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Napoli, Club Brugge and Bayern Munich remain at the top of their groups after winning all three matches in the Champions League so far following Tuesday night wins in Europe’s top club competition.
Napoli thrashed Ajax 6-1 in Amsterdam, Brugge beat Atletico Madrid 2-0 in Belgium and German giants Bayern Munich hammered Viktoria Plzen 5-0 at home.
Giacomo Raspadori netted twice as Napoli came from behind to deliver a masterclass and score a runaway win at 10-man Ajax.
Captain Giovanni di Lorenzo, Piotr Zielinski, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and substitute Giovanni Simeone added the other goals for the Italian league leaders, after Mohammed Kudus had given the hosts the lead inside the opening 10 minutes.
Napoli has a 100 percent record at the halfway point in Group A, leaving Ajax with three points after their biggest defeat in European football.
Liverpool put their recent stutters behind them to comfortably beat Glasgow Rangers 2-0 and move into second spot.
Thanks to a sumptuous first-half free kick from Trent Alexander-Arnold and a second-half penalty by Mohamed Salah, the win put the European champions on six points after three games.
Tottenham moved up to second despite squandering a string of chances and settling for a 0-0 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt while Marseille thrashed Group C leaders Sporting Lisbon 4-1 in the south of France.
Brugge, who have yet to concede in the campaign, remain top of Group B on nine points after a home win over Atletico. Bayer Leverkusen and FC Porto have three points each after the Portuguese picked up their first points with a 2-0 win against the Germans.
In Group C, Inter Milan beat Barcelona 1-0 in a quartet that also includes Bayern Munich.
Inter bounced back after two consecutive Serie A losses thanks to a Hakan Calhanoglu goal.
The Turkish midfielder slotted home a clinical strike from just outside the area in added time before the break to lift the Italians to second place, three points behind leaders Bayern and three in front of Barcelona.
In one of the two early games, Bayern demolished Viktoria Plzen to set a new record for the longest unbeaten group stage run.
The Bavarians have now gone 31 games in the competition without defeat, passing the mark set by Real Madrid.
Goals from Leroy Sane in the seventh minute, Serge Gnabry five minutes later and Sadio Mane in the 21st quickly put the hosts in the driving seat.
Bayern, who face Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga’s Der Klassiker on Saturday, found no resistance from the Czechs and substitute Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting completed the rout on 60 minutes.
Meanwhile, Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou says his Australian international midfielder Aaron Mooy has been ruled out of their key Champions League clash at RB Leipzig
Star defender Cameron Carter-Vickers will also not play in Wednesday night’s group F match in Germany after the United States international pulled up in training before the international break.
Carter-Vickers missed the weekend win over Motherwell and – with his regular partner Carl Starfelt out since early September with a knee injury – Stephen Welsh and Moritz Jenz are expected again to deputise in the centre of the Hoops defence.
Postecoglou arrived in Germany also without winger Liel Abada and Mooy.
“Cameron wasn’t 100 percent so he is not with the team,” said the Celtic boss.
“Liel Abada didn’t travel, obviously Carl Starfelt (is still out). Aaron Mooy had a bit of a niggle at training today so we left him behind.
The Hoops lost 3-0 at home to Real Madrid on matchday one before a 1-1 draw with Shakhtar Donetsk in neutral Warsaw made a result in Leipzig even more crucial.
The German outfit lost their opening two matches against Shakhtar and Real Madrid but Postecoglou stressed that points at Champions League level are not easy to find.
“The first two games have been pretty good from a performance perspective,” said Postecoglou.
“We felt we did well for about an hour in the first game but we did fall away, the second game, our performances were strong.
“We are under no illusions, tomorrow is going to be another massive challenge for us.”
© AAP
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