Barcelona narrowly avoided a setback against Belgian side Club Brugge, salvaging a 3–3 draw on Wednesday thanks to an own goal, in the fourth round of the unified UEFA Champions League group stage.
اضافة اعلان
Portuguese forward Carlos Forbes Borges shone as the standout player, tormenting Barcelona’s defense with his movement, scoring twice (17’, 64’), and assisting the opener for German captain Niccolò Trisoldi (6’).
Barcelona, hoping to move past their 1–2 El Clásico loss to Real Madrid after a domestic 3–1 win over Elche, narrowly avoided a second consecutive European defeat. They were saved by a 77th-minute own goal from Greek winger Christos Tzolis, after falling behind twice earlier in the match.
The Catalans had equalized first through Ferran Torres (8’) and later through Lamine Yamal (61’) before Tzolis mistakenly headed the ball into his own net to make it 3–3.
Under coach Hansi Flick, Barcelona had earlier lost their first home match of the campaign 1–2 to defending champions Paris Saint-Germain, but bounced back with wins over Newcastle (2–1) and Olympiacos (6–1) to remain in the hunt for direct qualification.
For Club Brugge, this was their first draw after a 4–1 win over Monaco, following heavy defeats to Bayern Munich (0–4) and Atalanta (1–2).
Brugge opened the scoring early when Forbes Borges broke the offside trap and squared the ball for Trisoldi, who finished with ease (6’).
Just two minutes later, Barcelona equalized with a near-identical play: Fermín López delivered a pass from the left to Ferran Torres, whose strike bounced off the turf and found the net (8’).
Fermín nearly added another soon after, but his long-range effort struck the post (11’).
Brugge reclaimed the lead when Forbes Borges sprinted clear after a failed Barcelona corner, going one-on-one with Wojciech Szczęsny and scoring with his left foot (17’).
In the second half, Eric García struck the crossbar from 35 meters before Lamine Yamal leveled the score again after a slick exchange with Fermín, slotting home a precise low shot (61’).
But the hosts struck back almost immediately as Forbes Borges broke free again, chipping past the keeper for his second goal and Brugge’s third (64’).
Barcelona were rescued when Tzolis, attempting to defend a header from Yamal, inadvertently sent the ball into his own net (77’), securing a point for the visitors.
Elsewhere in the group, Newcastle United earned their third consecutive win, beating Athletic Bilbao 2–0 with goals from Dan Burn (11’) and Joelinton (49’).
Meanwhile, Marseille suffered their third defeat in the competition — and second in a row — after substitute Lazar Samardžić scored a stoppage-time winner for Atalanta (90+2’).
