Arsenal Triumph Over PSG 2-0 in Champions League Showdown, Borussia Dortmund Thrash Celtic
Arsenal defeated Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) 2-0 on Tuesday in there eagerly awaited Champions League matchup, while Borussia Dortmund humiliated Celtic 7-1 in Germany.
Champions League newcomers Brest upset Red Bull Salzburg with a 4-0 victory, and numerous elite teams, including Barcelona, Manchester City, and Inter Milan, scored commanding victories on an exciting night in European football.
Tuesday saw Arsenal defeat Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 in their heavyweight Champions League matchup, while Borussia Dortmund, the team who lost to Celtic the previous season, handed Celtic a harsh reality check with a decisive 7-1 victory in Germany.
On a night when debutants in the Champions League, Brest, defeated Red Bull Salzburg 4-0, and Barcelona, Manchester City, and Inter Milan all suffered lopsided losses, Dortmund emerged as the biggest winners. The main event of the day was the match between Arsenal and PSG, the French champions, in London. This was the start of the second round of matches in the restructured premier club league in European football.
After 20 minutes, Kai Havertz headed in a cross from Leandro Trossard to give the Gunners the lead. Just before halftime, Bukayo Saka doubled the lead with a free-kick strike from the right that eluded everyone. The Gunners were deserving winners.
Nuno Mendes and Joao Neves both struck the woodwork for PSG in the first half and second half, respectively, but the visitors were unable to reenter the game.
After drawing 0-0 away to Atalanta on matchday one two weeks ago, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal have won their first Champions League game of the season.
Arteta expressed her happiness with the performance to broadcaster Amazon Prime. “The Champions League brings different demands but I think we handled it really well.”
After defeating Scottish champions Celtic in Germany, Dortmund defeated Club Brugge 3-0 in their opening match to take the lead in the 36-team league.
Dortmund led 5-1 at the break thanks to a hat-trick from Karim Adeyemi in the first half. Adeyemi grabbed center stage when Daizen Maeda equalized after Emre Can opened the score from the penalty spot.
Midway through the second half, Serhou Guirassy scored a penalty to make it 6-1, and late on, Felix Nmecha, a replacement, sealed the win.
Along with a 6-0 victory over Legia Warsaw on the road in 2016, this is Dortmund’s largest margin of victory in the Champions League.
“There’s no such thing as a perfect game, but it was very, very good,” Can stated. “This has to be the standard we aim to set.”
Barcelona, Man City win
Barcelona overcame Young Boys, the Swiss champions, 5-0, to avenge their 2-1 loss to Monaco two weeks prior and their first La Liga loss of the season at Osasuna last weekend.
After goals from Raphinha and Inigo Martinez, Robert Lewandowski scored twice more to seal the victory with an own goal from Mohamed Ali Camara late in the game.
“We knew after the game against Monaco in the Champions League we had to give a quick reply in the next game, which was this one, and we did that well,” Raphinha stated to Movistar.
Pep Guardiola’s City, the 2023 Champions League winners, defeated Slovan Bratislava 4-0 on the road in Slovakia. Goals came from James McAtee, Phil Foden, Erling Haaland, and Ilkay Gundogan.
Red Star Belgrade was defeated at home by Inter, who two seasons prior lost to City in the Istanbul final.
Hakan Calhanoglu scored a beautiful early free kick to put Inter up, and in the second half, Marko Arnautovic, Lautaro Martinez, and Mehdi Taremi—the last from a penalty—all added goals.
German champions Bayer Leverkusen defeated AC Milan 1-0 in the second half thanks to a goal from Victor Boniface, giving them their second straight victory in this season’s competition.
The French Champions League rookies Brest, meanwhile, also made it two wins from two as they triumphed 4-0 against Salzburg on the road in Austria.
Abdallah Sima, a forward on loan from Brighton who scored the game-winning goal against Sturm Graz two weeks ago, scored two goals for Senegal.
Brest scored three goals in the second half inside ten minutes, including goals from Mahdi Camara and Mathias Pereira Lage.
In the preliminary rankings, Salzburg, Slovan Bratislava, and Young Boys are the bottom three.
Enzo Millot gave VfB Stuttgart the lead, while Finnish international Kaan Kairinen tied the score before halftime. The teams then drew 1-1.
Sporting Lisbon and PSV Eindhoven tied 1-1 as well. Daniel Braganca’s late equalizer negated Jerdy Schouten’s opening goal for the Dutch winners.
