UCL PIX: Liverpool maintain perfection; Real back to winning ways

IMAGES from the UEFA Champions League matches played on Tuesday

Liverpool maintained their 100% record in this season's Champions League and have a healthy lead at the top of the standings after a 1-0 win at Girona on Tuesday, with the only goal of the game coming from Mohamed Salah's second-half penalty.

A sixth win from six puts Liverpool, already guaranteed at least a playoff place before kickoff, on 18 points, five ahead of Bayer Leverkusen, Aston Villa, Inter Milan and Brest, while Girona are in 30th place on three points.

Girona suffered their fifth defeat of the competition but made Liverpool work for the victory and in the opening half had chances to take the lead but were foiled by the visitors' keeper Alisson.

Liverpool struggled against a side happy to sit back and bide their time, but found the breakthrough from the penalty spot with Salah converting in the 63rd minute after Luis Diaz was fouled.

"Six wins out of six, you can't ask for much better than that. It's not easy to do or there would be more teams doing it," Liverpool defender Andy Robertson said.

"We've played a lot better than tonight, we weren't at our highest level, but at this point it's about winning the games and securing qualification."

Girona were pinned back in the opening minutes by Liverpool's pressure, with the visitors creating two early chances.

Defender Joe Gomez was denied his first goal for Liverpool by a reaction save from Paulo Gazzaniga from a close-range header, with the keeper also saving a shot from Darwin Nunez minutes later.

Girona, with every player behind the ball, were happy to break on the counter-attack and Liverpool keeper Alisson, making his first appearance since early October after a hamstring injury, was soon called into action.

Daley Blind completely missed a cross on the edge of the six-yard box but the ball fell to Alejandro Frances and Alisson held his effort at the second attempt, and later punched away a shot from Miguel Gutierrez.

"We competed toe to toe, we had our chances and, well, we have to accept that we lost," Girona's Frances said.

"It's time to move on. The main thing was to have chances against a great team and we had them."

Nunez had another effort saved when put through by Salah and Girona responded with a shot from outside the area by Yaser Asprilla which Alisson parried away for a corner, with Girona growing in confidence.

Alisson was again involved in the opening seconds of the second half, saving from Arnaut Danjuma and Liverpool struggled to break down a stubborn Girona defence before a Donny van de Beek foul on Diaz gave Salah his chance from the spot.

Salah missed a penalty in Liverpool's last Champions League game against Real Madrid, but made no mistake this time sending the keeper the wrong way and the ball into the bottom corner.

Girona never really looked like finding an equaliser with Liverpool maintaining possession much better than in the opening half and leaving the Estadi Montilivi with all three points.

Real Madrid edge Atalanta  3-2

Real Madrid got a much-needed 3-2 Champions League win at Atalanta on Tuesday thanks to goals from Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr and Jude Bellingham as the holders snapped a two-game losing run in the competition.

Real handed the Serie A leaders their first defeat in this season's revamped Champions League after Mbappe gave them the lead with a strike from inside the box in the 10th minute before he was forced off with an injury.

Charles de Ketelaere equalised with a penalty after Aurelien Tchouameni tripped Sead Kolasinac from behind just before the break but Vinicius Jr stroked home a rebound in the 56th minute to put the visitors back in front.

Bellingham extended their lead after a counter attack three minutes later but Ademola Lookman reduced the deficit in the 65th before Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois worked his magic with a string of saves to secure a hard-fought win.

With two games left, Real are 18th in the 36-team table on nine points, three points off the top eight spots which secures direct qualification to the last 16. Atalanta are ninth on 11 points after slipping into the playoff places.

"It was a great game and we're happy that it was Real Madrid who took it," Brahim Diaz, who set up Mbappe for the opener, told Movistar Plus.

"We came here with confidence and for the players these games are to show that we are made to play for a club like Real Madrid. This team has a lot to give still and we're going to give much more.

"We're going to take it one game at a time. We can finish with 15 points if we win the last two games and than see what happens. Things are going the way they have to go and that's promising."

Off the back of a fabulous campaign in which they won record-extending titles in LaLiga and the Champions League, Real have struggled in their European title defence.

They lost three of their previous four continental matches before heading to Italy to face red-hot Atalanta, who were unbeaten in the competition having conceded only one goal.

Mbappe, who has been under scrutiny for an inconsistent start at Real, began the game well and forced Marco Carnesecchi into a couple of fine early saves but there was nothing the keeper could do to stop the France captain giving Real the lead.

He scored with a low strike from inside the box after superbly controlling a pass by Diaz with one touch to move the ball past a defender and put himself in the box where he netted.

It was all going so well for the visitors until Mbappe was forced off in the 35th minute with what looked like a muscle injury to be replaced by Rodrygo.

After Antonio Ruediger missed a close-range sitter in the 39th, De Ketelaere fired a rocket into the top corner to equalise but, just as Atalanta were growing in confidence after the break they gifted Vinicius a rebound he did not miss.

Bellingham scored to make it 3-1 minutes later but after Lookman slotted home a low strike from the edge of the box Courtois made critical saves to deny Raoul Bellanova, Mateo Retegui, Matteo Ruggeri and Lazar Samardzic to secure the win.

PSG beat Salzburg 3-0

A fine finish from Goncalo Ramos, a goal from Nuno Mendes and a late strike from Desire Doue gave Paris St Germain a vital Champions League victory, as they beat RB Salzburg 3-0 on Tuesday to move into the playoff spots.

