.
Inter's defence failed to clear their lines and the ball came to the unmarked Arad who steered his header into the far corner beyond Sommer.
Anarbekov came out to deny Esposito and then got back on his line to save from Petar Sucic, but Inter were back in front in the 67th minute when Esposito teed up Augusto who smacked a first-time shot from outside the area low into the bottom corner.
Marcus Thuram came off the bench for Inter and sent a header wide from a corner as the hosts were unable to find a third goal to kill off Kairat but, despite a sluggish performance, they took the all-important three points.
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