Spanish giants Barcelona needed to come from behind three times and rely on a moment of controversy to earn a 3-3 draw at Club Brugge in the Champions League on Thursday.

Teenage winger Lamine Yamal was back to his best for Hansi Flick’s side to help them earn a point in a gripping clash in Belgium.

Barca’s defence was shredded on multiple occasions by the hosts as Brugge winger Carlos Forbs struck twice and set one up for Nicolo Tresoldi.

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Ferran Torres, Yamal and a Christos Tzolis own goal saved Barcelona from what would have been a humiliating defeat, even though they have several players out injured.

Barcelona have been in shaky form in recent weeks, including a Clasico defeat by rivals Real Madrid in La Liga.

The hosts took an early lead at the Jan Breydel stadium through Tresoldi, who was set up by the electric Forbs.

With Forbs rampaging in behind Barcelona’s high defensive line, Brugge set an early blueprint for how they could consistently hurt the Catalans.

Flick’s side hit back quickly through Torres, who produced a clever finish after Fermin Lopez played him in.

Midfielder Lopez struck the woodwork before Forbs netted Brugge’s second in a relentless battle between two sides determined to attack.

The Portuguese winger played a one-two with Tzolis, to burst into space behind Barca’s defence once more before finishing with aplomb past Wojciech Szczesny.

British referee Anthony Taylor (L) speaks with Club Brugge’s Belgian forward #17 Romeo Vermant (R) as he calls for a VAR review.Source: AFP

Barca defender Jules Kounde crashed a shot against the bar at the other end as last year’s semi-finals sought a leveller.

Yamal, who was once again his side’s key player after some recent flat displays, created a fine chance for Torres to score before the break but the striker nudged the ball past goalkeeper Nordin Jackers and wide.

Szczesny saved well from Joaquin Seys at the near post as Brugge continued to attack in the second half, showing no intention of trying to protect their lead.

Eric Garcia almost scored from long range but became the third Barca player to hit the frame of the goal, as his effort slapped against the crossbar.

Barcelona eventually pulled level with a brilliant goal, as Yamal combined with Lopez superbly to break through.

Lopez backheeled the ball into the teenager’s path and Yamal flicked it past Jackers and into the bottom corner.

Forbs wasted a fine chance to put his team ahead again but given another chance minutes later, took it with a stylish finish.

Hans Vanaken played him through on goal and he delicately dinked it past Szczesny for his second and Brugge’s third.

Forbs was awarded a penalty when he went down after a collision with Barca’s Alejandro Balde in the box but it was cancelled after a VAR review showed he had actually bumped into the Spaniard.

Jackers produced a superb save to tip away a Yamal effort bound for the top corner, but could do nothing about Barca’s equaliser, which arrived in similar fashion.

Yamal’s curling effort from the right deflected off Tzolis’s head and beat the goalkeeper.

Brugges thought they had won it in stoppage time when veteran goalkeeper Szczesny tried to turn in his area but lost the ball as Romeo Vermant slid in on him.

Vermant rolled the ball into the empty net but the goal was disallowed after a VAR review, after the Belgian forward was ruled to have fouled the relieved Szczesny.

Not everyone, however, was convinced that there was sufficient contact on the keeper for him to go down.

GARNACHO EQUALISER SAVES CHELSEA IN QARABAG DRAW

Enzo Maresca slammed Chelsea’s “silly” defending after Alejandro Garnacho rescued a 2-2 draw against Qarabag in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Maresca’s side were in danger of an embarrassing loss at the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium in Baku after falling behind in the first half.

Estevao Willian gave Chelsea an early lead but Leandro Andrade equalised before Marko Jankovic converted a penalty to give the Azerbaijani minnows hope of a famous upset.

Former Manchester United winger Garnacho came off the bench to bail out the Blues with his composed finish after the interval.

Both sides have seven points from their first four matches in the league phase, leaving them in contention for the top eight finish that secures automatic qualification for the last 16.

