Thursday cannon fodder: Champions League update

Since y’all seem to like updates on what is going on around European football, I’ll give you brief Champions League match reports today.

Chelsea 0 - Bayern Munich 3
A Serge Gnabry, three-minute brace probably would have been enough for the visitors to see off the Blues, but Robert Lewandowski added a killer third goal in the 76’ minute. I think it’s safe to say Chelsea’s Champions League season is over — I don’t think they are overcoming 3-0 down in Munich. That’s a bit of a bummer for Arsenal; it would have been nice to have some of the Premier League competition still playing midweek matches.

Napoli 1 - Barcelona 1
Antoine Griezmann equalized in the second half after Dries Mertens had put the home side up in the first. You’d favor Barca heading home for the second leg, but they will be without Sergio Busquets (accumulation) and Arturo Vidal (straight red suspension), which could make things interesting.

Lyon 1 - Juventus 0
Les Gones (Lyon) handed the Serie A leaders a surprising (or maybe not so surprising) defeat on the strength of a Lucas Tousart goal. Juve was definitely favored on paper, even away from home, but I suppose that is why they play the games. Paulo Dybala had a goal ruled out for offside, and Gonzalo Higuain squandered a few chances. Juventus has won just 4 of their last 8 competitive matches and are in a bit of slump.

Real Madrid 1 - Manchester City 2
Goals from Gabriel Jesus and Kevin De Bruyne dug out an impressive win for visiting City after Isco had put the Madridistas ahead in the 60th minute. Sergio Ramos was sent off for denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity when he pulled back Jesus on a breakaway in the 86th minute. It was Ramos’ 4th red card in the Champions League, tying him for most all time. The only blemish on the evening for City was the loss of Aymeric Laporte in the first half to injury — no word on the severity.

In case you missed it last week, the other ties were as follows (with a little stadium knowledge for you):

Atleti beat Liverpool 1-0 at the Wanda Metropolitana.
Dortmund beat PSG 2-1 at the Westfalenstadion.
Atalanta beat Valencia 4-1 at the San Siro.
RB Leipzig beat Spurs 1-0 at the toilet bowl in London.