English clubs enjoyed a memorable night in Europe as Liverpool battled to a 1-0 victory over Real Madrid at Anfield and Tottenham Hotspur crushed FC Copenhagen 4-0 in London on Tuesday, reigniting both sides’ Champions League campaigns. Earlier in the evening Arsenal extended their perfect start with a comfortable 3-0 over Slavia Prague

Mac Allister heads Liverpool to famous win over Real Madrid

Liverpool’s Alexis Mac Allister scored a second-half winner to secure a hard-fought triumph over Real Madrid in a clash between two of Europe’s heavyweights, handing the LaLiga leaders their first defeat of the Champions League season.

Arne Slot’s men climbed to sixth in the table with nine points after four group-stage games, one place below Real, who are level on points but ahead on goal difference. The result capped a strong response from Liverpool, who just three days earlier ended a four-match Premier League losing streak.

The hosts pressed relentlessly from the opening whistle, keeping Thibaut Courtois busy throughout before Mac Allister broke the deadlock in the 61st minute. Dominik Szoboszlai, outstanding all evening, delivered a pinpoint free kick that the Argentine midfielder met with a towering header to send Anfield into raptures.

Liverpool thought they had won a penalty earlier when Szoboszlai’s shot struck Aurelien Tchouameni’s arm, but a VAR review ruled there was no handball. Courtois kept Real in contention with several acrobatic saves, denying Szoboszlai twice more before halftime.

Jude Bellingham’s tight-angle effort, parried by Giorgi Mamardashvili, was Real’s best chance of the first half, while Kylian Mbappé wasted a golden opportunity after the break when he fired wide of the far post.

Liverpool nearly doubled their lead in stoppage time when Mohamed Salah found Cody Gakpo in front of goal, but Courtois made another superb stop and Salah’s rebound was blocked.

“I think there was a lot of energy and a lot of hard work,” said captain Virgil van Dijk. “They’ve won 14 of their last 15 — we knew their strength. We had to be spot on, and I think we performed our game plan perfectly.”

Courtois lamented the result but praised Liverpool’s intensity. “It’s always hard playing here,” he told Movistar Plus. “We committed too many fouls near the box, and they’re good at that. A match like this is decided by small details.”

Former Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold, who joined Real in the summer, came on as a late substitute and was loudly booed by home fans. A mural honoring the right-back was vandalized earlier in the day. “We needed his quality,” said Real boss Xabi Alonso. “He handled the atmosphere like a professional.”

Van de Ven’s solo stunner headlines Tottenham’s 4-0 rout

Across the capital, Tottenham Hotspur delivered their most complete performance of the season, dismantling FC Copenhagen 4-0 to move into the Champions League’s top eight.

Central defender Micky van de Ven produced the night’s standout moment — a breathtaking 95-metre solo goal in the 64th minute that made it 3-0 and sent the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium into frenzy.

The Dutchman collected the ball on the edge of his own penalty area, surged past a helpless Copenhagen backline, and smashed home a thunderous finish. “I saw a little gap in front and started dribbling,” Van de Ven told TNT Sports. “Then I saw more and more space — I thought I’d see if they’d catch up, and they didn’t.”

Brennan Johnson opened the scoring in the 19th minute with a composed finish after a mistake from goalkeeper Dominik Kotarski. Wilson Odobert doubled the lead early in the second half before Johnson was sent off for a late tackle on Marcos Lopez.

Despite going down to ten men, Tottenham pressed harder. Van de Ven’s wonder goal made it three, and substitute João Palhinha added a fourth following another sweeping move orchestrated by Cristian Romero.

Richarlison struck the bar late on and missed a penalty, but Thomas Frank’s side still recorded their biggest win since his appointment. “It felt like we had Lionel Messi turned into Micky van de Ven,” joked Frank. “It was a step forward in how we want to play — assists and goals from the front, structure from the back.”

Tottenham, now unbeaten in 22 home European matches, climbed to seventh overall with eight points, while Copenhagen remain bottom with one.

