Thursday’s briefing: Liverpool and Chelsea claim five-star Champions League wins

Liverpool and Chelsea were comprehensive winners as the third round of Champions League fixtures drew to a close on Wednesday night.

Both sides roared to 5-1 victories, the Merseysiders at Eintracht Frankfurt and the Londoners at home to Ajax on a night when Tottenham scrapped their way to a point in France.

They did so as Sean Dyche prepared for his first game as Nottingham Forest’s latest head coach.

Hugo Ekitike out-shone record £125million signing Alexander Isak once again as Liverpool bounced back from an early setback to win 5-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt .

Reds boss Arne Slot chose to start both summer signings at Deutsche Bank Park and saw £69m man Ekitike score against his former club to cancel out Rasmus Kristensen’s opener before Virgil van Dijk , Ibrahima Konate, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai completed the job.

Isak, however, departed at half-time with a groin problem, having drawn yet another blank and has now scored just once in eight appearances for the club.

Slot said: “Many people wanted me to play him more and we had to find the balance and unfortunately today that balance didn’t work out for us perfectly. But let’s hope for the best.

“Today with Alex and Hugo, I brought two players on the pitch who are usually able to score goals. Alex was a few times close but had to go off at half-time and that’s the difficult balance we are having with him.”

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca saw his teenagers rise to the challenge in a 5-1 victory over 10-man Ajax at Stamford Bridge.

Nineteen-year-olds Marc Guiu and Tyrique George and Brazilian starlet Estevao Willian, 18, were all on the scoresheet as the Blues ran riot after the visitors lost captain Kenneth Taylor to a 17th-minute red card.

Asked about Estevao, Maresca said: “With young players, most of the time you’re worried. They play one or two games and score and they think they’re already top players.

“The good thing about Estevao is, we don’t need to be worried about that. He’s a special player, but we don’t have to be worried that he thinks he knows how good he is. He’s a very simply guy. I feel very lucky to be his manager.”

Tottenham had goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario to thank for a clean sheet in their goalless draw at Monaco , which maintained an unbeaten start to their European campaign.

The 29-year-old Italy international pulled off a string of fine saves to deny Folarin Balogun on three occasions and Thilo Kehrer on a difficult night for Thomas Frank’s men at the Stade Louis-II.

The Dane said: “I think he was very good today. I think some of the saves were exceptional.

“He’s a big part of why we got a hard-fought point, but at the end of the day, it can be a crucial point.”

Sean Dyche is confident ambitious owner Evangelos Marinakis is realistic about Nottingham Forest’s plight as he embarks upon his reign as the club’s third manager of the season.

Forest quickly turned to the 54-year-old former Burnley and Everton boss, who has signed a deal until 2027 with a club at which he spent time as a trainee during the Brian Clough era, having dispensed with Ange Postecoglou just 39 days after he had replaced Nuno Espirito Santo at the helm.

Dyche, who inherits a side which has suffered a 10-match winless streak in all competitions, said: “He does keep up with the stats and facts. He knows at the end of last season it was a challenging run where they didn’t get as many points.

“He’s aware of that and that’s why they tried to add a bit more to try to keep moving forward. It was a good conversation, obviously, otherwise I wouldn’t be here and there was a reality to it as well.”

Dyche launches his reign in earnest when Porto head for the City Ground in a Europa League tie.

Aston Villa play in the same competition when they travel to the Netherlands to face Go Ahead Eagles, while Old Firm rivals Rangers and Celtic are also in action with new Gers Boss Danny Rohl taking his team to Brann and the Bhoys entertaining Sturm Graz

In the Conference League, Crystal Palace welcome AEK Larnaca to Selhurst Park, Aberdeen are at AEK Athens, while Irish duo Shelbourne and Shamrock Rovers are away to Shkendija and home to Celje respectively.