TheCable

Ten-man Manchester City and Tottenham both won big in their respective UCL games, moving both teams closer to the knockout stage.

Sergio Aguero (brace) and Raheem Sterling’s hattrick led City to a 5-1 win over Atalanta at the Etihad Stadium, while Tottenham dispatched a poor Red Star Belgrade side 5-0 in their London stadium.

Atalanta, third in the Italian Serie A following last season’s breakthrough, won a penalty on 28 minutes when Josip Illicic was tripped by makeshift center-back, Fernandinho in the box. Ukraine midfielder, Ruslan Malinovskyi tucked away the spotkick to give the visitors an unlikely 1-0 lead.

Manchester City were level six minutes later through Sergio Aguero. The Argentine striker toe-poked a Raheem Sterling low cross into the back of the net on 34 minutes.

Guardiola’s men completed the turnaround four minutes later with a penalty of theirs, earned via a foul on the electric Raheem Sterling. Aguero stepped up and converted emphatically to put City in charge of the encounter.

It was also Aguero’s 16th goal in his last 19 UCL games.

The second half was, however, all about Raheem Sterling who bagged a hattrick of goals within 11 minutes.

The former Liverpool winger was served the first on a plate by Phil Foden, smashed in the second from Ilkay Gundogan’s deep through pass and converted Rhiyadh Mahrez’s cross to complete his second hattrick of the season.

Despite a red card to Foden late in the game, City continued to dominate and marched to a comfortable win.

Also in England, Tottenham finally returned to winning ways courtesy of a 5-0 win over Red Star Belgrade of Serbia.

Harry Kane (header) and Heung-Min Son (volley) netted early goals to set the North London club on the path of a first win in 4 matches. South Korea’s Son extended the lead before halftime with a strike at the near post.

Erik Lamela added a goal to his two assists and Kane’s strike completed the rout, returning Tottenham to winning ways with their biggest UCL win.

In other matches, Kylian Mbappe, making a comeback from injury, was a 52nd-minute substitute but still scored a hattrick in Paris Saint Germain’s 5-0 rout of Club Brugge in Belgium.

Real Madrid, however, picked up oy their first win of the UCL season with a 1-0 win over Galatasaray in Turkey.

The 13-time UCL champions took an early lead via Toni Kroos’ deflected strike on his 100th Champions League start to resurrect Real’s faltering campaign.

Results

Atletico Madrid 1-0 Bayer Leverkusen
Shakhtar Donetsk 2-2 Dinamo Zagreb
Club Brugge 0-5 PSG
Galatasaray 0-1 Real Madrid
Olympiakos 2-3 Bayern Munich
Tottenham 5-0 Red Star Belgrade
Juventus Lokomotiv 2-1 Moscow
Manchester City 5-1 Atalanta