Liverpool win makes things look Real bad for Madrid

Liverpool have maintained their perfect record in the Champions League and dumped title-holders Real Madrid into 24th place in the 36-team standings. No one felt the embarrassment of Madrid's 2-0 loss at Anfield on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) more than Kylian Mbappe, the superstar added in the off-season by the storied club that also were European champions against Liverpool in the finals of 2022 and 2018. Mbappe had a penalty saved in the second half and was earlier dumped on his behind by Conor Bradley's perfect tackle. Liverpool have started the new Champions League format with five wins, and first-year coach Arne Slot's team is two points clear of Inter Milan. Barcelona are third, trailing Liverpool by three points. Remarkably, with three rounds left Madrid are just one place above being eliminated. The top eight teams at the end of January go directly to the round of 16 in March, and teams placed from ninth to 24th enter a round of two-leg playoffs in February. "(This) doesn't change much, because even with a win it was going to be tough to secure a top-eight finish," Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. "It was a fair result." Monaco missed a chance to go second in the table, giving up a lead playing with 10 men from the 58th minute in a 3-2 loss at home to Benfica. Swiss forward Zeki Amdouni scored the winning goal in the 88th minute. Borussia Dortmund, beaten finalists against Madrid in May, are up to fourth place after beating Dinamo Zagreb 3-0. Jamie Gittens now has four goals in five games, curling a rising shot in the 41st minute to open the scoring in Croatia. The best comeback was at PSV Eindhoven, where the home team trailed Shakhtar Donetsk by two goals in the 87th minute, before a 3-2 win was sealed by US forward Ricardo Pepi's goal deep in stoppage time. US defender Cameron Carter-Vickers scored an embarrassing own goal for Celtic - playing a no-look pass far beyond goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel - in a 1-1 draw with Club Brugge. Congo teammates Ngal'Ayel Mukau and Silas impressed in wins for Lille and Red Star Belgrade. Mukau scored twice in 12th-placed Lille's 2-1 win at Bologna, and Silas levelled for Red Star in a 5-1 rout of Stuttgart, though he barely celebrated his goal. Silas is on loan with the Serbian champions from Stuttgart. Aston Villa's 0-0 draw with Juventus was preserved by an excellent save by Emiliano Martinez, the World Cup-winning Argentina goalkeeper, diving low to push away a header from Francisco Conceicao. Liverpool's stand-in right back Bradley was a standout against Real Madrid, denying Mbappe at high speed in a signature defensive play in the 32nd minute. The 21-year-old Northern Ireland defender joined the attack in the 52nd to play a key pass returning the ball to Alexis Mac Allister, who scored the opening goal. After Mbappe's penalty was pushed away by goalkeeper Caoimh?n Kelleher in the 61st minute, Liverpool's Mo Salah missed with his spot-kick in the 70th, before substitute Cody Gakpo sealed the win with a header in the 77th minute. Madrid have now lost three of five games after defeats at Lille and at home to AC Milan. The record 15-time European champions have another tough trip next, at fifth-placed Atalanta on December 10. On the same date, Liverpool are at 30th-placed Girona. "You know how special it is to play against a team that has won the Champions League so many times," Liverpool coach Slot said of Madrid. "They were a pain for Liverpool for many years too." In other matches, Red Star Belgrade and Sturm Graz ended four-game losing runs to get their first points and wins. Red Star rallied against Stuttgart after the German team led in the fifth minute. The 1991 European Cup winners' goal to level the game in the 12th minute was scored by on-loan Silas. He held up his hands as if in apology as part of a low-key celebration. Sturm Graz won 1-0 against Girona, the Spanish newcomers to European competitions.