Hulk, Arsenal, a 4-4 draw: best of matchday three
Friday, October 23, 2015
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Hulk spearheaded perfect Zenit, Arsenal vanquished Bayern despite Manuel Neuer, Leverkusen and Roma shared eight goals and Iker Casillas and Gianluigi Buffon set new records: our review.
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Player: Hulk (Zenit)
Well done anyone who had Zenit down as the last team to maintain a 100% record, as the sole club with nine points from three matches. And the star of the show in their 3-1 Group H defeat of Lyon in St Petersburg was Hulk who, not long after Alexandre Lacazette's superb flicked equaliser, outdid it from distance for the 6,900th goal in the UEFA Champions League – and one of the finest.
Team: Arsenal
It was do or die for Arsenal at home to Bayern in Group F, as the Gunners began the day six points behind the German champions and three adrift of Olympiacos and Dinamo Zagreb. But as befits a side who have made it through the last 15 group stages, it was very much do for Arsenal, who soaked up the Bayern pressure then scored twice late on to win 2-0.
"We had an absolute necessity to win the game and we did it in an intense, disciplined way," said Arsène Wenger. "We're back in the game," Petr Čech told UEFA.com.
Game: Bayer Leverkusen 4-4 Roma
Never before in the history of this competition had there been a game where both teams led by two goals at different moments, and neither won. Javier Hernández had put Leverkusen 2-0 up within 19 minutes only for Daniele De Rossi, on his 501st Roma appearance, to level before half-time. Miralem Pjanić and Iago Falqué seemed to have clinched it for the visitors but in the last seven minutes Kevin Kampl and Admir Mehmedi had other ideas.
It was only the third 4-4 draw in the UEFA Champions League (after Hamburg v Juventus in the 2000/01 first group stage and Chelsea v Liverpool in the 2008/09 quarter-finals), and Leverkusen coach Roger Schmidt said: "It was everything but a normal football game."
Save: Manuel Neuer (Bayern München)
Bayern may have failed a win a competitive match for the first time this season with their loss at Arsenal, but one of their players produced perhaps the moment of the week. Theo Walcott's 33rd-minute point-blank header looked a certain goal – indeed the Arsenal forward had begun to turn away in celebration – but somehow Neuer clawed it away at full stretch. The photo below gives a good idea to those who have not seen it ...
Captain: Rúben Neves (Porto)
Neves led Porto out against Maccabi Tel-Aviv on Tuesday aged 18 years and 221 days. Having taken the armband this month from the injured Maicon, the veteran of Porto's run to last term's quarter-finals was almost two full years younger than any other captain in UEFA Champions League history – the previous record-holder being Rafael van der Vaart for Ajax at AC Milan in September 2003. That was not the only record broken during Porto's 2-0 Group G victory ...
Record update: Iker Casillas (Porto)
On matchday two, Casillas finally moved clear of Xavi Hernández after their long nip-and-tuck race to top the UEFA Champions League appearance chart, the Porto goalkeeper reaching 152 games in the competition proper, with his old Barcelona rival having bowed out on 151. And in Casillas's 153rd outing, against Maccabi, he kept his 51st clean sheet to go one clear of Edwin van der Sar as the tournament record holder.
Number: 48,867
The 73rd minute of Juventus's Group D encounter with Borussia Mönchengladbach on Wednesday was Gianlugi Buffon's 48,867th in competitive action for the Old Lady, equalling Alessandro Del Piero's club record, which the goalkeeper naturally broke seconds later. Appropriately, Buffon kept his goal intact in the 0-0 draw – his (what Casillas would consider modest) 38th shut-out in the UEFA Champions League.
Quote: Del Piero's response to Buffon taking his record ...
Photo: Lukas Podolski (Galatasaray)
Someone's just scored to give Galatasaray their first UEFA Champions League win in ten games ...