LONDON: It was a great night for English clubs, and for Barcelona captain Raphinha.

Premier League leader Liverpool moved level on points with Aston Villa at the top of the Champions League standings Wednesday by extending their perfect record to three wins, and Manchester City set a new record for the most consecutive games undefeated in the history of the competition.

Liverpool edged Leipzig 1-0 with a goal from Darwin Nunez. City routed Sparta Prague 5-0 with Erling Haaland scoring twice.

Raphinha scored a hat trick as Barcelona finally beat Bayern Munich to end a series of six consecutive wins for the German team in their head-to-head meetings that included a humiliating 8-2 loss for Barca in the quarterfinals in 2020.

This time, Barcelona came out on top of an entertaining contest with a 4-1 statement win.

After three rounds in the revamped tournament, Liverpool and Aston Villa have a two-point lead over seven clubs including Man City and another Premier League team, Arsenal. The four English teams in the competition have conceded just one goal combined so far.

Raphinha on a roll

In Barcelona, the hosts opened the scoring within a minute as Raphinha was found by Fermin Lopez’s through ball, then rounded Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer with ease.

Bayern leveled the score with Harry Kane’s volley, but Barcelona responded with one goal from former Bayern great Robert Lewandowski and two more from Raphinha, who was later substituted to a standing ovation.

It was Barcelona’s first win over Bayern since the 2015 Champions League semifinals. Barcelona came into the game without having scored in their four games against Bayern since an 8-2 loss in 2020. Barcelona coach Hansi Flick was Bayern’s coach in that game.

“It could have been a Champions League final. Winning like this, in front of our fans, is the best,” Raphinha said. “What we are doing on the pitch answers what Barça can do in this Champions League.”

Liverpool stay perfect

Arne Slot has guided Liverpool to first place in the Premier League early in his tenure as Jurgen Klopp’s replacement and now has the team on a maximum nine points in the Champions League.

The latest win in Europe came at Leipzig, one of the clubs that Klopp will be overseeing in his new role as head of global soccer at Red Bull.

Nunez tapped in the only goal in the 27th minute from Mohamed Salah’s header back toward goal and could have earned a penalty in the 38th when he appeared to be tripped by Willi Orban.

“If we had left this place with a draw, I would have really felt we had lost something,” Slot told TNT Sports. “For the 70 previous minutes — except, maybe, for the first 10 — we dominated.”

Leipzig is the only team from the big 5 leagues to lose their three opening matches.

City improve United record

Manchester City’s new record won’t please the red half of the English city.

By beating Sparta Prague, the English champions set the record for consecutive games undefeated in the history of the competition — even stretching back before 1992 into the European Cup era. City are now on 26 matches unbeaten. Alex Ferguson’s Man United team from 2007-09 managed to stay unbeaten for 25 matches.

Phil Foden put the hosts ahead with less than three minutes gone. Haaland then scored an amazing goal off the back of his heel. John Stones made it 3-0, Haaland grabbed his second and Matheus Nunes added more luster to the emphatic win.

Lille upset Atletico

After beating Real Madrid 1-0 in the previous round, Lille won 3-1 at Atletico, who were unbeaten in their last 11 home matches in the Champions League.

The French side had just three shots on target, including a penalty kick.

Julian Alvarez put the hosts in front with an early opener before Edon Zhegrova curled in an equalizer close to the hour mark. Jonathan David then scored from the spot in the 74th minute and completed a brace in the 89th minute.

“We may not have played a great, great game, but we played the game we needed to tonight,” Lille midfielder Benjamin Andre said.

Brest frustrates Leverkusen

A superb goal from Pierre Lees-Melou helped minnows Brest to a 1-1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen as both teams remained unbeaten.

The French team played with verve throughout the second half but was unable to find the second goal.

Playing in Europe’s top competition for the first time, the newcomers faced their toughest test yet against the German champions, who had also won their first two matches in the revamped tournament.

