Champions League: Bayern Munich punishes Barcelona again; late goals stun Tottenham and save Liverpool

For 45 electric minutes at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday night, Robert Lewandowski appeared to have turned the UEFA Champions League's balance of power on its head.

In years past, he'd tormented Barcelona while a member of Bayern Munich; and Bayern had bludgeoned the Blaugrana three straight times, by an aggregate score of 14-2. But Lewandowski's summer move from Bayern to Barca had the Catalan club flying in La Liga — and now in Europe, too. For the first half of Tuesday's Champions League headliner in Munich, Barcelona, with Lewandowski leading the line, looked like a superpower reborn.

But then, with a couple knifing runs and clinical finishes early in the second half, Bayern restored order.

Lucas Hernandez darted unmarked into the six-yard box to head Bayern into the lead. Leroy Sané made it 2-0 just four minutes later.

And just like that, the German giants jumped to the top of the 2022 Champions League's most competitive group. Barcelona, which created some of the game's better chances, will rue that Lewandowski missed a few of them.

Elsewhere, in perhaps the second-most competitive group, Liverpool withered 90 minutes of quality and fight from Ajax, and nabbed three massive (and deserved) points.

The Reds, with Thiago healthy and masterful, looked like themselves again. For an hour, they couldn't break a 1-1 deadlock. But in the 89th minute, Joel Matip rose highest to head home a winner, and save Liverpool from being stuck on one point after two games.

In the early match window, Sporting Clube de Portugal stunned Tottenham with two late goals to storm to the top of Group D.

Relive all the highlights, and find all the scores, below.

Champions League Matchday 2 live updates

Tuesday's Champions League scores, fixtures, odds, start times

Sporting Lisbon 2-0 Tottenham
Viktoria Plzen 0-2 Inter Milan

Bayern Munich 2-0 Barcelona
Liverpool 2-1 Ajax
Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 Atletico Madrid
FC Porto 0-4 Club Brugge
Olympique Marseille 0-1 Eintracht Frankfurt