Luis Enrique's side, who have made a terrible start to their Champions League campaign, now sit 24th in the standings just inside the playoff positions, with seven points from six games, while Salzburg are 32nd.

PSG looked sharp in the first half and went close early on through Lee Kang-in's long-range effort and Vitinha's attempt that was denied by goalkeeper Alexander Schlager.

Bradley Barcola also went close as he burst into the area after a superb run but was unable to finish.

"I'm missing that little something in front of goal that will unlock me. Don't think it is a blockage, but we talked about it a lot among ourselves. I had to continue working," Barcola said.

Achraf Hakimi set up Ramos for the opener on the half-hour mark.

The Parisians looked dangerous in the second half as the home side struggled to find their feet. The closest Salzburg came was through Nene Dorgeles in the 63rd minute, as he broke into the box on the left and shot at goal, but PSG keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma kept the ball out.

But PSG were the better side and Mendes doubled their advantage in the 72nd minute with a thunderous left-footed shot from Doue's pass.

Defender Lucas Hernandez returned to the side after a long-term injury and replaced Mendes six minutes from time before Doue added a third goal to seal a much-needed win.

"It's a pleasure and a pride to be back on the pitch. When you suffer an injury like that, it's never easy. From the first day after my operation, I knew I was going to come back stronger and fitter," said Hernandez.

PSG next face Pep Guardiola's Manchester City on Jan. 22 before closing their campaign against VfB Stuttgart seven days later. 

Olise scores twice as Bayern come from behind to thrash Shakhtar

Bayern Munich's Michael Olise netted a second-half double as they came back from conceding an early goal to win 5-1 against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Tuesday to earn their first away victory in this season's competition.

Bayern's third successive win moves them up to eighth into the automatic qualification places on 12 points, while Shakhtar are 27th with four points, three points off the playoffs.

Bayern had suffered defeats in both of their previous away games in the competition and went behind after five minutes when Oleksandr Zubkov's through ball found Kevin, who cut inside Kim Min-jae before sending his shot into the far corner.

The German side were on level terms just six minutes later. Olise lost possession in the area but the ball fell kindly to his teammate Konrad Laimer who took a touch to control it and then smashed his effort into the roof of the net.

Shakhtar had the chance to go back in front but Georgiy Sudakov put his shot wide after an excellent pass from Kevin had teed him up almost from the penalty spot.

Bayern went down the other end, Jamal Musiala took the ball into the box and laid a pass off to Thomas Mueller who made no mistake with a simple slotted finish on the stroke of halftime.

Shakhtar put pressure on Bayern at the start of the second half but were unable to find a second goal before the visitors eased to victory.

Bayern thought they had extended their lead when Musiala volleyed home from a corner but the goal was chalked off for a foul on the keeper. However, minutes later the referee pointed to the spot for a foul by Alaa Ghram on substitute Sacha Boey.

Olise stepped up in the 70th minute and although keeper Dmytro Riznyk went the right way the ball was powered into the top corner to put Bayern well and truly in the driving seat.

Musiala got the goal he deserved for an excellent performance three minutes from time, collecting a loose ball in the box and firing past Riznyk.

There was still time for some Olise magic in added time as he skilfully weaved his way through the Shakhtar defence before coolly finding the bottom corner with his shot.

Last-gasp Mukiele goal gives Leverkusen 1-0 win over Inter Milan

Bayer Leverkusen's Nordi Mukiele scored a 90th-minute goal to give his team a 1-0 home win over Inter Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday and move them closer to qualification.

The Germans, who enjoyed more than 60% of possession, were the better side for most of the game, hitting the post through Nathan Tella early in the match before going close again with shots from Florian Wirtz and Jonathan Tah.

But they had to wait until the final minute for Mukiele to slot in after a goalmouth scramble which was the first goal Inter had conceded in the competition after five clean sheets.

The Italians' first Champions League defeat this season saw them drop to fourth place on 13 points, behind Leverkusen who are second, also on 13, with two matches remaining.

The top eight teams qualify automatically for the round of 16 while the next 16 sides go into a playoff to determine the other eight teams that go through.

"I am delighted with the performance against a top, top team," said Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso. "We showed good maturity. We did not expect to have 20 chances but a few good ones and to use one of them.

"My players had awareness and knew when to press high. The lines were really close. We had good stability and structure. We did not have many silly balls that we lost to give them the chance to run."

Inter did not have one effort on target in the game.

Alonso's side had the upper hand from the start and went close after three minutes when Tella's thunderous volley bounced off the crossbar.

In-form Wirtz then saw his stinging shot saved by Yann Sommer in the 35th minute with the Italians more than happy to sit back and soak up the pressure.

With most of the possession, Leverkusen kept at it and Jeremie Frimpong narrowly missed the target after being sent through by Wirtz.

Simone Inzaghi's substitutions after the hour looked to inject life into Inter but they could not threaten up front, with the match heading towards a draw until 27-year-old Mukiele pounced on a loose ball in the box to drill in the winner.

"We weren't good enough in attack," said Inzaghi. "We didn't show enough to beat a team with their qualities today.

"Our goal remains direct qualification via a place in the top eight and that is still very possible. Leverkusen played well today, with a lot of pace. The fact that the goal was scored so close to the end is, of course, bitter," he added.