Manchester City moved up to fourth in the Champions League table on Wednesday night and, in doing so, they laid a marker down by beating Real Madrid 2-1 in the Spaniards’ own back yard.
The win took Pep Guardiola’s team above Los Blancos, who dropped to seventh place, and the win would have been so sweet for the former Barcelona boss, while Real Madrid manager Xabi Alonso cut a frustrated figure. The Sky Blues took a battering from Bayer Leverkusen last time out, losing 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium and, since then, they have clicked through the gears in the Premier League to climb to within two points of leaders Arsenal.
And Manchester City were well in control of this game from the moment they had their noses in front.
Brazil star Rodrygo has been linked with a move away from the Santiago Bernabeu but he was Los Blancos best player in the first half and, on 28 minutes, he fired the hosts in front with an unstoppable shot past Gianluigi Donnarumma. But City drew level soon after and it wasn’t a moment for Real to be proud of. Josko Gvardiol met a corner with a hopeful header which Thibaut Courtois failed to hold and Nico O’Reilly poked the loose ball home.
And the Sky Blues turned the game on its head when Anton Rudiger pulled Erling Haaland back in the penalty area; the referee consulted the VAR screen, awarded the penalty and Haaland sent Courtois the wrong way. Alonso was incensed, Guardiola smiled and the balance in Europe has shifted from Spain to England with the SBOTOP Champions League 2025 betting odds nudging towards Manchester.
Elsewhere, reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain were held to a 0-0 draw away to Athletic Bilbao which leaves the Ligue 1 side locked on 13 points with Manchester City, two behind Bayern Munich and five behind leaders Arsenal. Last time out PSG were in a goal-rush as they beat Tottenham Hotspur 5-3 but, despite dominating the ball with 70 per cent possession and having 18 shots, five on target, they didn’t have the quality to break the Basque side down.
Gunners stay at 100 per cent
Premier League leaders Arsenal are on top of Europe too, as the only club to have won all six games so far, beating Club Brugges 3-0 at the Jan Breydel Stadium.
Noni Madueke gave the Gunners an early lead with a bullet of a shot into the top corner but that seemed to spark the hosts into life and keeper David Raya had a busy time for the rest of the first half to keep Brugges at bay. Mikel Arteta probably had a few things to say at half time, and whatever he said certainly paid off as his team came out firing in the second half. The Brugges defence switched off on the restart and Madueke ghosted in unmarked to head home a beautiful cross from Martin Zubimendi. That was on 57 minutes and ten later Gabriel Martinelli curled in a beauty from all of 25 yards to seal the points.
After beating Manchester City last time out Bayer Leverkusen had another Premier League side to take on and they picked up another result, drawing 2-2 with Newcastle United in a topsy turvy clash at the BayArena. Die Werkself bossed the Magpies in the first half, though the nature of their opening goal was fortunate. Bayer’s Robert Andrich met a corner which went in off Bruno Guimaraes and the Germans went into the break at 1-0. But the Magpies fought back and were level early in the second half when Anthony Gordon slotted home a penalty, after Mark Flekken had brought down Nick Woltemade.
The Geordies almost went ahead on the hour when Gordon’s shot hit the upright but the winger, who was the star of the show, was the provider when he crossed for Lewis Miley to head home with 15 minutes remaining. And there was more to come from the hosts and, with two minutes of normal time remaining, Alex Grimaldo worked his way into the penalty area and fired home the leveller.
In other Champions League 2025 news Ajax eventually broke their duck and moved off the bottom of the table thanks to a 4-2 win away Qarabag, moving ahead of Kairat Almaty and Villarreal, who went down 3-2 at home to FC Copenhagen. Meanwhile, Juventus shrugged off their slow start and climbed up to 17th place after recording back to back wins with a 2-0 victory at home to Pafos.
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