Liverpool saw its hopes of reaching the knockout stage of the Champions League take a major blow on Tuesday, as the English side suffered a shocking 2-0 defeat to Red Star Belgrade.
Liverpool still stand level with Napoli for first place in Group C with six points, but PSG is just one back at five points, and even Red Star are now in the mix at four points with two games to play in the group stage.
Red Star Players: Liverpool Underestimated Us
The first encounter between the two sides had gone as expected, with Red Star suffering a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Liverpool at Anfield two weeks earlier. But with the action shifting to Belgrade this week, Milan Pavkov scored two goals in a span of eight minutes in the first half to give the hosts a lead they wouldn’t surrender.
“I was hoping for this,” Pavkov said after the match. “I said earlier that I’d like to score against Liverpool and it came true. I even scored twice.”
For many Red Star players, the verdict was clear: Liverpool showed a lack of respect for the Serbian squad.
“We played well and managed to shut them out…now if only we could play like this every week,” Red Star defender Milos Degenek said, according to the Liverpool Echo. “I think Liverpool underestimated us and consequently paid for that mistake.”
The result leaves all four teams in the group with all to play for in their final two games. Next up, Liverpool will travel to play PSG, while Napoli will host Red Star. According to William Hill, some combination of Liverpool (4/9), Napoli (4/11) and PSG (1/2) are expected to advance to the knockout rounds, while Red Star (16/1) remains a long shot to finish in the top two.
Man United Overcomes Juventus, Ronaldo
In the highest profile match of Wednesday’s action, Manchester United came from behind in the final minutes to defeat Juventus 2-1 in Turin.
Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring in the 65th minute, when he scored his first ever Champions League goal for Juventus – the 121st of his career in the competition overall – on a beautiful volley, giving his side a 1-0 lead.
But Juan Mata clawed back a goal on an 86th-minute free kick that looked to guarantee the visitors a critical point on the road. Then, just three minutes later, an own goal off of Alex Sandro sealed the full three points for Man United, stunning the home crowd.
The result shouldn’t cause much trouble for Juventus, which suffered its first loss of the competition but still leads Group H with nine points. Manchester United received a major boost, however, as the win allowed them to remain in second place ahead of Valencia, which scored a 3-1 win over Young Boys.
Overall, Manchester City (3/1) remains the favorite to win the 2018-19 Champions League. Other major contenders include Barcelona (5/1), Juventus (11/2), Bayern Munich (9/1), PSG (9/1), and Real Madrid (10/1).
