Champions League Wednesday Night Roundup

Kevin De Bruyne scored a stoppage time winner as Manchester City broke Sevilla hearts late. Image: Irish Times

We've reached the halfway point in the UEFA Champions League group stage, and matchweek 3 ended with more fireworks as De Bruyne shocked Sevilla late on, while their cross-city rivals managed to squeeze a point from their efforts in Moscow.

In a meeting of football's superpowers, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid's meeting ended goalless; while the other Madrid side flourished against Astana. 

Image: La Liga

Along with much more action, it was another night to remember. Here's all the action from Europe on Wednesday 21 October 2015.

De Bruyne breaks Sevilla hearts in stoppage time
Manchester City 2-1 Sevilla

Kevin De Bruyne's first ever Champions League goal came in the form of a stoppage-time winner to give Manchester City a crucial victory over Sevilla after coming from a goal behind at the Etihad Stadium.

Image: Squawka

It took a while for Sevilla to really get in to the groove of the game, but when they did the alarm bells were sounding at the Etihad. Not too long after Yevhen Konoplyanka's set-piece struck the outside of the post to culminate a strong spell of pressure from the Spaniards, he would break the deadlock.

After thirty minutes of football in Manchester, the Ukranian winger capitalised on some puzzlingly-poor defending from the hosts, giving Vitolo ample time to play it in to his teammate who routinely placed it past the keeper, as it appeared that City's European home-form struggles were continuing. 

Image: Sky Sports

They wouldn't lead for too long, though, however. Yaya Toure surged through the traffic before setting up Raheem Sterling who was wonderfully denied by Sergio Rico. On the rebound, Bony's strike would come off Adil Rami to put the Citizens back in the contest.

A large chunk of the second half was played at a conservative pace, with the La Liga travellers beginning to settle for the prospect of a draw in England. But that didn't stop their opposition from trying for a winner, and they soon found one.

Image: The Straits Time

Yaya Toure kickstarted a dazzling counter-attack to eventually produce a three-on-four situation, with De Bruyne on the ball. The Belgian had Toure and Sterling to set up, but instead found space in the area to find the edge of goal and become a hero at the Etihad with a stoppage-time winner.

Martial makes amends in Moscow  
CSKA Moscow 1-1 Manchester United
WRITTEN BY MIKEY

Anthony Martial scored a fine second half header to make amends for conceding a penalty, that despite David De Gea's initial save, allowed Seydou Doumbia to score as Man Utd drew 1-1 with CSKA Moscow. 

After an emphatic win at Everton, Manchester United were looking to shift their weekend momentum towards the Champions League with victory over CSKA Moscow, ironically, in a location they famously triumphed against Chelsea to secure Champions League glory. 

Louis van Gaal's men controlled the match tempo and dominated ball possession as they are usually do, but their early patience wouldn't materialize and the home side took the early lead despite the heroic efforts of David De Gea. The Spaniard made an excellent penalty save after Martial handled, but as Seydou Doumbia was the quickest player to react and fired home from close range to take the lead. 

A demoralized David De Gea watches on as his initial penalty save is cancelled out by Seydou Doumbia. 

Anthony Martial operated on the left wing; looking to accommodate Wayne Rooney up front but there was an evident lack of creativity and penetration in United's play. Despite hogging the ball, they failed to justify the possession philosophy that Louis van Gaal has implemented onto the pitch.  

CSKA Moscow were a clear threat going forward; a mix of Seydou Doumbia's pace and penetration and Phil Jones' occasional clumsiness and lack of reliability forced David De Gea's hand as the Spaniard found himself bailing United out of an embarrassing first half. His plethora of sublime saves epitomises the extraordinary talent he is.   

CSKA, like PSV, are very ordinary but United just not creative enough. Movement in attack too static & #mufc need Herrera on the ball more.

— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) October 21, 2015

Marouane Fellaini was introduced at the expense of Bastian Schweinsteiger and immediately, not just because of his arrival, United upped the tempo as Wayne Rooney went close with a header and Jesse Lingard drilled low at the goalkeeper from close range. 

CSKA Moscow evidently quietened down and United's constant pressure unravelled the hosts' defence. Making up for blatantly handling in the area which lead to his side conceding, Anthony Martial capitalized on United's impressive link-up play down the right flank to escape his maker and fire a solid header into the bottom left hand corner. 

United rallied late on - Memphis Depay was brought on in a late attempt to secure an away win - but CSKA Moscow remained compact in defence to combat the Red Devils' late onslaught and leave the third Champions League group game with a point. 

Louis van Gaal's men dominated possession and vastly improved in the second half but despite that, goalkeeper David De Gea was made to work throughout the first 45 minutes and a draw is probably a fair result given the balance of the match and each side's chances to win. 

Awesome Atletico punish Astana
Atlético Madrid 4-0 Astana

Atlético Madrid trounced Astana with a convincing four-goal victory in front of their raucous home support at the Vicente Calderon.

