Chelsea beats Barcelona as Mou’s Benfica finally wins

Benfica’s head coach Jose Mourinho gives instructions to Samuel Dahl, the scorer of the opening goal against Ajax

On a night of changes, blunders and a glorious individual goal by 18-year-old Estevão, defensive lapses cost Manchester City and Barcelona dearly as both teams slumped to notable losses in the Champions League yesterday [Macau time].

In Pep Guardiola’s 100th Champions League game as City coach, his team struggled to cope with Bayer Leverkusen’s quick transitions in a 2-0 defeat, while Barcelona had an own goal and a red card in its 3-0 loss at Chelsea.

Guardiola made 10 changes to his starting lineup following Saturday’s loss to Newcastle in the Premier League, with Erling Haaland among those on the bench, but it didn’t have the desired effect.

Alejandro Grimaldo fired home Leverkusen’s first goal with a low shot into the far corner in the 23rd and Patrik Schick headed in a second in the 54th.

“It feels wonderful and we gave everything till the last second,” Schick told broadcaster DAZN.

Mourinho’s Benfica finally wins

While Guardiola had an unexpected loss, his old foe José Mourinho picked up his first Champions League win with his new club Benfica as left back Samuel Dahl’s early goal set the stage for a 2-0 win over troubled Ajax. It was No. 36 vs. No. 35 in the pre-game standings as the two winless teams met in Amsterdam.

Dahl scored an unstoppable volley in the sixth and Leandro Barreiro added a second goal in the 90th. Ajax has lost all five of its Champions League games and won only one of its last 10 games in all competitions.

Estevão stars and Barcelona stumbles

Chelsea comfortably beat 10-man Barcelona 3-0 at Stamford Bridge to earn its third league-phase win and move closer to the top.

It was the second loss for Barcelona, which went down a man after defender Ronald Araújo was shown a second yellow card just before halftime for a forceful tackle on Marc Cucurella.

Jules Koundé’s own goal handed Chelsea the lead in the 27th as Barcelona defenders got tangled up in the goalmouth.

The hosts stretched their advantage with a fine individual goal by Estevão in the 55th as he held off two defenders, and a close-range shot by Liam Delap in the 73rd.

Barcelona’s fourth loss in 10 games in all competitions could mean more criticism of coach Hansi Flick’s approach.

City would have moved atop the table with a win but the night ended with the top three unchanged. Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Inter Milan all play Wednesday.

Borussia Dortmund rose to fourth and Chelsea is fifth after both won to join City on 10 points, while Barcelona is down in 15th and Juventus improved to 21st with a win as the Italian club tries to turn around its campaign.

Aubameyang shines for Marseille

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice in four minutes early in the second half to turn the game around for Marseille in a 2-1 win over Newcastle.

Serhou Guirassy scored two goals as Dortmund routed 10-man Villarreal 4-0 to end a three-game winless run in all competitions.

Juventus won 3-2 on its trip into the Arctic Circle to face Bodo/Glimt and needed a stoppage-time winner from Jonathan David after the Norwegian host leveled the score in the 87th.

David scored on the rebound of a shot by Kenan Yildiz, who was brought on at halftime and had a hand in all three Juventus goals.

Canadian forward Promise David scored the only goal as Belgium’s Union Saint-Gilloise won 1-0 at injury-depleted Galatasaray. The Turkish club was without injured Champions League top scorer Victor Osimhen, and finished with 10 men after 18-year-old defender Arda Ünyay picked up two yellow cards.

McTominay scores again

Scott McTominay scored the opening goal as Napoli won 2-0 against Azerbaijan’s Qarabag, whose player Kevin Medina seemed to be knocked unconscious by another McTominay shot and was later substituted. Napoli fans commemorated the fifth anniversary of club legend Diego Maradona’s death.

Athletic Bilbao was frustrated in a 0-0 draw with Slavia Prague which leaves both clubs  JAMES ELLINGWORTH, Sports Writer, MDT/AP