Arsenal maintain 100% record in Champions League

Arsenal equalled a 122-year-old club record of eight successive games in all competitions without conceding a goal as they swept past Slavia Prague 3-0 on Tuesday to go top of the Champions League with four wins out of four.

Mikel Merino, replacing injured striker Viktor Gyokeres as a makeshift forward, scored twice in the second half after England winger Saka had put the Premier League leaders ahead in the 32nd minute.

Arsenal, who brought on 15-year-old Max Dowman in the second half to become the youngest-ever player in the Champions League, have now also won their last 10 games in a row and looked unstoppable at the Fortuna Arena.

The only threat to the eighth successive clean sheet, and a record dating back to 1903, came late in the game when VAR overruled a penalty decision on a Ben White challenge.

Otherwise goalkeeper David Raya spent much of the match as a spectator, watching Arsenal make light of injury absences with another assured display.

DOMINATED THE DEFENSIVE PART

“Emotionally I think we handled it very well. It shows the consistency we have, we dominated the defensive part of the game against a team that is very difficult to play against,” said manager Mikel Arteta.

“Tonight we made four changes from the weekend and they all performed really well. Overall a really productive evening.”

Saka’s spot kick, the ball drilled to the bottom corner with Jakub Markovic unable to reach it despite diving the right way, calmed nerves after an aggressive and high-pressing start by the home side.

The penalty was given, harshly to some onlookers, after Gabriel’s header hit Slavia captain Lukas Provod’s raised hand and a VAR review confirmed the handball.

Arsenal ended the half with five shots on target, four from Saka, and 63% of the possession.

Merino made it 2-0 on the volley, 36 seconds after the start of the second half, from a cross by the unmarked Leandro Trossard.

The Spanish midfielder then put Arsenal 3-0 ahead in the 68th with a header flicked past goalkeeper Jakub Markovic after Declan Rice lofted the ball into the area.

Trossard came off and was replaced by Dowman, at 15 years and 308 days old taking a record previously set by Youssoufa Moukoko at 16 years and 18 days with Borussia Dortmund in 2020.

“It doesn’t get any harder than this competition and Max at 15 straight away looked to take people on and win free kicks,” said Arteta.

“We have a massive player there.”

Slavia are still without a win in the league phase and remain on two points.

“We knew that it would be a very difficult game for us but at the beginning it was good. We were defending very well but after the opening goal it was much easier for Arsenal,” Provod told UEFA.com.

Tuesday results

Slavia Praha (0) 0
Arsenal (1) 3
Scorers: B. Saka 32pen, Mikel Merino 46, Mikel Merino 68

Napoli (0) 0
Eintracht Frankfurt (0) 0

Atlético de Madrid (1) 3
Scorers: J. Alvarez 39, C. Gallagher 72, Marcos Llorente
90+6
Union Saint-Gilloise (0) 1
Scorers: R. Sykes 80

Bodø / Glimt (0) 0
Monaco (1) 1
Scorers: F. Balogun 43

Juventus (1) 1
Scorers: D. Vlahović 34
Sporting CP (1) 1
Scorers: M. Araújo 12

Liverpool (0) 1
Scorers: A. Mac Allister 61
Real Madrid (0) 0

Olympiakos Piraeus (1) 1
Scorers: Gelson Martins 17
PSV (0) 1
Scorers: R. Pepi 90+3

Paris Saint-Germain (0) 1
Scorers: João Neves 74
Bayern München (2) 2
Scorers: L. Díaz 4, L. Díaz 32

Tottenham Hotspur (1) 4
Scorers: B. Johnson 19, W. Odobert 51, M. van de Ven 64,
João Palhinha 67
København (0) 0

Wednesday, November 5 fixtures
Pafos v Villarreal (1945)
Qarabağ v Chelsea (1945)
Ajax v Galatasaray (2200)
Club Brugge v Barcelona (2200)
Internazionale v Kairat (2200)
Manchester City v Borussia Dortmund (2200)
Newcastle United v Athletic Club (2200)
Olympique Marseille v Atalanta (2200)
Benfica v Bayer Leverkusen (2200)