While two-time European champions Chelsea have spent over £1.5 billion ($1.9 billion) on new signings in the last three seasons, Qarabag’s total transfer outlay since 2020 is less than £7 million.

Enzo Maresca slammed Chelsea’s “silly” defending.Source: AP

Despite that financial disparity, Chelsea found it hard to subdue their spirited hosts and they made the five-and-half-hour trip home still without a Champions League away win since October 2022.

“I think the big difference was inside the box. Again we conceded silly goals that we could avoid and we could probably finish better with most of the actions that we created,” Maresca said.

“When we conceded the first goal, they were with 10 players. I think it is quite silly to concede this kind of goal. Then we conceded the penalty, so the second half is more difficult because you are 2-1 behind and you need to score.

“We need to defend better inside the box and probably need to attack better in the other box.” Mockingly nicknamed “carrier bag” on their disappointing debut in the Champions League group stage eight years ago, Qarabag have proved a surprise package in this season’s competition.

They staged a superb comeback to win 3-2 at Benfica, then beat Copenhagen 2-0 at home and Chelsea were the latest to find them a tough nut to crack.

2-2 draw cripples Chelsea’s UCL hopes | 00:50

Chelsea didn’t arrive in Baku until the early hours of Wednesday morning, so Maresca made seven changes from Saturday’s win at Tottenham in a bid to keep his team fresh.

– Garnacho to the rescue –

Estevao gave Chelsea’s inexperienced team a deserved lead in the 16th minute after a vibrant opening.

Picked out by Andrey Santos’ pass, Estevao shifted the ball onto his left foot and hit a low drive from 12 yards that beat Qarabag keeper Mateusz Kochalski at his near post.

Brazil forward Estevao, 18, is the third-youngest player in Champions League history to score in each of his first two starts in the tournament behind Ethan Nwaneri and Kylian Mbappe.

But Chelsea failed to build on that promising start and they were punished for sloppy defending in the 29th minute.

Camilo Duran stole possession from Chelsea defender Jorrel Hato and cut inside Tosin Adarabioyo for a shot that cannoned back off the post to Leandro Andrade, who slotted a clinical finish into the far corner.

Qarabag had the momentum and they struck again in the 39th minute as Chelsea’s lack of experience started to show.

The hapless Hato lost possession on the edge of his own area and conceded a penalty after blocking Duran’s cross with his outstretched arm.

Jankovic sent Robert Sanchez the wrong way from the spot to leave Chelsea in disarray at the interval.

Maresca introduced Garnacho, Enzo Fernandez and Liam Delap for the second half and the triple change paid instant dividends.

Delap picked out Garnacho and the 21-year-old lashed a fierce strike past Kochalski from the edge of the area for his second goal since arriving in August.

Fernandez almost emulated Garnacho’s impact with an instinctive snapshot that Kochalski tipped over.

Chelsea laid siege to the Qarabag goal in the dying minutes, but Fernandez drilled narrowly over from distance before Garnacho’s close-range effort was repelled by Kochalski.

M City & Newcastle both secure UCL wins | 02:18

NEWCASTLE SINK BILBAO TO EXTEND CHAMPIONS LEAGUE WINNING RUN

Newcastle secured a third successive Champions League win as Dan Burn’s thunderous header inspired a cathartic 2-0 victory against Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday.

Burn struck in eye-catching style in the first half at St James’ Park and Joelinton netted after the interval to wrap up Newcastle’s fifth successive home win in all competitions.

Newcastle’s dismal 3-1 defeat at lowly West Ham on Sunday left the Magpies languishing in 13th place in the Premier League and prompted a painful bout of soul-searching on Tyneside.

But although they have struggled domestically, Eddie Howe’s side have three wins from four games in the Champions League this season, with their only loss coming in the opening match against Barcelona.

