Chelsea thump Barcelona in Champions League as Man City also lose

FIFA Club World Cup champions Chelsea of the English Premier League beat Spain’s Barcelona 3-0 in the Champions League.

Defensive lapses cost Barcelona and Manchester City dearly as both teams slumped to notable losses in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Chelsea comfortably beat 10-man Barcelona 3-0 to earn its third league-phase win and move closer to the top.

It was the second loss for Barcelona, which went down a man after defender Ronald Araujo was shown a second yellow card just before half-time.

The hosts scored with an own-goal by Jules Kounde in the 27th, a nice strike by Estevao in the 55th and a close-range shot by Liam Delap in the 73rd.

In Pep Guardiola’s 100th Champions League game as City coach, his team struggled to cope with Bayer Leverkusen’s quick transitions in a 2-0 defeat, while Barcelona had an own goal and a red card in its 3-0 loss at Chelsea.

Guardiola made 10 changes to his starting lineup following Saturday’s loss to Newcastle in the Premier League, with Erling Haaland among those on the bench, but it didn’t have the desired effect.

Alejandro Grimaldo fired home Leverkusen’s first goal with a low shot into the far corner in the 23rd, and Patrik Schick headed in a second in the 54th.

City could have moved atop the table with a win, but the night ended with the top three unchanged. Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Inter Milan all play on Wednesday.

Jose Mourinho picked up his first Champions League win with his new club Benfica as Samuel Dahl’s early goal set the stage for a 2-0 win over troubled Ajax. It was No 36 vs No 35 in the pre-game standings as the two winless teams met in the Netherlands.

Left back Dahl scored an unstoppable volley on the rebound after Ajax goalkeeper Vitezslav Jaros had saved a header from Benfica’s experienced defender Nicolas Otamendi. Leandro Barreiro added a second goal in the 90th.

Ajax has lost all five of its Champions League games and won only one of its last 10 games in all competitions.

Canadian forward Promise David scored the only goal as Belgium’s Union Saint-Gilloise won 1-0 at injury-depleted Galatasaray. The Turkish club was without injured Champions League top scorer Victor Osimhen, and finished with 10 men after 18-year-old defender Arda Unyay picked up two yellow cards.

Scott McTominay scored the opening goal as Napoli won 2-0 against Azerbaijan’s Qarabag. Napoli fans commemorated the fifth anniversary of club legend Diego Maradona’s death.