ROME — AC Milan continued its strong performance in the Champions League, following up a victory over Real Madrid with a 3-2 win against last-placed Slovan Bratislava on Tuesday.

Christian Pulisic opened the scoring for the seven-time champions in the first half, finishing off a rapid counterattack. Although Tigran Barseghyan equalized for Bratislava, Rafael Leao quickly reclaimed the lead for Milan, with Tammy Abraham then adding to their margin.

In a dramatic finish, Bratislava’s Nino Marcelli scored with a long-range shot in the 88th minute. The team ended the match with 10 players on the field, having suffered multiple setbacks throughout the game. Milan’s victory propelled them to 10th place in the new single-league format, edging them closer to the automatic qualifying positions, while Bratislava remained winless after five matches.
In their previous encounter, Milan had defeated Madrid 3-1.
In another match, Atletico Madrid showcased a dominant performance, thrashing Sparta Prague 6-0, with Argentina World Cup winner Julian Alvaraz netting two goals to lead the charge.
Alvaraz opened the scoring with a free kick just 15 minutes into the match, followed by a long-range strike from Marcos Llorente before halftime. Early in the second half, Alvaraz scored again after a strong counterattack, set up by substitute Antoine Griezmann, who celebrated his 100th Champions League appearance by scoring himself.
Angel Correa added two late goals to complete the rout for Atletico, which has now won six matches in a row across all competitions. Meanwhile, Sparta Prague found themselves in a challenging position, remaining in the elimination spots with only four points in the standings.
The tournament format allows the top eight teams to advance directly to the round of 16 in March, while those ranked from ninth to 24th will enter knockout playoffs in February. The bottom 12 teams face elimination.
Later matches to look forward to include Manchester City against Feyenoord, Barcelona versus Brest, Bayern Munich hosting Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan facing Leipzig, and Young Boys taking on Atalanta, along with Bayer Leverkusen against Salzburg and Sporting Lisbon against Arsenal.