Newcastle secured a third successive Champions League.Source: Getty Images

Ahead of trips to Marseille and Bayer Leverkusen in their next two league phase fixtures, sixth-placed Newcastle are firmly in the hunt to secure the top-eight place that guarantees automatic qualification for the last 16.

Howe will hope Newcastle’s European success serves as a springboard for a winning run in the Premier League, starting at Brentford on Sunday.

Mired in mid-table in La Liga after losing to Basque rivals Real Sociedad last weekend, injury-hit Bilbao were toothless without brothers Inaki and Nico Williams.

Unai Gomez wasted an early chance to lift the visitors when he headed Alex Berenguer’s corner straight at Nick Pope and Newcastle made the most of that escape.

Newcastle’s lacklustre loss at West Ham had sparked accusations that Howe’s team are developing a habit of playing down to the level of their opponents.

– Burn makes his point –

Burn added to that perception this week when he said “everybody knows we will turn up” against Bilbao.

The England centre-back was true to his word as he put Newcastle ahead in the 11th minute.

Kieran Trippier’s free-kick picked out Burn in space in the penalty area and he punished Bilbao’s slack marking with a superb header that curled into the far corner from 10 yards.

Even legendary Newcastle striker Alan Shearer, watching with a broad grin in the stands, would have been proud of such a sublime finish.

Bilbao briefly mounted a determined response to that blow and twice came close to drawing level as sloppy Newcastle conceded possession too easily.

Gomez raced clear of the flat-footed Newcastle defence and fired against the near post.

With Newcastle on the ropes, Adama Boiro lashed a ferocious strike off the woodwork from 18 yards.

Howe’s men squandered a chance to increase their lead when Nick Woltemade climbed highest for a header that whistled wide from Harvey Barnes’ cross.

Newcastle suffered a blow when England winger Anthony Gordon limped off with a recurrence of a hip injury late in the first half.

But they ignored that setback to double their advantage in the 49th minute. Barnes cleverly worked space on the left side of the Bilbao area and lofted a cross into the six-yard box, where Joelinton thumped his header past Unai Simon for his first goal in nine games.

Nico Serrano’s stunning long-range drive nearly caught out Pope, but the Newcastle keeper recovered to preserve a comfortable clean-sheet.

FODEN HITS TOP FORM AS MAN CITY THRASH DORTMUND

Phil Foden struck twice and Erling Haaland netted against his former club as Manchester City beat Borussia Dortmund 4-1 to climb to fourth in the Champions League table on Wednesday.

Foden’s two sublime finishes came just in time to remind England manager Thomas Tuchel of his quality before the German names his final squad of the year on Friday.

Named captain for the night, Haaland led from the front and showed no mercy to his former employers with his 27th goal for club and country in just 17 games this season.

Waldemar Anton’s consolation was the least Dortmund deserved for a late rally but Rayan Cherki rounded off the scoring for City in stoppage time.

A first European defeat of the campaign leaves the German giants down in 14th. Haaland was handed the armband by Pep Guardiola as Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias dropped to the bench with one eye on Liverpool’s visit to the Etihad on Sunday.

Dortmund had only lost once in their 14 previous games this season, 2-1 at Bayern Munich last month.

However, the visitors were undone by City’s quality in the final third to continue the trend of Premier League domination so far in this season’s Champions League.

For the first time one nation has six sides in Europe’s elite competition and all of City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Newcastle, Tottenham and Chelsea are among the top 12 halfway through the league phase.

Manchester City’s Norwegian striker #09 Erling Haaland (C) celebrates scoring his team’s second goal during the UEFA Champions League football match between Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, north west England, on November 5, 2025. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)Source: AFP

Guardiola has repeatedly called on his other forward players to ease the goalscoring burden on Haaland.

No other City player has scored more than once in the Premier League yet this term but Foden has shown flickers of the form that saw him win player of the year awards two seasons ago.

He cut short a positive start from Dortmund on 22 minutes with a sharp turn before arrowing a trademark low left-footed effort into the far corner.

