UEFA Champions League 2020-21: Matchday 5 Review

With only one matchday to finalize the teams heading into the last 16 of the tournament, matchday 5 of the Champions League played out to a conclusion last night. Here is what went down:

Results

• Lokomotiv Moscow 1-3 RB Salzburg
• Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0 Real Madrid
• Atletico Madrid 1-1 Bayern Munich
• Borussia Monchengladbach 2-3 Inter Milan
• FC Porto 0-0 Manchester City
• Marseille 2-1 Olympiacos
• Atalanta 1-1 Mitjylland
• Liverpool 1-0 Ajax
• Krasnodar 1-0 Rennes
• Istanbul Basaksehir 3-4 RB Leipzig
• Sevilla 0-4 Chelsea
• Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Lazio
• Club Brugge 3-0 Zenit
• Ferencvaros 0-3 Barcelona
• Juventus 3-0 Dynamo Kyiv
• Manchester United 1-3 PSG

Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0 Real Madrid

The Ukrainian club managed to complete the double over the 13-time Champions League winners in the group stages of the match. Superb counter-attacking from Shakhtar absolutely blew Madrid out of the water and managed to seal another victory against Los Blancos.

Manor Solomon and Dentinho managed to get on the score sheet for the hosts while the visitors were wasteful in putting away their chances throughout the match, and clearly lacked direction in all areas of the pitch.

Their chances of surely dropping to the Europa League were saved by Inter’s victory over Gladbach to deny the Foals an R16 place on matchday 5 itself.

Istanbul Basaksehir 3-4 RB Leipzig

The two opening goals of the match for Leipzig were hilarious, with Yussuf Poulsen getting the credit for a deflected Marcel Sabitzer shot from out of the box. Nordi Mukiele didn’t finish a cross from Forsberg very well, but it had enough to beat the keeper.

Right before half-time, though, the hosts managed to pull one back thanks to a brilliant finish from Irfan Kahveci following a corner situation.

Dani Olmo showed great control and finishing accuracy to restore the two-goal margin next, but Kahveci managed to slot home another great goal to get the game on once again. The Basaksehir player scored a hat-trick to level things up next, but a goal from Alexander Sorloth in stoppage time sealed all the points for Leipzig.

This was certainly one of, if not the most entertaining matches from the group stages.

Sevilla 0-4 Chelsea

The match that was anticipated to be the most difficult contest for the Blues ended up being the easiest win for them. Olivier Giroud managed to become the oldest player to score a Champions League hat-trick, overtaking Cristiano Ronaldo. His perfect hat-trick makes sure that Chelsea will finish at the top of the group.

Despite two heavily rotated teams from both managers, the Blues clearly had more quality on the pitch to shut the opposition out with a clean sheet to their name and score the goals themselves.

Edouard Mendy has the best goalkeeping stats this season in the competition, keeping 4 clean sheets out of 5 (joint best) and conceding the least amount of goals in the competition (1).

Best Player: Olivier Giroud (Chelsea)

It goes without saying that Olivier Giroud has been on fire in the Champions League. It was his goal that broke the deadlock in the 90th minute and won Chelsea the match against Rennes last week. He proved his worth once again in a Chelsea shirt, scoring four goals in the match.

Superb finishing in the first goal with the left foot found the corner of the net for Giroud. He then chipped the keeper with his right to double the lead. The third goal was a brilliant header, converting an inch-perfect cross from fellow countryman Kante. The Frenchman then scored a penalty to end the proceedings in the 81st minute.

Through to the Knockout Stages:

• Bayern Munich (Group A)
• Manchester City (Group C)
• FC Porto (Group C)
• Liverpool (Group D)
• Chelsea (Group E)
• Sevilla (Group E)
• Barcelona (Group G)
• Juventus (Group G)