A round-up of Tuesday’s action in the UEFA Champions League.
IMAGE: Erling Haaland celebrates scoring Manchester City’s third goal during the UEFA Champions League Group G match against Sevilla FC, at Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan in Seville, Spain, on Tuesday. Photograph: Fran Santiago/Getty Images
Erling Haaland continued his free-scoring start to life at Manchester City with two more goals in an impressive 4-0 win over Sevilla in Champions League Group G on Tuesday.
The Norwegian has now scored 12 goals in seven competitive games for City since joining the club from Borussia Dortmund during the close-season.
The goals also made the 22-year-old the fastest player to score 25 goals in the Champions League — a milestone he has reached in just 20 matches.
The blond striker put City ahead in the 20th minute, stretching to reach a cross from Kevin De Bruyne and place it past Sevilla keeper Yassine Bounou.
De Bruyne then found himself one-on-one with Bounou, after breaking clear, but this time the Moroccan goalkeeper pulled off a fine save to deny the Belgian.
IMAGE: Erling Haaland stretches to reach a cross from Kevin De Bruyne and score Manchester City’s first goal. Photograph: David Ramos/Getty Images
Sevilla have managed just one draw from their opening four games in LaLiga and they struggled to cope with City’s swift movement in a one-sided game.
Phil Foden made it 2-0 after the break, jinking and turning to create space on the edge of the box before placing the ball into the bottom corner.
Ilkay Gundogan had an effort disallowed after turning in a header from Foden, who was in an offside position but Pep Guardiola’s side soon had the margin of victory their dominance deserved.
Haaland showed his goalscoring instinct to make sure of a comfortable victory, pouncing to tap-in after Bounou had pushed out a low drive from the impressive Foden.
Even with victory assured, City continued to push forward and defender Ruben Dias added the fourth in stoppage time, turning in a low cross from Joao Cancelo.
City have now scored 24 goals in seven matches in the Premier League and Europe and Guardiola hopes that they and Haaland can continue against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
Dinamo Zagreb stun Chelsea
IMAGE: Mislav Orsic scores to put Dinamo Zagreb ahead in the Champions League Group E match against Chelsea, at Maksimir, Zagreb, Croatia. Photograph: Antonio Bronic/Reuters
Dinamo Zagreb claimed a shock victory over Chelsea in their Champions League group stage opener as they beat the 2021 European champions 1-0 at home thanks to a blistering solo run from Croatian forward Mislav Orsic.
Zagreb had conceded in every league game this season but Ante Cacic’s team kept a clean sheet against the Premier League side, who topped Europe’s transfer spending charts with an outlay of over 250 million pounds ($299.62 million) this summer.
Chelsea have now lost three of their last five matches in all competitions and Thomas Tuchel was seen fuming on the touchline as his 100th match in charge of the London club ended in defeat.
Zagreb opened the scoring against the run of play when Orsic was sent through on goal on a solo counter-attack, outrunning Chelsea’s new recruit Wesley Fofana and beating goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga with a delicate touch.
Chelsea had created scoring opportunities in the opening stages but were deflated by the goal and Tuchel’s side looked short of ideas in front of a resolute Zagreb defence.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang made his debut alongside Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz in the front line but they failed to click while Arrizabalaga was called into action twice to deny Zagreb, the second an acrobatic save to parry a shot from distance.
Chelsea did not threaten in the box until Tuchel made all five substitutions but Zagreb held firm. Goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic also made a crucial reflex save from a stinging Mason Mount shot late in the game.
Mbappe shines as PSG score first win over Juventus
IMAGE: Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring Paris St Germain’s second goal against Juventus in the Group H match at Parc des Princes, Paris, France. Photograph: Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters
Kylian Mbappe played chief tormentor as Paris St Germain started their Champions League campaign by beating Juventus 2-1 at home, their first victory against the Italian side.
Mbappe opened the scoring with a stunning goal and added a second in the opening half before substitute Weston McKennie reduced the arrears after the break as the French champions’ level went down a notch.
Juve had chances to equalise but keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma made several good saves to make up for a blunder for the visitors’ goal, ensuring PSG beat the Italian side for the first time in nine meetings, having lost the last six.
Christophe Galtier’s team are level on three points in Group H with Benfica, who beat Maccabi Haifa 2-0.
The heavy smoke from the pre-game flares and firecrackers was still in the air when PSG took the lead in stunning fashion, as Mbappe volleyed home from Neymar’s brilliant flick over the Juve defence after five minutes.
Vitinha and Marco Verratti bossed the midfield, snuffing out counter-attacks as the home side made a strong start.
