Lionel Messi scored his first goal in a Paris Saint-Germain shirt as they beat visiting Manchester City 2-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday. After Idrissa Gueye put the hosts ahead in the eighth minute, PSG withstood ferocious City pressure before Messi sealed the victory, firing high into the net from a Kylian Mbappe lay-off to score in his fourth appearance for the club since signing from Barcelona last month.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Tiraspol pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Champions League history by beating Real Madrid 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu, with Sebastien Thill scoring a stunning 89th-minute winner.
Madrid fell behind to Jasurbek Yakhshiboev’s header in the first half but Karim Benzema’s penalty appeared to have spared the blushes of the Spanish giants, only for Thill to snatch an incredible victory. Liverpool paid a fitting tribute to Roger Hunt as Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino scored twice in a 5-1 demolition of Porto in the Champions League on Tuesday. Jurgen Klopp’s side wore black armbands after former Liverpool striker Hunt died earlier in the day aged 83.
Hunt was part of England’s 1966 World Cup-winning side and is Liverpool’s record league goal-scorer with 244 goals. Liverpool honoured Hunt’s memory with a dominant display and some predatory finishing at Estadio do Dragao, aided by three mistakes from hapless Porto keeper Diogo Costa.
Three days after scoring his 100th Premier League goal for Liverpool in the 3-3 draw at Brentford, Egypt forward Salah maintained his blistering start to the season with the first half opener. Senegal winger Sadio Mane followed with his fourth goal this season and Salah netted again after the interval. Porto, who drew with Atletico Madrid in their group opener, got one back through Mehdi Taremi.
Firmino punished Costa’s third howler to claim Liverpool’s fourth and the Brazilian netted again in the closing stages. After beating AC Milan in their first game, Liverpool sit top of Group B with the maximum six points.
Donyell Malen made up for the absence of Erling Braut Haaland by scoring his first goal for Borussia Dortmund as the hosts beat Sporting Lisbon 1-0 to move joint top of their group. In Leipzig, American coach Jesse Marsch’s rocky start at RB Leipzig continued as his side suffered a major blow to their Champions League campaign with a shock 2-1 defeat at home to Club Brugge.
Underdogs Brugge fought back from a goal down to spring a surprise in Saxony and leave Leipzig bottom of a tough Group A which also includes heavyweights Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City.
Leipzig’s second defeat in two European games heaps further pressure on Marsch, who has now lost five of nine games in all competitions since taking the reins at the beginning of the season.
Buoyed by a 6-0 win over Hertha Berlin at the weekend, Leipzig got off to a perfect start as Lukas Klostermann and Emil Forsberg combined to set up Christopher Nkunku, who squeezed the ball into the bottom corner under goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.
Yet the hosts were unable to settle as Charles De Ketelaere and Hans Vanaken led a spirited fightback from the Belgian side. The Brugge front two forced several saves from Leipzig keeper Peter Gulacsi before combining for the equaliser on 23 minutes — De Ketelaere wriggling free on the left and squaring to Vanaken for a tap-in.
Five minutes before the break, Vanaken set up Mats Rits to give the visitors a deserved lead, which they held comfortably for much of the second half. The game appeared to be up when Noa Noell Lang put the ball in the net on 71 minutes, but the goal was ruled out for offside. Yet the visitors held on to claim their first ever win on German soil and pull four points clear of Leipzig in Group A.
Champions League results
Group A: At Paris: Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) 2 (Gueye 8, Messi 74) Manchester City (ENG) 0; At Leipzig: RB Leipzig (GER) 1 (Nkunku 5) Club Bruges (BEL) 2 (Vanaken 22, Rits 41)
Group B: At Porto: Porto (POR) 1 (Taremi 75) Liverpool (ENG) 5 (Salah 18, 60, Mane 45, Firmino 77, 88); At Milan: AC Milan (ITA) 1 (Leao 20) Atletico Madrid (ESP) 2 (Griezmann 84, Suarez 90+7-pen)
Group C: At Amsterdam: Ajax (NED) 2 (Berghuis 17, Haller 43) Besiktas (TUR) 0; At Dortmund: Borussia Dortmund (GER) 1 (Malen 37) Sporting Lisbon (POR) 0
Group D: At Kiev: Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) 0 Inter Milan (ITA) 0; At Madrid: Real Madrid (ESP) (Benzema 65-pen) 1 Sheriff Tiraspol (MDA) (Yakhshiboev 25, Thill 90) 2
Paris Saint-Germain’s Lionel Messi (left) celebrates with Neymar after scoring against Manchester City in the Champions League Group A match in Paris on Tuesday. (AFP)
