Lautaro’s Inter keeps up the pace, Barça avoids disaster, and Haaland doesn’t forgive

Inter Milan’s 2-1 win over Kairat Almaty on Wednesday put them level atop the Champions League table with Bayern Munich and Arsenal, while FC Barcelona escaped with a 3-3 draw in Bruges to avoid a humiliating loss.

Just behind the leading trio, Manchester City (4th) thrashed Borussia Dortmund 4-1 in a match in which Norwegian striker Erling Haaland turned up for his appointment with the goal and showed no mercy to his former team for two and a half seasons.

At the San Siro stadium, where Inter are co-owners with AC Milan since Wednesday, the reigning European runners-up secured the three points with goals from Argentine captain Lautaro Martinez ('45) and Brazilian Carlos Augusto ('67), Carlos Augusto ('67), although the Kazakh side equalized thanks to a goal by Ofri Arad ('55).

Three wins out of three

The Nerazzurri are in 3rd place in the standings, behind only Bayern Munich and Arsenal, also with a full house but with a better goal difference.

On the other hand, the modest Kairat Almaty, which is discovering the top competition of European soccer, conceded its third defeat and has only one point.

The goal of the day was scored by Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, in a match in which Haaland scored again. The Norwegian made it a provisional 2-0 with his 18th goal in 14 games this season.

A Phil Foden double and a late goal from Rayan Cherki allowed City to move to fourth in the table, above Paris SG, who had lost to Bayern Munich on Tuesday.

This fourth round of Champions League proved a fateful one for Spanish soccer, two of whose representatives lost on Wednesday, as did Real Madrid the day before at Liverpool, and Barcelona, who were held to a hard-fought 3-3 draw by Brugge. And it could have been worse for the Culés had a home goal not been disallowed in stoppage time.

With this result, Barcelona is sits at 11th in the table, with seven points.

Spanish defeats

Villarreal’s struggles in the Champions League continued with a 1-0 loss to lowly Cypriot club Pafos.

With four games played in Europe's top competition, Marcelino's men have only one point, the result of a draw against Juventus (2-2), and after defeats against Tottenham (1-0) in London, and Manchester City (2-0) at the La Cerámica stadium.

Pafos, who are living their first Champions League experience, jumped up the table with these three points to 20th position, with all options intact to play at least the play-off for access to the Round of 16 (9th to 24th in the 36-team group).

And Athletic Club Bilbao suffered a new chapter in its results crisis by losing to Newcastle (2-0).

The return to Europe's top competition eleven years after their last appearance is proving to be an uphill struggle for the Basque side.

With three points, the next visit to Prague to face Slavia looks decisive for the future of Ernesto Valverde's men (27th in the single-group league).

World champions Chelsea (12th) struggled to a draw at home to Azeri minnows Qarabag (2-2), who continue to surprise and are level with the Blues in the standings (15th) on seven points.

Finally, two European stalwarts, Benfica and Ajax, occupy the last two positions in the single group of 36 teams with zero points.

José Mourinho's Lisbon side lost at Da Luz against Bayer Leverkusen (1-0) and the Amsterdam team received a 3-0 drubbing at home from Galatasaray (3-0) by Nigerian Victor Osimhen, scorer of a hat-trick, two of the goals coming from penalty kicks.