PSG sinks Barcelona with late winner in Champions League, Manchester City held by Monaco
Paris Saint-Germain sealed a statement win over Barcelona in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Goncalo Ramos struck a 90th-minute winner as Paris Saint-Germain sealed a statement win over Barcelona in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Trailing 1-0 at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys and without injured star forwards Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, defending champion PSG fought back for a 2-1 victory against one of the favourites to lift the trophy in May.
“It doesn’t matter which of our players are in the team. When they are wearing our shirt, carrying our badge on their shirt, then the amount of attitude and effort is non-negotiable," PSG coach Luis Enrique said.
Manchester City had to settle for a 2-2 draw with Monaco after Eric Dier scored a 90th-minute penalty for the hosts.
Villarreal and Juventus also ended 2-2 after Renato Veiga's late equaliser.
Arsenal beat Olympiakos 2-0.
PSG is still the team to beat
PSG's trip to Barcelona was always seen as the standout clash of matchday two. Both teams are expected to go far, with PSG aiming to join Real Madrid as the only other club to successfully defend the trophy in the Champions League era. Barcelona, a semifinalist last campaign, is intent on turning last season's domestic dominance into a European triumph.
However, despite the anticipation, neither team was at the height of its powers, with numerous players missing.
While PSG was without the attacking trio that fired it to victory last term, Barcelona was also missing the injured Raphinha, while Robert Lewandowski was on the bench.
Lamine Yamal was available, but it was Ferran Torres who gave the home team the lead in the 19th minute.
Senny Mayulu levelled the game in the 38th, and substitute Lee Kang-in came close to a winner by hitting the post late on.
But there was still more drama to come when Achraf Hakimi squared the ball beyond Barca's defence and Ramos slid in the winner.
It's now two wins from two for PSG at the start of its defence of the title and an early statement against one of its main rivals.
“We lost today, and I don’t like that. We have to accept this defeat and admit that Paris are so good," Barca coach Hansi Flick said. "We are disappointed, the fans are disappointed. We have to accept that we were beaten, but work on getting better.”
Haaland scores 2 but Man City held
Erling Haaland did what Erling Haaland does with two more goals in the Champions League, but it wasn't enough to seal victory in Monaco.
Having become the quickest player to reach 50 goals in the competition last month, the Norwegian looks certain to become the quickest to reach 60. Lionel Messi managed it in 80 appearances. Haaland is on 52 after 50 games.
But that will be of little comfort to Pep Guardiola, who watched his team squander two points by conceding a late penalty that Dier converted to seal the draw.
“It isn’t good enough," Haaland said. "We have to try to win the next game. It is the only thing we can do.”
Hot shot Hojlund
Discarded by Manchester United, Rasmus Hojlund is showing the type of form that earned him an $82 million move to Old Trafford in the first place.
He struck twice to earn Napoli a 2-1 win over Sporting Lisbon. That’s three goals in five appearances — after having scored two in his last 13 games for United.
It certainly helps when he can feed off the kind of service Kevin De Bruyne can deliver and the former Man City playmaker was provider of both of Hojlund’s goals.
Borussia Dortmund routed Athletic Bilbao 4-1, and Bayer Leverkusen was held 1-1 at home by PSV Eindhoven.
Perfect Arsenal
Another win for Arsenal and another clean sheet.
The 2-0 victory over Olympiakos was its sixth shutout in nine games this season.
Goals from Gabriel Martinelli in the first half and Bukayo Saka in stoppage time maintained Arsenal’s 100% start in the competition.
Another team with a perfect record so far is Qarabag after its 2-0 win over Copenhagen. Abdellah Zoubir and Emmanuel Addai were on target for the Azerbaijani team.
Woltemade scores again
Nick Woltemade is doing his best to make Newcastle fans forget about Alexander Isak.
The club-record $93 million signing scored his third goal in four starts for Newcastle to set up the 4-0 rout of Union Saint-Gilloise.
The German international was signed to fill the sizable void left by Isak's contentious move to Liverpool. And he has made an instant impact.
His 17th-minute goal at Lotto Park might not have been the prettiest — diverting Sandro Tonali's goalbound shot past Kjell Scherpen — but it got Newcastle off to the perfect start. It also highlighted his useful knack of being in the right place at the right time.
Woltemade has now scored in back-to-back games after his goal against Arsenal on Sunday. He still has some way to go to prove he can replace Isak, who scored 54 goals in 78 Premier League starts for Newcastle, but the early signs are promising after his move from Stuttgart.
Anthony Gordon struck twice from the penalty spot — scoring either side of halftime to put Newcastle in control, and substitute Harvey Barnes added a fourth.
More thrills for Juve
Last time out, Juventus was involved in an eight-goal thriller against Dortmund, which ended in a 4-4 draw, with all the goals coming in the second half.
By those standards, the 2-2 at Villarreal was relatively mild. But there was still a late twist as Veiga, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Juve, came up with the equaliser.