Image: GOAL UK

Saúl Ñíguez opened the scoring after 23 minutes with a neat backheel after they found space at the near post by playing the corner short and Yannick Carrasco working things well to set up his teammate to take the lead in Spain.

Around six minutes later, Jackson Martínez doubled the hosts lead as his shot was deflected on the way to goal after collecting it from a cross and holding it up well.

Image: ClubAtleticoMadrid.com

After what seemed like an eternity of a wait, Oliver Torres finished excellently after the hour mark, set up by Gabi to chip it over the Astana keeper and really wrap up an easy night for Diego Simeone's men who oozed class throughout.

In the 89th minute, Atletico got their fourth - but it wasn't through Fernando Torres who was denied of a 100th goal for the club. Juanfran was free in space down the right to cross it towards Torres but it was intercepted by Dedechko who directed it towards his own goal to end the miserable evening for the visitors but make things that little sweeter for Atletico - the ultimate victors.

Wonderful Wolfsburg overwhelm PSV
Wolfsburg 2-0 PSV Eindhoven

Wolfsburg got their second win in the group as they dominated PSV Eindhoven and took two goals in Germany thanks to Dost and Kruse getting on target.

Really taking the game by control within the early minutes, it remained a long wait before Wolfsburg finally got on the scoresheet. Bas Dost got on to the end of the keeper's parry after Guilavogui's stung the hands to open the scoring just a minute into the second half.


Jeroen Zoet wasn't at fault for the second either - he made another great save to thwart Draxler but Caligiuri got there first to cross into Max Kruse who doubled the lead for the Germans.

Diego Benaglio gave some late jitters to the home fans when he gave away a penalty, but he redeemed himself by saving it, turning away Locadia's spot-kick as his side kept the clean sheet and took three points.

Football's richest finish up empty
Paris Saint-Germain 0-0 Real Madrid

Football's very richest played to a draw at the Parc des Princes as a injury-stricken Real Madrid could not threaten Paris Saint-Germain along with holding them off well to see both teams out for a point.

Image: UEFA

With all eyes on the French capital as the world's top two highest paid sports teams squared off, it was Zlatan Ibrahimovic who was performing the better out of the astronomical stars - the other being Cristiano Ronaldo who was much quieter in the opening exchanges.

What began with a optimistic and strong showing from the Parisiens would eventually recede into Real Madrid sustaining control. In the middle of the park the French champions began to lose their physicality as more and more chances came in favour of Los Blancos.

Image: UEFA

Neither side would really be able to seize an advantage however, and a pitch invader who ran on to the turf to hug Ronaldo was one of the highlights in the game with things finishing goalless.

Monchengladbach hold Juve
Juventus 0-0 Borussia Monchengladbach

Juventus were held to a goalless draw by Borussia Monchengladbach as they were stopped short of continuing their perfect record in the Champions League.

Image: GOAL

The Italians were in a commanding position early, earning literally everything but the goal along with true chances in the first half.


They would test their opposition further in the second with Pogba being stopped not once, but twice by Sommer before time winded down and Allegri's men finished frustrated, although not too harmed with another point to their collection.

Around Europe
The rest of the action

Galatasaray 2-1 Benfica: Galatasaray found their first Champions League win since December 2013 as they came from a goal behind to defeat Benfica. Gaitan scored the fastest goal of the season in the Champions League to spell trouble early for the Turks but a penalty from Selcuk gave them a lifeline. By half-an-hour, Lukas Podolski had put them inf ront, breaking into space and putting it past Cesar to give them a lead they'd hold for the rest of the match.

Image: GOAL

Malmo 1-0 Shakhtar Donetsk: Malmo stunned Shakhtar Donetsk with a superb performance as Markus Rosenberg put the ball past Andriy Pyatov early in the first half before his side missed a penalty later on in a night where they could have found three or four goals, setting themselves up well to reach the Europa League knockouts with a third-placed finish.

And finally
A last word on the night's football

Kevin De Bruyne's last-gasp winner is certainly the moment of the night, and it's something which could define Manchester City's Champions League campaign while Sevilla's hearts are crushed late on after a strong effort of resistance at the Etihad.

The Spaniards were flying when Konoplyanka found the lead, but when the Citizens soon equalised it was clear what they needed to do: Hold on. They did, until a swift counter, when their legs were gone, and Toure surged through to set up the Belgian maestro to sweep into the far corner.

Meanwhile for their cross-city rivals Manchester, it was a far different story. Even though Martial delivered a joyous moment with his equaliser in the Russian capital, it was still a tough evening for Manchester United who lacked a killer instinct in their outing.

There's no shadowing the fact that the headline clash of the evening underwhelmed. PSG and Real Madrid had stars—and for Los Blancos they were depleted with a handful of injuries—but the game could have offered so much more. PSG will be disappointed in how they didn't really hold their own and had it been for some more clinical finishing and less resolute defending they wouldn't have taken anything from the game.

Atleti were a class apart with their demolition of Astana while Wolfsburg could have grabbed a number of more goals in their win over PSV. After three weeks in the Champions League, business has picked up.

Roll on the next three weeks—we're certainly in the thick of the competition!