New Telegraph

UEFA League roundup: Mönchengladbach win 6-0 at Shakhtar while Atlético held

*Pléa hits hat-trick in rout of Real Madrid’s conquerors
*Miranchuk penalty grabs draw for Lokomotiv Moscow

Alassane Pléa scored a hat-trick as Borussia Mönchengladbach crushed their hosts Shakhtar Donetsk 6-0 to take over from them at the top of their group in the Champions League.
Gladbach, who conceded late equalisers in their previous group matches against Inter Milan and Real Madrid, scored four in the first half, with two coming from the 27-year-old Plea, to kill off the game and eventually earn one of the largest away wins of the competition, reports Reuters.
The Germans, now on an eight-game unbeaten run in all competitions, caught Shakhtar by surprise with a two-pass counterattack and Stefan Lainer finding space down the right to cut back for Pléa, who scored with a crisp finish in the eighth minute.
They doubled their lead when Christoph Kramer’s shot from outside the box took a deflection from Valeriy Bondar to send Anatoliy Trubin the wrong way.
A Pléa missile put the game beyond the hosts before Ramy Bensebaini added a fourth a minute before the break. Lars Stindl made the most of a Trubin error to put his team 5-0 ahead in the 65th, before Pléa beat the offside trap to complete his hat-trick with a fine finish.
Gladbach are now top of Group B on five points from three games, one point ahead of Shakhtar, who won 3-2 at Real Madrid two weeks ago.
Atlético Madrid were held to a 1-1 draw at Lokomotiv Moscow in Group A after Guilherme pulled off a string of superb saves to keep the Russian side in the hunt for a last-16 berth.
José Giménez fired Atlético ahead in the 18th minute with a fine header after an inch-perfect cross by Héctor Herrera.
The home side levelled in the 25th after a lengthy VAR check deemed Herrera to have handled the ball in the penalty area and Anton Miranchuk sent Jan Oblak the wrong way with a perfect spot-kick.
Ángel Correa hit the crossbar for the visitors with a curling shot on the half-hour and Atlético continued to pile on the pressure after the break as Guilherme twice denied João Félix.
Koke headed against the woodwork in the 66th minute with Guilherme beaten but Luis Suárez saw his rebound ruled out for offside as Lokomotiv hung on desperately in front of a noisy contingent of home fans.
A last-gasp intervention by Murilo Cerqueira denied Félix a sitter in the 80th minute, with Lokomotiv struggling to keep possession and barely able to break out of their own half.
Atlético swarmed all over the hosts in the last 10 minutes but Lokomotiv’s packed defence somehow held on, punting long balls upfield whenever they could to run the clock down.
RESULTS
Real Madrid 3 – 2 Inter Milan
Man City 3 – 0 Olympiakos
Atalanta 0 – 5 Liverpool
FC Midtjylland 1 – 2 Ajax
Lokomotiv Moscow 1 – 1 Atl Madrid
Shakhtar Donetsk 0 – 6 B’Mgladbach
RB Salzburg 2 – 6 Bayern Munich
FC Porto 3 – 0 Marseille

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