A round-up of Tuesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
Chelsea rolled back the years with an imperious Champions League performance on Tuesday, sweeping aside a toothless Barcelona 3-0 to take a hefty step towards securing an automatic qualifying place and leaving the Spaniards fighting to avoid a play-off.
After an early own goal and a red card for Barcelona’s captain Ronald Araujo at the end of the first half, teenager Estevao smashed in a fabulous second and Liam Delap got the third, and the Londoners also had three goals ruled out.
It was like the old days at Stamford Bridge, when taking on and beating the cream of Europe was the norm, as Chelsea made all the running, passing crisply and constantly probing down both flanks.
Not for Barcelona, though, who were the palest shadow of the sides who used to keep possession with such ease before relentlessly carving out opportunities. On Tuesday they barely held the ball for three passes, let alone built any sustained pressure.
Their defence too looked ragged and they were saved only by the officials as Enzo Fernandez had a goal ruled out for handball after five minutes and another for offside.
Barcelona’s sole chance of the night fell to Ferran Torres after six minutes, but he blazed wide with the goal gaping.
Chelsea’s pressure eventually paid off after 27 minutes when Marc Cucurella crossed low from the right and, as two defenders tried to block Pedro Neto’s effort, Jules Kounde instead poked the ball into his own net.
Things got even better for Chelsea when Araujo was sent off for a second yellow after a clumsy trip on Cucurella a minute before the break.
Chelsea, unrecognisable from the team who laboured to a 2-2 draw at Qarabag in their last Champions League outing, continued to control the game and suffered a third disallowed goal by substitute Andrey Santos - ruled out for offside in the build-up five minutes after the restart.
Again, though, it was a brief respite for Barcelona as Estevao took centre stage, driving past two tackles before unleashing an absolute piledriver from a tight angle into the roof of the net.
As one 18-year-old starlet took the adulation of the crowd, Barcelona’s version, Lamine Yamal, cut a forlorn figure, unable to make any impact before being hauled off 12 minutes from time.
Delap then got in on the action, tucking home a Fernandez cross after 73 minutes for his first goal of the season, as everything came up roses for Chelsea.
The victory hoists them provisionally into the top eight automatic qualifying slots, and well-placed with games against Pafos, Atalanta and Napoli to come.
Barcelona, who started the day level with the Londoners, now face a real fight to avoid the playoffs and will need to gain plenty of points from their remaining fixtures against Eintracht Frankfurt, Slavia Prague and FC Copenhagen.
Manchester City's unbeaten home streak ends
Manchester City suffered a rare Champions League defeat at the Etihad Stadium as Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen claimed a stunning 2-0 victory to end the hosts' 23-game unbeaten home run in the competition's group or league stage.
The loss spoiled Pep Guardiola's 100th Champions League match as City manager and left the Premier League side provisionally sixth on 10 points after five games. Alejandro Grimaldo and Patrik Schick scored for Leverkusen, who are 13th.
Guardiola rested most of his regular starters for the first half with 10 changes to his team and the risky move backfired.
Leverkusen struck in the 23rd minute on the counter-attack when Malik Tillman sent in a cross that Christian Kofane held up in the penalty area for Grimaldo to fire home.
Guardiola sent on reinforcements to start the second half in Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku and Nico O'Reilly, but it did not stop the visitors doubling their lead in the 54th minute with a glancing Schick header over a lunging Nathan Ake and past the outstretched hands of goalkeeper James Trafford.
City's scoring machine Erling Haaland entered the game in the 65th minute to a standing ovation.
But while he was in the thick of the action, there were no late-game heroics with Mark Flekken making a brave stop from the big Norwegian's best chance, a one-on-one with the keeper after running onto a through ball from Foden.
City had been keen to make amends for their 2-1 Premier League loss at Newcastle United on Saturday, but it was not to be and Flekken was a big reason why.
The Dutchman also made brilliant saves to deny Ake and Tijjani Reijnders as City peppered the visitors' goal with 20 attempts, including seven on target to Leverkusen's two.
City had not lost at home in the Champions League group stage since a shock 2-1 defeat by Lyon in September 2018.
Juventus brave Arctic chill to win in Bodo
Juventus substitute Jonathan David struck a stoppage-time goal to give his side a 3-2 Champions League win over Norway's Bodo/Glimt inside the Arctic Circle as the Italians grabbed their first victory in this season's competition.
Juve officials Giorgio Chiellini and Damien Comolli almost missed the game after their plane was diverted to Sweden because of snow, and they might have wished they'd stayed there when the home side took the lead through Ole Didrik Blomberg midway through the first half.
