Champions League matchday 4, Wednesday: Como win 9–1 at Lens, Valverde rescues Real Madrid, Liverpool lose in Istanbul

Nine matches and 44 goals, and both sides scored in every one of them. Como won 9–1 at Lens, with a hat-trick from Anastasios Douvikas; Real Madrid won 3–2 at AEK Athens with Federico Valverde's goal in stoppage time and stay level with Paris Saint-Germain on twelve points, and Liverpool were beaten 3–2 by Fenerbahçe after leading twice. Manchester City and Arsenal won away too: five away wins, four home wins and no draws.

The early kick-offs

AEK Athens 2–3 Real Madrid: Aboubakary Koita gave AEK the lead on 12 from Luka Jović's pass and Jude Bellingham equalised on 32 from Marc Cucurella's. Stavros Pilios put AEK ahead again on 75, Koita setting him up, before Kylian Mbappé made it 2–2 on 78 from Denzel Dumfries and Valverde, a substitute, won it on 90+2 from Brahim Díaz's pass. Madrid had 70 per cent of the ball and 24 shots, eight on target. AFP counts Mbappé's goal as his fourth in four Champions League matches this season and the win as Madrid's seventh in a row in all competitions; José Mourinho told Movistar he had not asked Valverde to shoot.

Fenerbahçe 3–2 Liverpool: Treymaurice Nyoni scored on 25, his first senior goal according to Liverpool's own report, and Mason Greenwood equalised on 29. Alexander Isak restored the lead on 69 from Cody Gakpo's pass; Archie Brown levelled on 73 and set up Vedat Muriqi's header for the winner on 79. Liverpool had 68 per cent of the ball, 22 shots and twelve corners, but put no more shots on target than Fenerbahçe, six. It was Liverpool's first defeat in four matches and Fenerbahçe's first win.

The evening

Lens 1–9 Como: Douvikas scored on 7 from Maximo Perrone's pass and on 32 from Álex Valle's, and Nico Paz added the third on 40 from Douvikas; a Lens penalty was cancelled by VAR on 17. After the break Lucas Da Cunha scored on 47 from Paz, Marc-Oliver Kempf on 53 from Luis Milla, and Douvikas completed his hat-trick on 57, again from Paz. Three substitutes then joined in: Mattia Liberali scored on 62 from Jacobo Ramón's pass and set up Martin Baturina on 69 and Matteo Papaccioli on 90+1, after Ruben Aguilar had scored for Lens on 65 from Florian Thauvin. Como put twelve of their 18 shots on target. According to AFP, Como, in their first Champions League season, are the second side to score nine in a match in the competition, after Bayern's 9–2 against Dinamo Zagreb in 2024, and this is the heaviest Champions League defeat of a French club.

RB Leipzig 2–3 Manchester City: City led through Castello Lukeba's own goal on 37. Ridle Baku equalised on 49 from Brajan Gruda's pass, Enzo Fernández put City ahead again on 58 from Iliman Ndiaye, and Antonio Nusa levelled on 61 from Christopher Nkunku. Erling Haaland won it on 78 from Elliot Anderson's pass. City had 65 per cent of the ball; Leipzig committed 20 fouls to their six. Sky Sports counts the goal as Haaland's 13th in nine matches against Leipzig, his most against any club, and dpa says it was Leipzig's first home defeat of the season.

FC Porto 4–1 Napoli: Jan Bednarek put Porto in front on 11 from Gabri Veiga's pass and Scott McTominay equalised on 43. Veiga scored on 71 from Santiago Giménez, Jakub Kiwior on 80 from Hwang In-Beom, and after Rafa Marín's red card on 88, Samuel Aghehowa converted a penalty on 90. FC Porto, beaten in their first three matches, have their first win; Napoli collected four yellow cards before half-time.

Borussia Dortmund 2–1 Real Betis: Fábio Silva scored on 49 and Aitor Ruibal equalised on 67 from Abde Ezzalzouli's pass; Konstantinos Karetsas won it on 72 from Silva. Eight yellow cards were shown, four to each side. Real Betis had won their first three matches; Borussia Dortmund move level with them on nine points.

PSV Eindhoven 1–2 Club Brugge: Nicolò Tresoldi scored on 25 and Carlos Forbs on 65, both from Joaquin Seys's passes, with Kodai Sano's goal for PSV in between, on 54. PSV Eindhoven had 27 shots and nine on target, and Brugge's goalkeeper made seven saves. Club Brugge have won three in a row.

Slavia Praha 1–2 Arsenal: Noni Madueke scored on 9 from Viktor Gyökeres's pass and Gyökeres on 38 from Mikel Merino's; Wiktor Nowak pulled one back on 90 from David Jurásek. Slavia Praha had 17 shots to Arsenal's twelve and still have one point. Arsenal, unbeaten, have ten.

Viking 4–1 Sabah: Patrick Orphe Mbina gave Sabah the lead on 11 and Erik Botheim equalised on 27 from Kristoffer Haugen's pass. On 69 Zlatko Tripić missed a penalty and scored at the second attempt; Aden McCarthy was sent off on 77 after a VAR review, Henrik Falchener scored on 81 from Tripić, and Botheim added the fourth on 90+4 from Peter Christiansen. It is Viking's first win in four matches.

The table after matchday 4

Every club has now played four. Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid have won all four and have twelve points, PSG ahead on goal difference, +15 to +6; Arsenal are third on ten. Nine sides have nine points: Como, with a goal difference of +13 after tonight, Barcelona, Aston Villa, Manchester City, Liverpool, Club Brugge, Sporting CP, Dortmund and Betis. Bayern München have eight. At the bottom, Slovan Bratislava have no points, Lille and Slavia Praha one each, and Lens three with a goal difference of −12. The top eight after matchday 8 go straight to the round of 16; the standings are on the Champions League page.

Numbers to know

• 44 goals in nine matches, and both sides scored in all nine.
• Como's nine goals came from seven different scorers; Douvikas scored three and Liberali set up two.
• PSV's 27 shots were the most of the night, three more than Real Madrid's 24.
• Two red cards, for Rafa Marín on 88 and Aden McCarthy on 77, and two penalties, Aghehowa's scored and Tripić's missed.
• Five away wins: Real Madrid, Como, Manchester City, Club Brugge and Arsenal.

Next up

Matchday 5 is on 24 and 25 November. On the Tuesday, Bodø/Glimt v LASK and Galatasaray v Aston Villa start at 17:45 UTC, with Arsenal v Borussia Dortmund, Como v AEK Athens, Manchester City v Napoli and Real Madrid v PSV Eindhoven among the 20:00 UTC matches; on the Wednesday, Club Brugge v Liverpool, Inter v VfB Stuttgart and Paris Saint-Germain v AS Roma are at 20:00 UTC. Every match is on the Champions League page.

Sources for the context: AFP via SuperSport, AFP via SuperSport, Liverpool FC, Sky Sports, dpa via Tagesspiegel.