UEFA Champions League Matchday 3 Highlights

Arsenal 4-0 Atletico Madrid - Emirates Stadium

A dominant victory for Arsenal and they dominated the match especially in the second half in which they scored all 4 goals. Atletico should have been ahead in the first half after a mistake from David Raya on the left side when playing out from the back gave the ball to Atleti. A quick throw with the goalkeeper out of position fell to Giuliano Simeone who had almost a full open goal but was unable to hit the target. 

From the 11 shots Atletico had only 1 went on target, compared to the 8 shots on target with half of them equating to goals for Arsenal showed how the game went for both teams. Out of the 4 goals scored, 2 came from set pieces which have been Arsenal's strong suit this season. As well as a first Arsenal Champions League double for Victor Gyokeres. 

The opening goal came from a free kick on the left side, which was swung in with pace by Declan Rice. Gabriel was arriving in the middle of the box arriving on the end of the cross as he headed the ball in from close range to give Arsenal the lead in the 57th minute. 

Arsenal’s lead was doubled not long after in the 64th minute with a goal created by Myles Lewis-Skelly. He picked the ball up in the centre circle in his own half and made a run through the middle of the pitch with a driving run through the Atletico team. He dragged out Marcos Llorente with his movement, which left Martinelli free for the pass. Martinelli took the shot first time, curling it round Jan Oblak in the goal, even though he managed to get a hand on it. 

It was 3-0 within 10 minutes of the first goal going in as Victor Gyokeres got his first goal of the match. Good play down the left from Martinelli as he crossed the ball to an arriving Eze but he didn't manage to make a good contact with the volley he attempted. However, the ball landed at the feet of Gyokeres who got the ball out of his feet and managed to turn and shoot. It was deflected into the bottom corner of the net with Oblak given no chance due to the deflection. 

The 4th goal came from another set piece and another delivery from Declan Rice to set up the goal. The ball went to the back post with Gabriel arriving to head it back across goal. A good header across goal was allowed to go across the face of goal and landed at the feet of Gyokeres as he poked the ball in for his 2nd of the match and 4th for Arsenal. 

PSV 6-2 Napoli - Phillips Stadium

An unbelievable victory for PSV against the reigning Italian champions as they put 6 past them to take the 3 points in Eindhoven. A game which was dominated largely by the home side even though possession was nearly 50/50. Napoli did take the lead in the 31st minute through their star man Scott McTominay, but it took just 4 minutes for the Dutch side to answer back and they didn’t look back from there. 

A sending off for Napoli did not help their chances for a comeback as they looked to get back in the game only 3-1 down at the time. A silly response from Lorenzo Lucca to a decision by the referee had the official reach for his back pocket straight away as he gave the Italian his marching orders. From there PSV added another 3 goals and went on to win the game comfortably. 

The breakthrough came from Napoli down their left side with Spinazzola taking on the defender and whipping the ball onto the head of McTominay. A bullet header from the Scotsman left no chance for Goalkeeper Matej Kovar in the PSV goal. 

The equaliser came in similar circumstances for PSV, with a cross from their left side into the box. As Alessandro Buongioorno looked to attack the ball and clear it, he judged the cross wrong as he flicked off his head and into the net behind him. An unlucky error from the Napoli centre back as he netted an own goal. 

PSV then took the lead from a counter attack as Napoli’s defence was left wide open for a single pass to put through Ismael Saibari. As he bared down on goal with just the keeper to beat he stayed calm and lifted the ball over the keeper into the net. Within just 7 minutes of going ahead Napoli were behind. 

The third goal for PSV was a lovely team goal. They worked the ball from the right with Dennis Man cutting in to give the ball to Veerman in the centre. He played the ball through the lines to a free Mauro Junior in the box. He took on the defender with ease and played the ball to the near post for the arriving Dennis Man. He glanced the ball into the net from close range with the Napoli defenders and goalkeeper only able to watch the ball go in. 

A 4th goal was added by Man in the 80th minute with a sensational shot from just outside the corner of the box. He cut in from the right as he did in the buildup to his first goal. Although this time he elected to take on the shot himself. The shot fired through the defenders and past goalkeeper Milinkovic-Savic to put PSV 4-1 up. 

Napoli did get a consolation goal back in the 86th minute through a set piece corner. Their substitute David Neres came on and took the corner, with a good delivery into the middle of the box. The man on the end of the cross once again was Scott McTominay to get his second of the match.

PSV answered back immediately in the 87th minute, straight after the McTominay header, restoring their 3 goal lead. The substitute Couhaib Driouech beat Di Lorenzo to the ball as it was played through to him. He continued with the ball into the box and squared it to fellow sub Ricardo Pepi for a tap in. 

The 8th and final goal of the match came with just a minute of regulation time to go. The favour was returned from Pepi to Driouech, as he fed the ball to the Moroccan. He wasted no time in taking a touch out of his feet and blasting the ball past the keeper once again. A night to remember for PSV with Napoli having a night to forget in Eindhoven. 

Real Madrid 1-0 Juventus - Santiago Bernabeu

 The game from the Spanish capital was an evenly matched game between 2 giants of the modern game. Both goalkeepers had solid performances and it proved to be a goal from close range that was the difference between the 2 teams. There were good chances for both teams with more goals definitely possible in the game but great goalkeeping and defending when needed led to only the single goal being the winner. 

The only goal of the game was made from an individual tricky run from Vinicius Jr. as he danced his way through the Juventus defense. He managed to turn one way then the other multiple times through many defenders before he got a shot off on his left foot. It made its way past Di Gregorio and bounced off the post back into the box, where it fell to Jude Bellingham. The Englishman made no mistake from close range with the Juve keeper standing no chance.

That result moved Real Madrid to 5th in the UCL table, on level points with PSG, Inter, Bayern and Arsenal with 100% records in this year's competition so far. A few surprises in the non-qualification places with the likes of Juventus, Leverkusen and Ajax sitting at the bottom of the table on goal difference. The likes of Galatasaray, Qarabag and Sporting are proving to be surprise packages this year with 2 wins out of 3. However, all to place for with 5 more match days to come before the knockout phases.