As often at their Aspmyra stadium, Bodo began brightly and goalkeeper Nikita Haikin was a rock between the posts, but Juventus turned up the heat, equalising through Lois Openda's first goal for the club three minutes after the break.
Fabio Miretti then had an effort ruled out for offside before they went in front through Weston McKennie's header in the 59th minute. Haikin still pulled off a string of fine saves to keep the home side in the game.
His efforts looked like they would be rewarded with a precious point when Juve substitute Juan Cabal conceded a penalty and Sondre Fet blasted it down the middle to level in the 87th minute.
However, the hosts were undone in stoppage time when Haikin spilled a shot from Kenan Yildiz, who caused havoc down the left after being introduced as a halftime substitute, and David reacted quickest to fire home a late winner.
The Italians ran to celebrate in front of a tiny knot of travelling supporters to the left of Haikin's goal, aware that the likes of Lazio and AS Roma have come unstuck in the same stadium. The win moves them to 21st place in the 36-team standings.
Bodo, who made the semi-finals of last season's Europa League, are in 31st place on two points.
McTominay helps Napoli overcome Qarabag
Napoli earned a 2-0 home victory over Qarabag in the Champions League with a Scott McTominay header and an own goal downing the resilient visitors, whose goalkeeper denied Rasmus Hojlund from the penalty spot among a string of fine saves.
It was a much-needed victory for the hosts, who had won one of their opening four matches, but Napoli were made to battle all the way by an Azerbaijani side who put in a battling performance at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Both sides are on seven points, with Qarabag a provisional 16th in the league phase standings and Napoli 18th.
Qarabag showed their intent from the start, pressing high up the pitch, and Emmanuel Addai came close early on with a powerful low effort from distance that flew just wide.
Napoli managed to get a foothold in the game, but their typical patient build-up play did little to trouble the visitors until a David Neres overhead kick brought a spectacular save from Qarabag keeper Mateusz Kochalski.
Qarabag continued to threaten, with Addai having another shot deflected into the side netting, and a balanced opening half ended goalless.
Qarabag striker Camilo Duran tried his luck from a wide angle shortly after the break but keeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic managed to hold onto the ball at the second attempt.
The visitors conceded what looked a harsh penalty for what the referee saw as a foul by Marko Jankovic on Giovanni Di Lorenzo but Kochalski went the right way to deny Hojlund with a one-handed save.
Napoli began to stream forward, Kochalski again saving from Neres, and when the keeper stopped Mathias Olivera's close-range effort, the resulting corner brought the opening goal in the 65th minute.
Kochalski batted away the ball from an attempted clearance by his own defender but McTominay was perfectly placed to head in the rebound.
McTominay's attempted overhead kick seven minutes later was turned into his own net by Jankovic and the Azerbaijani side had no response as Napoli earned the win on the fifth anniversary of Diego Maradona's death.
In the 10th minute, the Napoli fans remembered their most famous number 10, holding aloft scarves, flags and t-shirts in memory of the revered Maradona, who was fundamental to the Naples club winning their first two league titles.
Dortmund return to form with victory over Villarreal
Borussia Dortmund ended a three-match winless run with a decisive 4-0 triumph over 10-man Villarreal in the Champions League, powered by a double from Serhou Guirassy.
The Guinean striker broke the deadlock in stoppage time before the break, heading home from a corner, and he made it 2-0 in the 54th minute.
Villarreal's Juan Foyth was sent off for handling a goal-bound strike by Karim Adeyemi to concede a penalty and although Guirassy's initial effort from the spot was saved by keeper Luiz Junior, the forward was quickest to react and slotted home the rebound.
Three minutes later, Dortmund added a third through Adeyemi from inside the box while Daniel Svensson wrapped up the win with a header from the last move of the match.
The result lifted Dortmund to fourth in the standings with 10 points from five matches, level with Chelsea and Manchester City. Villarreal, meanwhile, are third from bottom with one point.
After a 3-3 draw with Stuttgart in the Bundesliga on Saturday, on the back of another draw with Hamburg and a humbling 4-1 defeat at Manchester City in their previous European outing, Dortmund found themselves under pressure.
However, they delivered an inspired performance at Signal Iduna Park to stay on track for a top-eight finish and an automatic qualifying slot.
Villarreal manager Marcelino set up his side defensively, leaving key attacking players Gerard Moreno, Ayoze Perez and Georges Mikautadze on the bench.
