Real Madrid's big stars have turned on the style to revive the Spanish giant's faltering Champions League title defence.

Galacticos Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham all scored in a thrilling 3-2 win at Italian league leader Atalanta on Tuesday night.

But Madrid still had to ride their luck as Mateo Retegui fired over from in front of goal in stoppage time when handed a golden chance to level the game.

It was only Madrid's third win in the competition's revamped league phase and leaves the 15-time champions in the unseeded playoff positions in 18th place.

"It's a very important win. Not everyone wins here. We suffered and competed. In the Champions League, you have to suffer," Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. "It's still difficult to finish in the top eight, but we have two games left to earn points."

Six-time champions Liverpool lead the way after maintaining their perfect record in Europe this season with a 1-0 win against Girona.

Like Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain also picked up a much-needed win, beating Salzburg 3-0 to sit in the last playoff spot in 24th place.

Bayer Leverkusen are second after a 1-0 win over Inter Milan, while Aston Villa beat Leipzig 3-2 and are third.

The top eight teams advance directly to the round of 16. Positions nine to 24 face a playoff to reach the next phase.

After three losses in their opening five games of the league phase, the pressure was mounting on Madrid.

Mbappe produced a moment of class to fire Madrid 1-0 up after 10 minutes, controlling the ball with his left foot and then finishing low with his right.

It was the 25-year-old Mbappe's 50th Champions League goal. Lionel Messi is the only player to have reached that number at a younger age.

Mbappe was substituted off before halftime with an apparent physical issue and Charles De Ketelaere leveled the game before the break from the penalty spot. But two goals inside three second-half minutes from Vinicius Junior and Bellingham put Madrid in control.

Ademola Lookman's goal made it 3-2, but Madrid survived Retegui's late effort and held on.

Mohamed Salah's 50th Champions League goal maintained Liverpool's perfect record in the competition this season.

The Egypt forward struck a 63rd minute penalty to seal the win in Spain that kept Liverpool atop the 36-team league.

But coach Arne Slot was critical of his Liverpool players in a game that saw goalkeeper Alisson pull off several saves to keep Girona out.

"If you ask me about all the six games, I'm really pleased with all the results, I am really pleased with the five (other) games with the way we played. I'm far from pleased about the performance tonight," he said.

Bayern Munich routed Shakhtar Donetsk 5-1 to move into the automatic qualifying positions for the round of 16.

Michael Olise scored twice as Bayern came back from going 1-0 down inside five minutes to a goal from Brazilian winger Kevin.

PSG are not done yet as victory at Salzburg moved the French giants up into the playoff positions. Goncalo Ramos, Nuno Mendes and Desire Doue all scored.

Leverkusen are back on a roll after struggling to repeat the success of last season's stunning German league and cup double.

It's now six straight wins in all competitions, with Nordi Mukiele's 90th minute goal securing victory against Inter and moving Leverkusen into second on 13 points - five behind Liverpool.

Villa, Inter and Brest are all on 13 points as well.

Inter dropped to fourth after conceding for the first time in this season's competition.

Inter dropped to fourth after conceding for the first time in this season's competition.

Villa are third after their own resurgence in form. Victory against Leipzig was their third in a row after an eight-game winless run.

Brest are one of this season's surprise packages on their Champions League debut and are fifth after beating PSV Eindhoven 1-0.

Sporting Lisbon couldn't build on taking a third-minute lead at Club Brugge ? losing 2-1 in Belgium.

Dinamo Zagreb drew 0-0 with Celtic and both teams remain in the playoff positions.