Champions League evening

Crazy Barca draw, BVB without a chance against City

Lamine Yamal (center) and FC Barcelona had difficulties against Bruges.(Bild: AFP/NICOLAS TUCAT)

A crazy Champions League evening for FC Barcelona. The Catalans struggled right from the start against Club Brugge from Belgium. The lead changed hands time and again - in the end, Lamine Yamal and Co. could not get past 3:3. And they did so with a bit of luck. Inter Milan also struggled for a long time against underdogs Kairat Almaty. In the end, the Kazakhs were brought to their knees 2:1. Manchester City, on the other hand, put in a strong performance against Borussia Dortmund (4:1). The Champions League is still not a good place for coach Jose Mourinho and Benfica. 

FC Barcelona failed to win for the second time in the fourth match of the league phase of the Champions League. The Catalans had to settle for a 3-3 draw at Club Brugge in a thrilling match on Wednesday and are now on seven points. Bruges have four points. Karabakh Agdam caused another surprise. The champions from Azerbaijan fought out a 2-2 draw against Club World Champions Chelsea in Baku, with referee Sebastian Gishamer making his CL debut.

Inter Milan are the only team apart from Bayern Munich and Arsenal to remain unblemished after beating Kairat Almaty 2-1. Victory number three went to Manchester City thanks to a 4:1 win against Borussia Dortmund, where Marcel Sabitzer was substituted in the 66th minute. Newcastle United are also on nine points after a 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao and Galatasaray Istanbul after a brilliant Victor Osimhen performance in a 3-0 win at bottom-of-the-table Ajax Amsterdam. Atalanta Bergamo (1:0 at Olympique Marseille), Bayer Leverkusen (1:0 at Benfica Lisbon) and Pafos (1:0 against Villarreal) also celebrated victories.

Soccer tidbits in Bruges
Bruges and Barca provided a real soccer tidbit. The hosts went three ahead through Nicolo Tresoldi (6th) and double scorer Carlos Forbs (17th, 63rd) to the delight of the home crowd, but coach Hansi Flick's side hit back with goals from Ferran Torres (8th) and Lamine Yamal (61st) with the outside of his boot and an own goal from Christos Tzolis (77th), who headed a Yamal cross into his own goal. The supposed winner for Brugge in stoppage time was rightly disallowed due to a foul on Barca goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.

The 37-year-old Gishamer completed his premiere performance in the "premier class" without any major mistakes. The game started well for the Londoners, with 18-year-old Brazilian Estevao surprising goalkeeper Mateusz Kochalski with a shot into the far corner (16'). However, the surprise team of this year's CL season was not to be deterred and struck back twice. After Camilo Duran had hit the bar, Leandro Andrade scored with a direct shot to make it 1:1 (29'). Interestingly, the hosts were outnumbered at the time due to an injury to Kady.

Gishamer handed out five yellow cards
Ten minutes later, Marko Jankovic confidently converted a justified penalty after a handball by Chelsea defender Jorrel Hato. Soon after the restart, Alejandro Garnacho scored a "joker" (53') for the English side. They had slightly more chances to score the winner but, like the home side, were unlucky with their finishing. Salzburg's Gishamer handed out five yellow cards in a sometimes heated game, two after a scuffle. It was the first time an Austrian referee had officiated in the CL since Robert Schörgenhofer on November 2, 2011 in Viktoria Pilsen's 4-0 defeat to Barcelona. Both teams are on seven points and fully on course for the knockout phase.

Inter kept their clean sheet thanks to goals from Lautaro Martinez (45) and Carlos Augusto (67). Phil Foden (22, 57), Erling Haaland (29) and Rayan Cherki (91) got on the scoresheet for Man City. Haaland has scored five of his 18th goals in the top flight this season. Only Osimhen (6), who was responsible for all three of Galatasaray's goals, has scored more often. Twice the striker showed no nerves from the penalty spot. Yusuf Demir was not used by the winners.