Florian Wirtz’s low shot gave Leverkusen the lead in the 24th minute. It was his seventh goal in all competitions this season. Lees-Melou, who recently returned from a broken leg, leveled with a right-footed volley from outside the box. It was his first goal since March.

Other matches

Elsewhere, Celtic struggled but frustrated Atalanta with a 0-0 draw. Mario Pasalic hits the woodwork for the Italian team.

Looking for a third consecutive win, Benfica lost 3-1 to Feyenoord, while substitute Marcus Thuram scored in stoppage time to help Inter Milan scrape a 1-0 win at Young Boys.

LOS ANGELES: Damian Lillard scored 30 points and Giannis Antetokounmpo added 25 as the Milwaukee Bucks rolled to a 124-109 victory over the injury-depleted Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday in the NBA season-opener for both teams.

The Sixers, without Joel Embiid and off-season acquisition Paul George, couldn’t keep pace with the Bucks, who had 16 points from Taurean Prince and 16 off the bench from Bobby Portis.

Embiid, the Cameroon-born big man who helped the US to Olympic gold in Paris, missed all of the pre-season as part of the management plan for his surgically repaired left knee.

The Sixers said Tuesday he will miss the first week of the regular season while George, a nine-time All-Star, had his Philadelphia debut delayed by a pre-season bone bruise in his left knee.

A strong start from Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey and an energetic attack of the offensive glass saw the Sixers take a one-point lead after the opening quarter.

But Lillard and the Bucks found their groove, Lillard’s three-pointer midway through the second quarter giving Milwaukee a 36-33 lead and his driving finger-roll layup pushing the advantage to 58-45 with 33.4 seconds left in the first half.

Milwaukee led 58-47 at halftime and pushed the advantage to as many as 22 after the break.

Two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Antetokounmpo showed no sign of the knee tendinitis that’s been troubling him, adding 14 rebounds and seven assists.

In other games on Wednesday, Kevin Durant scored 25 points to lead the Phoenix Suns to a 116-113 overtime victory against the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Clippers were playing their first regular season fixture in their new state-of-the-art Intuit Dome arena.

But the buoyant mood among the home fans was spoiled after a late rally by Phoenix sent the game to overtime.

Clippers star James Harden missed a free throw with four seconds of overtime remaining that would have tied the scores, allowing Phoenix to snatch a slender win.

“This is just one game — we want to keep building,” Durant told ESPN after the victory. “We just have a system that we can rely on for four quarters.”

Elsewhere, No. 1 overall draft pick Zaccharie Risacher of France got his rookie season off to a promising start in the Atlanta Hawks’ 120-116 victory over the Brooklyn Nets.

The French 19-year-old came off the bench late in the first quarter and drained a three-pointer on his first attempt from the floor. He finished with seven points for Atlanta, who were led by 30 from Trae Young.

Young also handed out 12 assists and Onyeka Okongwu scored a career-high 28 points off the bench for the Hawks.

Cam Thomas scored 36 points to lead the Nets, but it was a defeat for Spain’s Jordi Fernandez in his first game as an NBA head coach.

A new season brought a familiar sinking feeling for the Detroit Pistons, who took an eight-point lead into the fourth quarter against Indiana only for the Pacers to fight back for a 115-109 victory.

Myles Turner scored 20 points and Bennedict Mathurin scored 14 of his 19 points in the final period, when the Pacers out-scored the Pistons 33-19 to take control.

It was a dream return for Mathurin, whose 2023-24 season was cut short by a shoulder injury that required surgery in March.

“Stepping away from the game for seven months makes you realize how blessed I am,” Mathurin said. “I’m just really excited we got the win tonight.”

The Pistons are hoping to turn the page on a league-worst 14-68 campaign last season. But new coach J.B. Bickerstaff’s tenure started with another defeat.

“I thought our guys did a really good job, they competed their tails off,” Bickerstaff said.

In Portland meanwhile, the Golden State Warriors launched the post-Klay Thompson era with a blowout victory over the Trail Blazers, romping to a 139-104 win.

Buddy Hield led the scoring with 22 points off the bench for Golden State, while Steph Curry added 17.