Juve struggled to handle PSG on the left flank but had a chance in the 18th minute when Donnarumma denied Arkadiusz Milik with a superb save.
PSG, however, doubled their advantage four minutes later, with Mbappe finishing from just inside the area after a quick one-two with Achraf Hakimi for his eighth goal in his last seven Champions League matches.
In just 22 minutes, Juve had conceded as many goals as in their first five Serie A games.
The hosts soaked up some mild pressure from the Italian side before pressing forward again after the break with Neymar forcing Mattia Perin to a save in the 49th.
Lionel Messi then set up Mbappe down the right flank but the France forward, instead of sending the ball across to the unmarked Neymar, took his chance with a shot that went well wide.
What should have been a 3-0 turned into 2-1 when McKennie headed home from Filip Kostic’s cross, benefiting from Donnarumma’s ill-timed intervention, as the keeper came out but got nowhere near the ball, leaving the goal unguarded.
The Italy international, however, pulled off a brilliant save shortly afterwards to deny Dusan Vlahovic and was at it again later to block Manuel Locatelli’s attempt.
Real Madrid win at Celtic but suffer Benzema blow
IMAGE: Vinicius Junior scores Real Madrid’s first goal in the Group H match against Celtic, at Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland. Photograph: Russell Cheyne/Reuters
Real Madrid scored a 3-0 victory over Celtic in their Group F opener but it came at a cost, as they lost forward Karim Benzema to a knee injury in the first half.
Vinicius Jr, Luka Modric and Eden Hazard were all on target in the second half for holders Real at a sold-out Celtic Park although they rode their luck at times as the Scottish side spurned a number of opportunities.
The hosts enjoyed an impressive start, creating several chances in front of their home fans but they were unable to find that killer instinct in front of goal and were punished by the 14 times champions.
Celtic’s Liel Abada had two opportunities early on that went just wide of Real keeper Thibaut Courtois’s left post.
Callum McGregor riffled a long-range shot that crashed off the post in the 20th minute and, a few minutes later, a low cross by Reo Hatate almost ended up as an own-goal from Eder Militao, who badly miscued a clearance.
Real’s Federico Valverde had a cross-shot that went just wide in the 30th minute, but when play stopped, Karim Benzema bent over holding his right knee, asking for medical attention.
The French striker, who was clearly in pain, was replaced by Hazard in the 30th minute, limping off the pitch and straight to Real’s dressing room.
“We will have to wait for the tests tomorrow, but the first impressions by our medical staff are that it is not something serious,” manager Carlo Ancelotti told Movistar Plus about Benzema.
Vinicius had a chance for Real on the counter right before the break that Joe Hart denied with a fine stop.
They also lost defender Eder Militao to injury at halftime.
Celtic again made a fast start to the second-half and substitute Daizen Maeda wasted a golden opportunity when he received a perfect cross inside the penalty area but misfired a close-range shot with the goal wide open.
As tricky as things had looked for Real, they clinically killed the game off by scoring three goals with their only three shots on target in the second half.
First it was Vinicius who thumped home a close-range finish from a Valverde cross in the 56th minute.
Four minutes later, Modric extended the lead with a shot from inside the box and Hazard wrapped up the points in the 77th minute with a simple close-range finish from a fine assist by Dani Carvajal.
Milan held to draw at Salzburg
IMAGE: AC Milan’s Alexis Saelemaekers acknowledges the applause from fans after the Group E match against FC Salzburg, at Red Bull Arena Salzburg, Austria. Photograph: Leonhard Foeger/Reuters
AC Milan midfielder Alexis Saelemaekers earned the Serie A title holders a 1-1 draw at Austrian side Salzburg in their Group E opener.
Saelemaekers equalised in the 40th minute when Rafael Leao found him in the middle of the penalty area after Milan striker Olivier Giroud jumped out of the way to create the opening.
Salzburg had drawn first blood in the 28th minute through forward Noah Okafor who nutmegged defender Pierre Kalulu and slotted home from the corner of the six-yard box.
The first 10 minutes were high on adrenaline as Salzburg pressed their opponents but came up against a stubborn Milan side who themselves tried to put the hosts under pressure.
The ball was stuck in midfield for most of the second half after Salzburg forward Fernando wasted a chance in the 53rd minute from a cross as his strike went well above the bar.
The tempo picked up again towards the end of the match and Leao almost scored a winner in the fourth minute of added time but his strike crashed against the post.
Salzburg next travel to Chelsea, who earlier lost 1-0 away to Dinamo Zagreb, on Sept. 14 when Milan host the Croatians.
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