Haaland has only failed to score in two matches this season and smashed home at the back post after Jeremy Doku’s pace and trickery bamboozled Ryerson.

Tijjani Reijnders then stung the palms of Gregor Kobel as City threatened to run riot.

But the home side also needed Gianluigi Donnarumma to make an important stop to prevent Karim Adeyemi halving the Dortmund deficit before half-time.

Foden will find out later this week whether his exile from Tuchel’s England squad will continue after being dropped for the past two squads.

It will take a brave call from the former Dortmund boss to ignore the 25-year-old on this form.

Foden produced a feather-like touch out of his feet from Reijnders’ pass before curling into the far corner beyond Kobel.

City minds then appeared to drift towards their weekend showdown against the defending Premier League champions Liverpool.

Dortmund pulled a goal back when Anton turned in Ryerson’s low cross and could have had plenty more as City lost their concentration.

Guardiola turned to Dias and Silva off the bench to restore some order. But it was another substitute in Cherki who added gloss to the scoreline with a purposeful run and precise finish to register his first Champions League goal.

INTER BEAT KAIRAT ALMATY TO MAINTAIN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PERFECTION

Inter Milan maintained their perfect record in this season’s Champions League with Wednesday’s 2-1 win over spirited minnows Kairat Almaty at the San Siro.

Carlos Augusto saved Inter’s blushes with a thumping low drive in the 67th minute which ensured a fourth win from as many games in the league phase.

The Italians have a great chance of reaching the last 16 of Europe’s elite club competition as they sit third, level on 12 points with leaders Bayern Munich and Arsenal.

Last season 16 points were enough for a top-eight finish, meaning four points from their four remaining fixtures could be enough for direct qualification.

That is good news for Inter who have a fiendish run of fixtures to close their league phase campaign, including clashes at the San Siro with Liverpool and Premier League leaders Arsenal.

Inter will certainly need a better display when they travel to Atletico Madrid later this month after doing just enough to see off Kairat, who acquitted themselves well in a landmark fixture for the club from Kazakhstan.

“There are no easy games in the Champions League, we didn’t play our best but we managed to win,” said Carlos Augusto to Amazon Prime Video.

“We know how good we are but we need to show it every time we go out onto the pitch.” Ofri Arad cancelled out Lautaro Martinez’s opener nine minutes after half-time and the away side had Inter sweating even after Carlos Augusto smashed in his first goal of the season.

Kairat have just one point to show for their efforts in their debut Champions League campaign but all is not lost with three points separating them from the play-off positions.

Inter Milan maintained their perfect record in this season’s Champions League with Wednesday’s 2-1 win.Source: AP

– Inter dominate –

Rafael Urazbakhtin’s team face Copenhagen, Olympiakos and Club Brugge before travelling to London to take on Arsenal in their last fixture.

Inter predictably dominated the play and could easily have been two or three ahead before Martinez eventual gave Inter the lead shortly before the break.

Martinez was denied by the second stop of a double save from Temirlan Anarbekov in the 10th minute and five minutes later lifted a great opportunity over the bar after being perfectly set up by Piotr Zielinski.

Yann Bisseck thought he had won Inter a penalty in the 19th minute when he fell under a challenge from Ofri Arad, but referee Luis Godinho overturned his decision after checking the pitchside monitor.

From there Inter started to get frustrated and struggled to break down Kairat, who nearly took a shock lead in the 44th minute when Dastan Satpayev’s shot took a wicked deflection off Stefan De Vrij and skimmed the crossbar.

Martinez netted his 160th Inter goal seconds later, bundling home at the second attempt after his first shot was blocked, breaking Kairat’s resistance.

But the home crowd were stunned into silence when Arad charged in unopposed to head Kairat level as Inter dozed at a corner and conceded for the first time in this season’s Champions League.

The impressive Anarbekov did brilliantly to keep out Pio Esposito and it took Carlos Augusto to stop Kairat from escaping the San Siro with what would probably have been the biggest result in their history.