Did Real Madrid Dominate Monaco While Sporting Surprised PSG in the Champions League?
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Key Takeaways
Madrid, Jan 21 (NationPress) Kylian Mbappe found the net twice against one of his former teams, guiding Real Madrid to a dominant 6-1 victory over Monaco at home, significantly enhancing their prospects of securing a top-eight finish in the Champions League group stage.
The forward, who started his journey at Monaco, opened the scoring for Real Madrid just five minutes in with a precise finish following a well-placed pass from Fede Valverde. He then added his second goal at the far post 20 minutes later, giving the home side a 2-0 lead at the halftime break.
Franco Mastantuono extended the lead to 3-0 in the 51st minute as Monaco's defense faltered, and Thilo Kehrer inadvertently scored an own goal shortly thereafter. Vinicius Junior made it 5-0 before Jude Bellingham capped off the scoring with a sixth goal, despite Jordan Teze managing to pull one back for Monaco.
In another match, Luis Suarez netted twice in the 74th and 90th minutes, leading Sporting Clube de Portugal to a 2-1 victory over Paris Saint Germain at their home ground, which propelled them to sixth place in the league.
PSG dominated much of the match and had a couple of goals disallowed before falling behind when Suarez scored a composed finish in the 74th minute. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia equalized with a stunning curling shot five minutes later, but Suarez struck again to secure the win for Sporting.
Meanwhile, Ajax achieved a thrilling win against winless Villarreal thanks to a late goal from Oliver Edvardsen.
After a scoreless first half, the hosts took the lead when Tani Oluwaseyi broke through the defense, but Ajax responded with an equalizer from Oscar Gloukh via a free-kick 12 minutes later.
With the match tied in the dying moments, Ajax substitute Edvardsen converted a low cross into the bottom corner to seal the victory.
In other news, Olympiacos secured their first win in 14 games against German teams, defeating Leverkusen 2-0 in Piraeus.
The home team took an early lead through Costinha and Mehdi Taremi added a second just before halftime, completing a swift counterattack. Despite Leverkusen generating several chances, Kostas Tzolakis was up to the task, thwarting their efforts consistently.