Champions League Awards: Flying Dutch-Van, brilliant Brugge, Marquinhos’ mistake | OneFootball

The UEFA Champions League served up some excellent football and narratives over the past two nights, so it’s time to reward the best – and worst – of what it had to offer on matchweek four. 

Champions League Awards:

Moment of the Week

Surprise results were the order of the day on Wednesday night, the most entertaining of which was Club Brugge’s six-goal thriller against Barcelona.

The Belgian outfit stunned their illustrious opponents in the first five minutes at the Jan Breydelstadion when Nicolo Tresoldi tapped in from close range.

Ferran Torres may have equalised moments later, but the opening goal was a portent of things to come for Barça, whose high line was exposed time and again.

The two sides went back and forth, Carlos Forbs putting Brugge back in front in the 17th minute before Lamine Yamal equalised in the second half with a sublime goal.

At that point Barcelona should have taken the game by the scruff of the neck, but instead they immediately gave up two big chances to Forbs, who stuck away one of them to give the hosts their third lead of the evening.

The attacker thought he had earned the chance to extend their advantage when he was brought down in the box, but referee Anthony Taylor overturned his initial decision after reviewing the incident on the pitchside monitor.

They were then dealt a cruel blow when Yamal’s cross was diverted into the goal by former Norwich City defender Christos Tzolis to level matters again.

Brugge, though, put the ball in the net a fourth time in the 91st minute, a potentially decisive blow in this gripping clash. But Barcelona were bailed out by VAR, who determined that Romeo Vermant had fouled Wojciech Szczęsny when stealing the ball from him in the box.

It would have been a fittingly comical way for Barcelona to lose the match and a deserved win for Brugge.

Honourable mentions: Pafos FC’s win over Villarreal; Qarabag holding Chelsea to a 2-2 draw. 

Read – Champions League Team of the Week – Osimhen, Forbs, Foden

Player of the Week

Carlos Forbs may not have a better night in his entire career. The winger played a part in each of Brugge’s three goals against Barcelona, assisting the opener before grabbing a brace to secure one of their most famous results.

The former Man City and Wolves player’s first goal was an absolutely beautiful finish and his little dink beat the goalkeeper for the second. On both occasions he sped in behind the backline to leave the defenders for dust.

Forbs missed another another great chance to score and thought he had won a penalty in the second half. Yamal was typically brilliant, but outshone by his Portuguese counterpart. Roberto Martinez needs to give serious consideration to calling him up for next week’s World Cup qualifiers.

Honourable mentions: Victor Osimhen (Galatasaray), Phil Foden (Man City), Conor Bradley (Liverpool). 

Goal of the Week

Micky van de Ven, take a bow, son. The Dutch defender ran from the edge of his own box all the way to opposition’s penalty area before rifling the ball into the Copenhagen net.

Thomas Frank compared the 24 year old to Lionel Messi after the game, but the goal bore an eerie resemblance to Son Heung-min’s Puskas Award-winning goal against Burnley in 2020.

Van de Ven is now Spurs’ top scorer this season with six goals, more than any other centre-back in Europe.

Read – The best solo goals in Champions League history

Assist of the Week

After a difficult first few months at Spurs, Xavi Simons finally came to life on Tuesday with a fantastic performance in their 4-0 win over Copenhagen. The playmaker provided a sumptuous pass for the opener, picking the ball up in his own half before putting Brennan Johnson in behind the defence.

Save of the Week

Thibaut Courtois turns into an octopus whenever he faces Liverpool in the Champions League. The Real Madrid star made eight saves at Anfield on Tuesday, many of them incredible, which makes it difficult for us to pick out just one.

The Belgian goalkeeper denied Dominik Szoboszlai from close range in the first half, and pulled off two spectacular saves from consecutive corners in the second half. We’ll let you decide which one was the best.

Miss of the Week

Pafos completed a historic 1-0 win over Villarreal on Wednesday thanks to Derrick Luckassen’s 46th-minute strike, but the Yellow Submarine will be wondering how none of their 18 attempts went in.

The most egregious of their misses, though, came just five minutes after kickoff. Villarreal worked the ball well in the final third before Ayoze Perez headed the ball across the box for the waiting Georges Mikautadze. The Georgian will seldom get a better chance, right in front of goal, but he somehow missed the ball completely. If he got anything on it, it would have been a near-certain goal.

Howler of the Week

The Champions League holders’ aura was dealt a massive blow on Tuesday as Bayern Munich beat them 2-1 in their own backyard.

PSG captain Marquinhos handed the visitors their second goal on a silver platter, dilly-dallying on the ball before Luis Diaz nicked it off him in front of the penalty area. Silly stuff.

It’s the fifth time the Brazilian has committed error leading to a goal in his Champions League career.

Quote of the Week

The war of words between Virgil van Dijk and Wayne Rooney culminated in a face-to-face meeting on Tuesday after the Reds beat Real Madrid.

The former Manchester United criticised the Liverpool captain and Mo Salah on his podcast, saying: “They’ve signed new deals but I don’t think they’ve really led that team this season”.

Van Dijk responded before the game by calling Rooney’s comments “lazy criticism”. With the pundit standing right next to him after the final whistle, he said the outside noise was sometimes “over the top”.

“It would be good if ex-players that played at the highest level, that dealt with difficult moments as well, would put things in perspective,” he added.

Rooney countered by saying his criticisms were “fair” and praised the reaction from Van Dijk and the team as “great”.

The centre-back, however, disagreed. “I think if you would watch games, then I would definitely take the responsibility.

“I think the comment that I signed my new deal, and then it’s like, that’s it and I let [things] slide, I think that was a bit…but that’s my personal opinion.”

Read – Liverpool midfielder leads Champions League for key stat

Stat of the Week

It’s been a whirlwind season already for Arsenal teenager Alex Dowman, who made history this week as he became the youngest player in the competition’s history at 15 years and 308 days,

Read – The youngest Champions League players ever

See Also – Haaland shoots down Messi and Ronaldo comparisons

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