Another Wednesday, another interesting Champions League round closed. One of the most interesting groups of this year’s campaign, group A, saw Liverpool and Napoli inflict heavy defeats to their respective opponents.Liverpool notched their fourth consecutive win over Ajax with a handsome 3-0 triumph to send them through to the Champions League (UCL) knockout stages. With no less than 10 UCL titles between the sides, a host of missed chances saw the Dutch outfit’s mammoth 24-match scoring streak come to an end.##EDITORS_CHOICE##Jürgen Klopp’s Reds have been slow out of the blocks this season and they stayed true to character in Amsterdam as Steven Berghuis thumped the base of the post early on. It took Liverpool almost half an hour to register their first attempt but once they got the ball rolling, the hosts found it tough to cope. Andrew Robertson fired the first warning shot by striking the side-netting from a narrow angle, and after Dušan Tadić fluffed his lines with another tremendous Ajax chance, the visitors finally found their shooting boots.Mohamed Salah did, at least, as he latched onto Jordan Henderson’s perfectly-weighted ball in behind to scoop over the onrushing Remko Pasveer. The same couldn’t be said of marquee summer signing Darwin Núñez, however, after inexplicably finding the woodwork with the goal gaping from six yards out.Darwin Nunez with a special miss pic.twitter.com/C9MBj6iOfy— Callum Castel (@callumcasteln) October 26, 2022 The Uruguayan’s miss was a hot topic at the halftime break but he made amends just four minutes into the second period, holding off two Ajax defenders to head powerfully in off the post. With momentum firmly in the visiting camp, manager Alfred Schreuder was left scratching his head just three minutes later when Harvey Elliott raced in behind and lashed his second-ever UCL goal into the roof of the net. As Liverpool slipped into cruise control, Kenneth Taylor and Jurriën Timber went close for ‘de Godenzonen’ but the goal remained elusive until the final whistle.Liverpool’s second away win all season will bring them much-needed confidence, although topping the group will be a tall order with a big win over in-form Napoli needed next week. Ajax, meanwhile, will settle for the UEFA Europa League, barring a surprise result against Rangers next time out.Hello, darkness, my old friendElsewhere, the incredible Napoli keep on amazing the football public. Il Partenopei sauntered to their 12th consecutive victory in all competition with a comfortable win against Rangers. Gli Azzurri have now won each of their UCL games this season, becoming the first Italian club in 18 years to win all five of their opening group stage games.Having already qualified from Group A, Luciano Spalletti made six changes to the side that beat AS Roma in Serie A last weekend, but it was clear very early on that there would be no Neapolitan charity on offer for the Scottish side. With just over 10 minutes on the clock, Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s diagonal ball found Giovanni Simeone in the box, and he hammered it home from a tight angle.The home side were rampant down the flanks, and four minutes later it was once again a full-back supplying the ammo for Napoli’s in-form striker. This time it was Mário Rui who whipped in a cross from the left, and Simeone stole in front of his marker to head home, joining his father Diego as the only Argentinian player to score four goals in their first four UCL matches. Shell-shocked and outclassed, Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s team survived a further scare when Tanguy Ndombele crashed a shot against the bar after good work from Di Lorenzo.The halftime break offered no reprieve for the Gers, as Napoli continued to pour forward, yet Simeone spurned a chance for his hat-trick. A smart pass by Matteo Politano released the man known as Cholito in on goal, and he lofted the ball over the onrushing Allan McGregor, but the ball bounced over the bar.With zero points and just one goal in what has been a humbling UCL campaign, Alfredo Morelos missed a glaring opportunity to get Rangers back into the game, as the Colombian failed to turn into an open net after good work from Ridvan Yilmaz. It would be a miss that was punished in the closing stages, as Leo Ostigard netted a third goal for Napoli, pummeling a header home from a Giacomo Raspadori corner.Another encounter worth mentioning happened in North London, where Tottenham missed their chance to take revenge on Sporting Lisbon. The Spurs snapped their two-game losing streak, coming from behind to secure a 1-1 draw Against the Portuguese side. Antonio Conte’s men retained top spot in Group D, with all four sides still in contention to qualify on matchday six.Sporting would silence the home crowd inside the first 25 minutes, when former Spurs man Marcus Edwards drove home a long range shot into the bottom corner, sending the travelling Portuguese fans into pandemonium in the corner of the stadium. Boos rained down on the home side as the two teams headed down the tunnel for halftime, as the home fans hoped for a turnaround from the flat first half performance.The home side pushed for an equaliser in the second period, but appeared to leave their shooting boots at home. Having only scored once in their previous two games coming into the night, the Spurs faithful were growing restless as the clock ticked towards the final whistle and chances continued to go begging.All signs appeared to point to a third straight loss in all competitions for the North London outfit, but in the nick of time Rodrigo Bentancur leapt above the Sporting defence to head home from a corner kick. While the visiting players pleaded for a foul after the Uruguayan appeared to collide with the goalkeeper as he nodded the ball home, the referee allowed the goal, sending Tottenham back into top spot in Group D.Spurs captain Harry Kane looked to puncture the stubborn Sporting reaguard with the last kick of the game to snatch all three points for the hosts, sparking scenes of wild jubilation around the Tottenham Hotspur stadium. However, the goal was ruled out for offside after a lengthy VAR review, sparing the Sporting blushes and leaving the fate of Group D up to the final round of matches.CHAMPIONS LEAGUEGroup stage – Round 5TuesdaySalzburg – Chelsea 1-2 (1-1)/Adamu 48 – Kovacic 23, Havertz 64/Sevilla – Copenhagen 3-0 (0-0)/En-Nesyri 61, Isco 88, Montiel 90/Dinamo Zagreb – Milan 0-4 (0-1)/Gabbia 39, Leao 49, Giroud 59, Ljubicic (og) 69/Celtic – Shakhtar 1-0 (1-0)/Giakoumakis 34 – Mudryk 58/RB Leipzig – Real Madrid 3-1 (2-1)/Gvardiol 13, Nkunku 18, Werner 81 – Vinicius 44, Rodrygo 90+4 (p)/Dortmund – Man.City 0-0Benfica – Juventus 4-3 (3-1)/Silva 17, Mario 28(p), Rafa Silva 35, 50 – Kean 22, Milik 77, McKenna 79/PSG – Maccabi Haifa 7-2 (4-1)/Mesi 19, 44, Mbappe 32, 64, Neymar 35, Goldberg 67, Soler 84 – Seck 38, 50/WednesdayClub Brugge – Porto 0-4 (0-1)/Taremi 33, 70, Evanilson 57, Eustaquio, 60/Inter – Plzen 4-0 (2-0)/Mkhitaryan 35, Dzeko 42, 66, Lukaku 87/Ajax – Liverpool 0-3 (0-1)/Salah 42, Nunez 49, Elliott 52/Atletico Madrid – Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 (1-2)/Carrasco 22, De Paul 50 – Diaby 9, Hudson-Odoi 29/Barcelona – Bayern 0-3 (0-2)/Mane 10, Choupo-Moting 31, Pavard 90+5/Eintracht Frankfurt – Olympique de Marseille 2-1 (2-1)/Kamada 3, Kolo Muani 27 – Guendouzi 22/Napoli – Rangers 3-0 (2-0)/Simeone 11, 16, Ostigard 80/Tottenham – Sporting CP 1-1 (0-1)/Bentancur 80 – Edwards 22/©FlashScore
