Diogo Jota capped his fine run of form for Liverpool with a Champions League hat-trick as the Reds made it three wins from three in Group D following a ruthless display at Atalanta.
Jota started in place of Roberto Firmino in the starting XI and justified his selection with two wonderful first-half strikes, lobbing the goalkeeper before a calm and cool finish for his second.
Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane also joined the goal-fest with brilliant efforts early in the second half, before Jota completed his hat-trick as the visitors ran away with a 5-0 winner over Italian side Atalanta.
The win earned Jurgen Klopp his first victory as a manager on Italian soil. It was alsi Liverpool’s biggest away win in the Champions League since 2018.
Watch the highlights of the match below…
Stats and facts from the match (Backed by Opta)
- Diogo Jota has bagged six goals in his last four games for Liverpool in all competitions (after just one in first six for the Reds), with only Mohamed Salah (9) netting more goals than the Portuguese for the club this season (7).
- Diogo Jota netted the 10th hat-trick by a Liverpool player in European Cup/Champions League history, after Mané, Coutinho, Benayoun, Owen, Rush, Wark, Souness (x2) and McDermott.
- Mohamed Salah is now joint-highest European Cup/Champions League goalscorer in Liverpool history, along with Steven Gerrard (21).
- Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp finally won away in Italy in the Champions League after losing on each of his five previous visits in the competition, courtesy of defeats to Napoli (3), Juventus and Roma.
- Liverpool have won each of their last four away games in the Champions League group stage, after losing four in a row before this between October 2018 and September 2019 (all under Jürgen Klopp).
- Atalanta’s defeat was the second-biggest ever by an Italian side on home soil in European competition, after Roma’s 1-7 loss to Bayern Munich in October 2014 in the Champions League.
- This was only the second time in Champions League history that Liverpool started with two teenagers, via Rhys Williams and Curtis Jones (also Danny Guthrie and Lee Peltier v Galatasaray in December 2006).
Man City 3-0 Olympiakos: Gabriel Jesus scores on his return from injury as the Citizens maintain perfect run
Manchester City maintained a 100% start to their Champions League campaign as Gabriel Jesus completed the scoring in a 3-0 victory over Olympiakos at the Etihad.
Ferran Torres also made it four goals in his fourth consecutive game in the competition to put Pep Guardiola’s side in the driving seat after just 12 minutes, but the contest did not evolve into the promising start City would have hoped for.
Mathieu Valbuena missed a sitter that would have leveled matters 10 minutes into the second period before Jesus came off the bench to put the game to bed with an unstoppable finish from a tight angle.
City’s other substitute Joao Cancelo added a third with a speculative drive to cap a routine win that preserves their 100 percent record from three group stage matches ahead of their match against Liverpool on Super Sunday.
Watch the highlights of the match below…
Stats and facts from the match (Backed by Opta)
- Since conceding five goals against Leicester, Manchester City have conceded only three goals in their following eight games, while they have kept a clean sheet in three consecutive matches in all competitions for the first time since September of last year.
- Since the start of the 2017-18 season, only Kylian Mbappé (15) has made more assists than Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne (14) in the UEFA Champions League.
- Manchester City striker Gabriel Jesus has been directly involved in nine goals in his last seven appearances in the UEFA Champions League (six goals & three assists).
Other results: UEFA Champions League
- Lokomotiv Moscow 1-1 Atletico Madrid
- Shakhtar Donetsk 0-6 M’gladbach
- Atalanta 0-5 Liverpool
- FC Midtjylland 1-2 Ajax
- FC Porto 3-0 Marseille
- Manchester City 3-0 Olympiakos FC
- Real Madrid 3-2 Inter Milan
- Red Bull Salzburg 2-6 Bayern Munich
Firminho in the mud lol