Category: UEFA Champions League

Goals from Gabriel Martinelli and late on from Bukayo Saka landed a second group-stage win for the Gunners

Charles Antaki gets in touch: “Yes, no rush. Arsenal fans remember starlets who looked terrific and got the pulses going, only for the sparkle to fade (Charlie Patino) or injuries to rub it out (Krystian Bielik), or just regression to the mean to take over (many, many others). Nwaneri and Dowman’s prospects will be all the firmer for being eased into it.”

Bielik was a decent player for Birmingham and is now at West Brom. Patino is at Deportivo La Coruna, though sadly not a Diego Tristan, Djalminha and not the superb Juan Carlos Valeron quality of team. They’re in the Segunda.

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Newcastle got off the mark in this year’s league stage with an easy but nevertheless impressive win in Belgium

6 min: USG launch it long down the right. Botman attempts to hook back upfield, but only succeeds in kicking the ball into his own face and out for a corner. The set piece comes in from the right. Leysen, in the centre heads it back to the near post, from where Rodriguez eyebrows over the bar. That was a decent chance, and Newacstle were fortunate the USG striker didn’t get that on target. Had he done so, Pope was most likely picking the ball out of the net.

4 min: Tonali and Elanga combine well down the inside-right channel. The latter works himself a little space to shoot … but not enough so his eventual effort doesn’t get blocked the moment it leaves his boot.

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• Harry Kane and Bayern Munich punish Pafos 5-1

• Atalanta fight back to defeat Club Brugge 2-1

Kylian Mbappé scored a hat-trick as Real Madrid eased to a 5-0 away win against the Champions League debutants Kairat Almaty on Tuesday.

Xabi Alonso’s side bounced back in style from their humbling 5-2 La Liga defeat by Atlético Madrid on Saturday, with Mbappé taking his Champions League tally to five goals in two European games this season.

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Victor Osimhen’s first-half penalty and a late VAR intervention condemned disjointed Liverpool to defeat

1 min: Liverpool have stationed Szoboszlai at right back, with Frimpong up in Salah’s usual position … and the latter wins a corner after 49 seconds. The former to take.

Liverpool huddle, the Gala fans whistle their displeasure, and then the visitors get the ball rolling. Roar! Growl! Bedlam!

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• Mourinho back at Stamford Bridge with Benfica

• ‘I will always be a blue. I am part of their history’

José Mourinho called himself “the biggest one” as he reflected on his record-breaking Chelsea history before his latest Stamford Bridge return. The self-styled “special one” is back with Benfica for Tuesday night’s Champions League tie and he repeated another famous old line of his to set the scene.

Mourinho anticipates no hostility from Chelsea’s supporters as he seeks to ignite his Benfica tenure, having only joined them 11 days ago after his sacking by Fenerbahce at the end of August.

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The comparison with Mourinho’s glory days will be clear as he returns with Benfica, but Stamford Bridge hierarchy is firmly behind their current man

Only league champions get their picture on the wall in the Drake Suite at Stamford Bridge. The room is named after Ted Drake, the author of Chelsea’s first title, and features images of a host of club legends: a beaming Carlo Ancelotti, one of Antonio Conte kissing the Premier League trophy and, as Enzo Maresca no doubt noted as he arrived to preview his young side’s Champions League tie with Benfica, three photographs of the manager whose latest return to west London conjures wistful memories of the days when Chelsea were the most feared team in England.

Here comes the Special One. José Mourinho, who won three league titles across two spells at Chelsea, is in town with Benfica and will surely enjoy a wonderful reception. Maresca, meanwhile, inspires less warmth. He has taken Chelsea back into the Champions League, along with winning the Conference League and the Club World Cup, but does not have his name sung by fans and was booed after losing 3-1 to Brighton on Saturday.

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• Striker could yet replace Leoni in league phase squad

• Italian relishing chance to thank fans for their support

Federico Chiesa has outlined his determination to play his way into Arne Slot’s Champions League plans and to repay Liverpool fans for their unwavering support during a difficult debut season at Anfield.

The Italy international impressed in his first start of the season on Tuesday with two assists in the 2-1 Carabao Cup third-round win against Southampton. Chiesa has also made an impact in four substitute appearances in the Premier League this season and says he feels “better physically and mentally” compared with his first campaign as a Liverpool player.

