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Barça’s Defense Collapses as Chelsea Claim a 3–0 Win

Barcelona once again paid the price for fatal defensive errors, falling 3–0 to Chelsea in the fifth round of the unified-group stage of the UEFA Champions League.

The back line was the primary reason for the Catalan side’s defeat, as French defender Jules Koundé scored an own goal before teammate Ronald Araújo was sent off just before halftime. Chelsea thus took revenge on the visitors, whom they had defeated 3–0 in their most recent encounter — the second leg of the 2017–2018 Round of 16 (after a 1–1 draw in London).

After two Chelsea goals scored by Argentine Enzo Fernández were overturned by VAR (4' and 23'), Koundé gifted the Londoners the opener when he redirected the ball into his own net following a cross from Spaniard Marc Cucurella (27').

Barcelona’s problems deepened when they were forced to finish the match with ten men from the 44th minute after Araújo was shown a second yellow card.

In the second half, another Chelsea goal — this time from Brazilian Andrey Santos (50') — was also disallowed, but the breakthrough came moments later through fellow Brazilian Estevão, who fired a brilliant strike after a pass from Reece James (55'). VAR helped the winners again in the 73rd minute, validating a goal scored by substitute Liam Delap.

Guardiola Suffers Defeat in His 100th Champions League Match

In his 100th match in Europe’s premier competition, Spanish manager Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City side suffered a bitter 2–0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen.

The surprise came as Guardiola made ten changes to the lineup that had lost 2–1 to Newcastle in the Premier League on Saturday — a decision that did not pay off. Just 23 minutes into the match, Spaniard Alejandro Grimaldo opened the scoring for Leverkusen.

Despite three halftime substitutions, City conceded a second goal when Czech striker Patrik Schick headed in a fine cross from Algerian Ibrahim Maza (54').

City’s tally froze at 10 points, while Leverkusen climbed to 8.

Juventus, meanwhile, earned a hard-fought first win that lifted them to six points after a 3–2 victory over Norway’s Bodø/Glimt. Canadian striker Jonathan David scored the decisive goal (90+1') in a match where Juve trailed through Ole Didrik Blomberg (27') before turning it around via Belgian Loïs Openda (48') and American Weston McKennie (59'), only for Sondre Brunstad Fet to equalize from the penalty spot (87').

Napoli, the champions of Italy, beat Qarabağ of Azerbaijan 2–0 thanks to goals from Scotland’s Scott McTominay (65') and Montenegro’s Marko Janković, who scored an own goal (72').

Borussia Dortmund returned to winning ways after three matches, demolishing Spain’s Villarreal 4–0 with goals from Guinea’s Serhou Guirassy (45+2' and 54') and German forward Karim Adeyemi (59'), taking advantage of the visitors’ numerical disadvantage after Argentine Juan Foyth was sent off (53'). Sweden’s Daniel Svensson added a fourth (90+5'). Dortmund now sit on 10 points, while Villarreal remain stuck on one.

Marseille completed a comeback win over visiting Newcastle thanks to two goals from veteran Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (46' and 50') after the visitors had gone ahead through Harvey Barnes (6'). The French side now have six points, compared to nine for Newcastle.

Slavia Prague were held to a goalless draw by visiting Athletic Bilbao and remain without a win, while Benfica claimed a 2–0 away victory against Ajax in Amsterdam. Galatasaray fell 1–0 at home to Belgian surprise package Union Saint-Gilloise.

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