Football
Valverde saves Madrid, Muriqi sinks Liverpool: a wild Wednesday night in the Champions League
Athens and Istanbul delivered a twin bill of Champions League madness on Wednesday night: twice down, Real Madrid snatched a 3-2 win at AEK Athens through a Federico Valverde strike in stoppage time, while Fenerbahçe ended Liverpool's perfect run (3-2) with a Vedat Muriqi header in the 89th minute.
Madrid, the comeback specialists
Real Madrid never die — and they love proving it the hard way. In Athens, the Spaniards fell behind twice to a brave AEK side. Aboubakary Koita broke the deadlock in the 12th minute off a layoff from Luka Jovic, before Jude Bellingham levelled with an emphatic finish. Then Stavro Pilo restored the hosts' lead with a brilliant strike at the end of a move that started deep in AEK's own half.
Kylian Mbappé answered three minutes later, curling home the 2-2 — his fourth Champions League goal of the season. And just when the match seemed headed for a frustrating draw, substitute Federico Valverde rifled one home from long range in the second minute of stoppage time, beating the goalkeeper from outside the box. A missile that gave Madrid a fourth win in four matches.
12 points, level with PSG
With this 3-2 win, Real Madrid stay perfect and join Paris Saint-Germain at the top of the league phase, both on 12 points. This script is nothing new: last month, Madrid had already overturned Roma 4-3 by scoring three goals in the final 10 minutes, including Antonio Rüdiger's 90th-minute winner. In this competition, writing off Real before the final whistle is pure naivety.
Istanbul: Liverpool's perfect run ends
Meanwhile in Istanbul, Liverpool lost their invincibility. The Reds, led by an inspired Trey Nyoni — the 19-year-old midfielder opened the scoring in the 25th minute for his first Champions League goal — were pegged back twice. Mason Greenwood levelled four minutes later, Alexander Isak then put Liverpool ahead again, before Archie Brown dragged Fenerbahçe back into it in the 73rd minute.
And in the 89th, Vedat Muriqi rose to head home a cross from the right, sealing a famous 3-2 win for the Turkish side. It is Fenerbahçe's first victory of the league phase, following one defeat and two draws — and all the sweeter given the club had earlier suffered a heavy 6-0 defeat to Aston Villa in the competition. For Liverpool, it is a second straight defeat in all competitions, after Sunday's Premier League loss to Arsenal.
The race for direct qualification
Behind the PSG-Real duo (12 points), the race for direct qualification to the last 16 remains open: a chasing pack of six teams on nine points, including Barcelona and Aston Villa, is waiting for the slightest slip. Arsenal (at Slavia Prague) and Manchester City (at Leipzig) played in the late kick-offs of this fourth matchday. One thing is certain: at this pace, the league phase has many more wild nights in store through November.