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PSG brushed aside Atalanta despite mounting injuries, Belgium’s clubs stole a march on Dutch rivals and Marcus Rashford reminded Barcelona of his worth

The defending champions, Paris Saint-Germain, got off to a stylish start in beating Atalanta 4-0, though their injury problems continued. Joining a lengthy casualty list is João Neves, who limped off with a thigh problem. Luis Enrique’s team are suffering the wear and tear of last season’s triumph being followed by summer endeavors at the Club World Cup. Désiré Doué, Lucas Beraldo and Ousmane Dembélé, the latter the Parisian lobby’s chosen candidate for Monday’s Ballon D’Or award, were missing. Without them, PSG still showed the same form as last season, with 19-year-old Senny Mayulu in attack. Atalanta looked much reduced without the coaching of Gian Piero Gasperini, now at Roma, after a summer of sales and discontent, with Ademola Lookman exiled after being denied a move.

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• England striker hits two stunning goals to beat Newcastle

• He reveals he is ‘excited and motivated’ by move to Spain

Marcus Rashford believes he can finally fulfil his true potential at ­Barcelona after scoring two stunning Champions League goals in front of the watching England coach Thomas Tuchel at Newcastle on Thursday night.

The 27-year-old Manchester United loanee opened the scoring with a fine 58th-minute header before firing in the second goal from 20 yards. Rashford had done enough to ensure that, despite Anthony Gordon’s 90th-minute consolation, Eddie Howe’s side were beaten. “It is going good. I am obviously learning a lot,” Rashford said afterwards as he praised his new manager, Hansi Flick. “It is a new way of football, but I am enjoying it all and I think it is making me a better player.

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• Kazakhstani side beaten 4-1 at Sporting

• Frankfurt and Brugge enjoy victories

Kairat Almaty’s debut in the league phase of the Champions League was ruined by conceding three goals in four second-half minutes as Sporting ran out 4-1 winners at the Estádio José Alvalade.

The visitors from the city of Almaty in south-eastern Kazakhstan undertook the longest journey ever recorded between two clubs in Champions League history, and they struggled to find their rhythm in the first half. Sporting were handed a penalty after 21 minutes when Aleksandr Mrynskiy brought down Luis Suárez, but Morten Hjulmand’s spot kick was kept out by 18-year-old Kairat goalkeeper Sherhan Kalmurza.

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• Manchester City striker reaches mark in 49th game

• Manager backs Norwegian to beat Ronaldo’s record

Pep Guardiola hailed Erling Haaland’s 50th Champions League goal in a record 49 games and stated he is now in the company of the “monsters Cristiano and Messi” in the competition’s all-time greatest scorers, as Manchester City beat Napoli 2-0 in the opening group match.

Haaland’s 56th-minute opener was his 12th in seven appearances for City and Norway, Jérémy Doku’s second clinching victory for Guardiola’s side. Haaland beat Ruud van Nistelrooy’s previous 62-appearance mark for 50 goals.

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A little over 24 hours before kick-off, Hansi Flick spoke about how lucky he felt to have acquired Marcus Rashford on loan from Manchester United.

Barcelona’s manager was not remotely bothered that the forward’s stock had fallen so far at Old Trafford. Rashford, he said, was a player he had long admired and could help improve.

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Pep Guardiola said of drawing Napoli and having Kevin De Bruyne return: “It was always going to happen, right?” He might have spoken, too, of his No 9’s ruthlessness, as Erling Haaland broke this game open with Champions League goal No 50 in a record 49 matches, a feat that handsomely beats Ruud van Nistelrooy’s previous 62-appearance mark.

His strike was a seventh in five for City – form as ominous as the Norwegian’s in the 2022-23 treble season.

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Newcastle’s failure to capitalise on a dominant first-half performance cost them, as an excellent Marcus Rashford brace won the points for Barça

• Read Louise Taylor’s match report from St James’ Park

Eddie Howe: “When we were drawn against Barcelona, it had a magical feel to it,” said the Newcastle head coach. “I’m really excited to sample the atmosphere - I think it will be an incredible thing again. We will try to get a positive result and prepare the players for the game. I’m looking forward to how we match up against them and there is a lot of confidence restored after winning on Saturday.”

On Newcastle’s return to the Champions League: “The build-up is different to the Premier League and having done it before, that can help us again,” he said. “The squad is arguably stronger - it has changed from two years ago and I back the quality that we have. The early games are really important because they set the tone and that’s why we are really focusing on our performance to try and deliver a good one.”

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Napoli’s captain was sent off after 20 minutes and, after that, it was just whether Manchester City could break down the Italians. They could

6 mins: City break, Doku runs down the middle, Politano eventually dispossesses him on the edge of the area but in doing so accidentally passes to Foden, who’s just mulling over which corner he should aim his shot at when the referee blows his whistle for a foul on Politano.

4 mins: A shot! The bad news is that Ruben Dias took it, and he was at least 30 yards out. It is fair to say that Vanja Milinković-Savić was untroubled.

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