Opting for a compact midfield with three defensively-minded players, the visitors frustrated Dortmund for large portions of the first half and threatened on the counter through Canadian winger Tajon Buchanan and Santi Comesana, with Nicolas Pepe supplying incisive passes.
Yet, in first-half added time, Dortmund breached Villarreal's resistance. From a corner that caused chaos in the box, the ball fell to Guirassy at the far post, who nodded it over the line from close range to hand his side a crucial lead.
Guirassy doubled Dortmund's advantage with his 12th goal in nine Champions League home matches – and his third in this season's competition.
Three minutes later, Adeyemi got a slice of luck to add Dortmund's third. Breaking into the box, he played a one-two with Julian Brandt, whose backheeled pass deflected off a defender and ricocheted off Adeyemi's leg, looping over the goalkeeper in a bizarre arc into the net.
Substitute Fabio Silva had a golden opportunity to make it 4-0 in the 81st minute after Adeyemi was fouled in the box by Sergi Cardona, but his thunderous penalty struck the crossbar.
It wasn't until stoppage time that Svensson put the finishing touches on Dortmund's win, heading home from a Pascal Gross cross in the 95th minute.
Slavia Prague and Athletic Bilbao share spoils
Slavia Prague and Athletic Bilbao scrapped their way to a 0-0 draw on Tuesday in a tightly defended Champions League match that left both sides languishing in the competition's elimination zone.
Both teams created chances in a stop-start contest marred by numerous fouls but the visitors came closest to breaking the deadlock when Robert Navarro missed three solid chances in quick succession after the restart.
Athletic also created the best chance of the opening period when Oihan Sancet's strike from the centre of the penalty area was parried away by Slavia goalkeeper Jindrich Stanek.
The visitors stepped up the pace after the restart with Navarro testing Stanek with a low drive before forcing the Slavia keeper into a pair of last-ditch saves.
Slavia, seeking a first win in their European campaign, had a big chance late in the second half when defender Stepan Chaloupek sent a close-range effort over the bar with an open goal in front of him.
Galatasaray's Champions League winning run ends with defeat to Union
Galatasaray's three-match winning streak in the Champions League came to an end in a 1-0 defeat in Istanbul to Union Saint-Gilloise on Tuesday, with Promise David netting the winning goal for the Belgian side.
The loss was the Turkish side's first home defeat since August 2024, and they remain ninth in the standings on nine points while Union bounced back from three successive Champions League losses and are on six points in 18th place.
Galatasaray and Union are top of their respective domestic league standings, but came into Tuesday's clash with contrasting Champions League form. The visitors, however, came away with a deserved win against a Turkish side missing their main goal threats.
All eight Galatasaray goals in the Champions League had come from two players, Victor Osimhen with six and Yunus Akgun with two, and with both out injured the hosts struggled to break down the visitors' disciplined defence.
Both sides hit the woodwork in a scoreless opening half, Galatasaray's Gabriel Sara had a fierce effort from distance cannon back off the upright and Union defender Ross Sykes hit the crossbar with a header from a corner.
The only goal came in the 57th minute when Raul Florucz's clever reverse pass found the run of Adem Zorgane and his pullback from the byline was side-footed into the net from the edge of the six-yard area by David.
Galatasaray piled on the pressure and Union cleared a Abdulkerim Bardakci header off the line before the hosts had Arda Unyay sent off late on for a second booking and the Belgian side held on to get their campaign back on track.
Benfica win first Champions League points
An early goal from full back Samuel Dahl and a second on the stroke of fulltime from Leandro Barreiro handed Benfica a first win in this season's Champions League as they beat Ajax Amsterdam 2-0 away on Tuesday.
Both clubs were propping up the 36-team table, having each lost their opening four matches of the campaign, but Benfica climbed up seven places in the standings while crisis-ridden Ajax remain rooted to the bottom.
Dahl thrashed home a powerful shot from the edge of the area in the sixth minute after home goalkeeper Vitezslav Jaros had parried away a header from striker Richard Rios.
Barreiro set up the second goal with a fine takedown on the halfway line from a defensive clearance before playing a one-two with Fredrik Aursnes and then outstripping the Ajax defence to hammer home a powerful shot in the 90th minute.
Ajax's best chances fell to captain Davy Klaassen, whose first opportunity in the 33rd minute was well saved and who then miscued his shot with only the goalkeeper to beat early in the second half.
Benfica next host Napoli on December 10, while Ajax, who suffered a fourth successive defeat in all competitions, are away at Qarabag in Azerbaijan the same night.