dpa
Berlin
Malick Thiaw, Alvaro Morata and Tijjani Reijnders silenced the home fans at the Santiago Bernabeu as they led AC Milan to a 3-1 win against Real Madrid, while Erling Haaland missed a penalty as Manchester City were stunned 4-1 at Sporting.
Thiaw put Milan ahead in the 12th minute, but it looked like Madrid would start their comeback when Vinicius Junior was brought down in the box and picked himself up to equalize from the spot in the 23rd.
But former Madrid striker Morata gave the lead back to Milan in the 39th while Reijnders sealed a huge win for the Italians in the 73rd.
In Lisbon, City took the early lead as Phil Foden was on target in the fourth minute, but Viktor Gyokeres equalized in the 38th and Maximiliano Araújo turned things around for Sporting right after the break.
Gyokeres scored twice more and both times from the spot in the 49th and in the 81st to complete a hat-trick, while City saw Haaland strike a penalty onto the crossbar in the 69th.
Luis Diaz also scored a hat-trick as Liverpool kept their perfect record this season with a 4-0 win against Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen, while Donyell Malen’s late effort gave Borussia Dortmund a 1-0 win against Sturm Graz.
Elsewhere, Celtic prevailed 3-1 against RB Leipzig, Monaco defeated Bologna 1-0 and Lille held Juventus to a 1-1 draw.
Milan not intimidated by Madrid With seven titles, Milan are second in the list of teams with most Champions League trophies, behind Madrid, who have 15. But the Italians were not intimidated and the away fans were euphoric when Thiaw met Christian Pulisic’s corner with his head to give Milan the lead.
Vinicius equalized from the spot after being fouled in the box and it looked like Madrid was about to make another famous comeback at their Bernabeu stadium. But that got a bit harder after their former player Morata, who won the Champions League with Madrid in 2014 and 2017, put Milan back in the lead.
Goalkeeper Andriy Lunin denied Rafael Leão’s header from close range in the 52nd, but couldn’t avoid Milan’s third through Reijnders in the 73rd.
Madrid thought they could add some pressure when Antonio Rüdiger scored a late goal, but that was disallowed due to an offside in the play.
Gyokeres shines
Coach Ruben Amorim said goodbye to the Sporting fans in style, helped by Gyokeres’ stunning performance against a star-studded Man City.
Amorim will take the job at City’s cross-town rivals Manchester United, replacing the sacked Erik ten Hag, and his final game will be away at Braga.
Gyokeres cancelled out Foden’s early opener before the break and Sporting kept the momentum going with Araújo’s goal immediately after the second half kick-off.
And while Gyokeres was clinical from the spot twice to secure Sporting the big win, Haaland could only hit the woodwork from the same position.
"A farewell like this? Nor myself or anyone else imagined. It seemed meant to be. I couldn’t have asked for a better farewell. I’m very happy for this moment,” Amorim said.
Bitter reunion for Alonso at Liverpool
Coach Xabi Alonso had a sweet season with Leverkusen, leading them to a German domestic double, but his return to Anfield, where he played for Liverpool from 2004 to 2009 was bitter.
Diaz and Gakpo scored within two minutes in the 61st and 63rd to break the deadlock, before Diaz completed his hat-trick with two late goals.
"In the last 30 minutes, we didn’t put up much of a fight. The goals came too quickly one after the other. The result is disappointing, especially for our fans,” Leverkusen goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky said.
Liverpool top the standings for now as they have won all of their four matches. Aston Villa are the only other team who can keep a perfect record if they defeat Club Brugge on Wednesday.
Malen rescues Dortmund
Dortmund kept their winning record at home this season thanks to substitute Malen, who was on target in the 86th to give them a win against Graz.
"In the end, it doesn’t matter how we take the three points. We’ve finally kept a clean sheet again after a long time. We’ll take the 1-0 and go home happy,” defender Nico Schlotterbeck said.
While Dortmund are the best German team in the Champions League, Leipzig are yet to score a point and suffered their fourth defeat in four games.