Liverpool beat holders Real Madrid with Aston Villa denied win against Juventus

Alexis Mac Allister and substitute Cody Gakpo got the goals as Liverpool beat Champions League holders Real Madrid 2-0 at Anfield to make it five wins from as many games in the league phase for Arne Slot’s men.

The Reds took the lead when Mac Allister played a one-two with Conor Bradley and slotted past Thibaut Courtois seven minutes into the second half.

Real had the chance to equalise with a penalty just past the hour, but Kylian Mbappe saw his strike saved by Caoimhin Kelleher.

There was then an unsuccessful spot-kick from the hosts as Mohamed Salah missed from 12 yards, before Gakpo popped up with a 76th-minute header from Andy Robertson’s cross as the Merseysiders recorded a first win over Real in 15 years and gained some revenge for their defeats in the 2018 and 2022 finals.

While Liverpool top the table, Carlo Ancelotti’s Real are down in 24th place – the final play-offs berth – with just six points from their five matches.

Aston Villa are outside the top eight on goal difference after a 0-0 draw with Juventus in which Morgan Rogers had a stoppage-time finish for the hosts ruled out for a foul, with Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez having earlier made a fantastic save to deny Francisco Conceicao.

Celtic, lying 20th, drew 1-1 at home with Club Brugge thanks to a curling Daizen Maeda strike that cancelled out a remarkable own goal by Cameron Carter-Vickers, who passed back without looking to send the ball into the net.

Borussia Dortmund moved into the top eight with 3-0 win at Dinamo Zagreb, where Jamie Gittens, Ramy Bensebaini and Serhou Guirassy got on the scoresheet.

Monaco dropped to eighth after suffering their first loss of the league phase, 3-2 at home to Benfica.

Despite having Wilfried Singo sent off just prior to the hour mark, the French side took the lead for a second time via Soungoutou Magassa in the 67th minute, only for late goals from Arthur Cabral and Zeki Amdouni to give Benfica all three points.

Lille, in 12th, have the same amount of points as Monaco and Villa thanks to a 2-1 win at Bologna, with Ngal’Ayel Mukau notching a brace.

PSV Eindhoven, now 18th, produced a dramatic late turnaround to beat 10-man Shakhtar Donetsk 3-2 at home.

The visitors led 2-0 through Danylo Sikan and Oleksandr Zubkov before having Pedrinho sent off in the 69th minute, and PSV then hit back with three goals in the closing stages, Malik Tilman scoring in the 87th and 90th and Ricardo Pepi then notching the winner in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

Red Star Belgrade registered their first win of the league phase by thrashing Stuttgart 5-1, as did Sturm Graz, beating Girona 1-0.