Rumours of Real Madrid’s imminent Champions League demise had, it turns out, been exaggerated. So had suggestions Kylian Mbappé makes a poor fit for Carlo Ancelotti’s side if an emphatic opening goal is anything to go by, although his later departure with an injury means the question marks will linger. Ultimately the holders could feel relieved at hauling themselves back into contention for an automatic knockout spot and the fact Atalanta, intense and vibrant to the last, were cheered off in defeat said everything about the tenor of a pulsating evening.
It ended with Mateo Retegui volleying over from point-blank range, although a likely offside spared his blushes. The home side would have deserved to extend a 14-game unbeaten run that stretched to late September. Everyone leaves this rebuilt venue, the most cutting-edge in Italy but still dreamily atmospheric, knowing they have been in a game and Real were taken the distance. Atalanta should still reach the last 16 one way or another and there was a sense, as the teams walked off, that they may meet again soon with more at stake.
They had faced each other in Warsaw almost four months previously, the winners of Europe’s showpiece tournaments contesting the Super Cup. That night Mbappé scored on his debut and Real came through in relative comfort; how he needed more of that good feeling here, the concerns having mounted upon his missed penalty at Anfield. Real required some too: they are not supposed to fail on this stage, not in a tournament expanded partly to offer its superpowers maximum security, but a defeat would have left that prospect looming into the new year.
The injection of cheer came quickly. After the Liverpool setback Ancelotti posited Mbappé was short on confidence and, when he got away in the second minute but allowed Marco Carnesecchi to block, the evidence seemed persuasive. Mbappé had scored against Girona from a similar position at the weekend but this was where Real really needed him. At least he could be confident of further opportunities: Atalanta’s aggression invited runs into vacant space and the next yielded rich reward.
This time Mbappé executed with the ease and aplomb that mark football’s extraterrestrials. It stemmed from deft footwork by Brahim Díaz, coupled with a cute pass, but the presence of mind to let the ball run across Marten de Roon was what wrought Mbappé the opening. Now he had a clear glimpse and addressed it instantly, firing unstoppably to Carnesecchi’s right for his 50th goal in this competition.
In the 14th minute he streaked clear a third time, self-belief clearly not an issue when he shot early. Carnesecchi parried and it was, against expectation, the last anyone saw of that particular duel. Soon after the half-hour Mbappé sat down by the centre circle and hobbled off, heading down the tunnel after Rodrygo replaced him. “A muscular problem, we’ll have to evaluate it tomorrow,” Ancelotti said. It did not look serious to the naked eye and Real, who have endured a string of absences, will not want his new-found momentum stymied.
Their progress on the night was dealt a bump when Aurélien Tchouaméni clipped Sead Kolasinac and Atalanta, who had forced several desperate clearances without fashioning a genuine chance, had a penalty. Charles De Ketelaere battered it past Thibaut Courtois; there was no time to restart before the interval and Real looked primed to continue flirting with the unthinkable.
They weathered a squall upon re-emerging, Courtois parrying from the effervescent Ademola Lookman, before doing as they so often have. A Real attack seemed to have broken down when Éderson, the otherwise excellent midfielder, inadvertently played the ball into Vinícius Júnior’s path. Sharp as a tack, the year’s second-best player spun and clipped his finish across Carnesecchi.
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Champions League roundup: Olise weaves his magic
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Michael Olise produced a moment of magic to set the seal on Bayern Munich‘s demolition of Shakhtar Donetsk and ease them towards the knockout stage.
Olise’s brilliant stoppage-time run and finish capped a 5-1 victory for the Germans, in which he had also scored from the penalty spot, in Gelsenkirchen.
Kevin’s fifth-minute strike had given the home side the perfect start, but Konrad Laimer levelled before Thomas Müller’s 55th goal in the competition sent the visitors in ahead at the break and set the stage for Olise’s double either side of Jamal Musiala’s strike.
Goals from Gonçalo Ramos, Nuno Mendes and substitute Désiré Doué – his first in the competition – handed Paris Saint-Germain a much-needed three points from a comfortable 3-0 win at RB Salzburg.
Nordi Mukiele left it late to end Inter‘s unbeaten Champions League record as Bayer Leverkusen claimed a dramatic 1-0 victory at the BayArena.
Mukiele struck in the 90th minute to inflict a first defeat across six games in this season’s competition on the Serie A champions – it was also the first goal they have conceded.
Casper Nielsen came off the bench to fire Club Brugge to a 2-1 home victory over Sporting after Eduardo Quaresma’s own goal had handed them a way back into the game following Geny Catamo’s early opener.
Julien Le Cardinal’s first-half strike was enough to earn Brest a 1-0 victory over Eredivisie leaders PSV Eindhoven.
Real had been waiting for Vinícius to awaken; the same was demanded of Jude Bellingham, who had offered little beyond a volleyed cross Antonio Rüdiger might have converted. So when both players combined for a marvellous goal almost straight afterwards, Vinícius offering a sumptuous 50-yard pass down the inside right and watching his teammate jink inside before rolling in with his left foot, they finally looked in full flow.
“It was important we did the fundamental things well and then the quality would shine through,” Bellingham said. Atalanta, the Serie A leaders who continue to surpass themselves, have bundles of it too and quickly responded with Lookman’s flashing strike. It set up a frenetic final quarter, Retegui among those testing Courtois before Real could wonder whether the stars favour them yet again.