A Victor Osimhen penalty on Tuesday gave Galatasaray victory over Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League, while Chelsea edged out Jose Mourinho’s SL Benfica and Kylian Mbappe hit a hat-trick for Real Madrid in Kazakhstan.
Elsewhere in the second round of matches in the league phase of Europe’s elite club competition, Tottenham Hotspur battled back to draw with Bodo/Glimt as Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Olympique de Marseille and Inter recorded big wins.
In Istanbul, Turkey, Osimhen beat Alisson Becker from the spot in the 16th minute, giving Galatasaray a 1-0 win and condemning Liverpool to a second straight loss after their defeat by Crystal Palace in the English Premier League.
Photo: AFP
The English champions thought they had a chance to equalize late on when Ibrahima Konate went down and a penalty was given, but the referee overturned his decision on review.
Liverpool, who finished first in the league phase last season, also saw Alisson go off injured in the second half before the introductions off the bench of Mohamed Salah and Alexander Isak failed to have the desired impact.
“The margins were very small last season, but then we were a lot of times on the right side of the score,” Liverpool coach Arne Slot said. “Today again the margins were really small, but for the second time in a row on the wrong side.”
Photo: AP
Liverpool hope to bounce back on Saturday away to Chelsea, who themselves got back to winning ways with a 1-0 success against Benfica as the Portuguese giants’ new coach Mourinho came back to Stamford Bridge.
Richard Rios turned an Alejandro Garnacho cross into his own net for the only goal of the game in the 18th minute, with Benfica unable to recover as Mourinho returned to face the club he coached over two separate spells.
Chelsea had substitute Joao Pedro sent off in stoppage-time, but Enzo Maresca’s side were delighted to get the win after losing their opening European game of the campaign at Bayern.
“A defeat is always a defeat, but this one can be a start for us. It was a stable performance,” Mourinho said of his team.
Spurs escaped Norway with a point in a 2-2 draw with Bodo/Glimt in a game played north of the Arctic Circle.
Kasper Hogh missed a penalty for the hosts before a brilliant second-half brace from Jens Petter Hauge had them two goals in front.
However, Micky van de Ven pulled one back on 68 minutes for last season’s UEFA Europa League winners, and Spurs then got a lucky 89th-minute equalizer when a Nikita Haikin save smashed into the stomach of Jostein Gundersen from close range and trickled over the line.
Record 15-time European champions Real made the long trip east to face Kairat Almaty and ran out 5-0 winners.
Mbappe opened the scoring from a first-half penalty and made it 2-0 soon after the break before firing in from the edge of the area to complete his hat-trick on 73 minutes, making it 60 career Champions League goals.
The Frenchman has now scored 13 goals in nine games in all competitions this season for Real, who also saw Eduardo Camavinga and Brahim Diaz net toward the end.
Bayern also scored five, with Harry Kane netting twice in the first half in a 5-1 win away to Pafos in Cyprus. The England star now has 17 goals in nine games in all competitions this season for his club.
Raphael Guerreiro, Nicolas Jackson and Michael Olise also found the net for Bayern, while Mislav Orsic scored for the hosts.
“I’m going into games with confidence, knowing I’ll get my chances. Scored a couple more goals today, I’m happy with that,” Kane said.
Atletico followed a 5-2 win over Real in the Madrid derby last weekend by thumping Eintracht Frankfurt 5-1.
Giacomo Raspadori, Robin Le Normand, Antoine Griezmann and Giuliano Simeone netted for Atletico before Julian Alvarez scored a late penalty. Griezmann’s goal was his 200th for the club. Jonathan Burkardt pulled one back for Eintracht.
Igor Paixao netted twice in the opening 12 minutes as Marseille hammered Ajax 4-0. Mason Greenwood and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were also on target.
Lautaro Martinez got a brace either side of a Denzel Dumfries goal as last season’s runners-up Inter eased to a 3-0 win over Slavia Prague at San Siro.
Mario Pasalic scored a late winner as Atalanta BC beat Club Brugge 2-1, after a Lazar Samardzic penalty had canceled out a Christos Tzolis opener for the Belgians.
Nineteen wickets fell yesterday on an opening day of carnage in the first Ashes Test, with England’s attack led by skipper Ben Stokes bowling them into a position of strength after Australia dismissed the tourists for 172. A rampaging Mitchell Starc took 7-58 to put England on the back foot after Stokes won the toss on a fine day at a packed Perth Stadium and chose to bat. Harry Brook (52) and Ollie Pope (46) offered the only resistance as they crumbled after lunch, but England’s elite fast bowlers, led by an exceptional Stokes with 5-23, fought back to reduce the hosts
Paul Pogba on Saturday described his emotional Monaco debut as a moment of relief and gratitude, after the French midfielder returned to the pitch for the first time in more than two years following a doping ban. The former Juventus and Manchester United player, who joined the French Ligue 1 side on a free transfer in June, had not played a competitive match since September 2023. Pogba received a four-year ban in February last year after testing positive for banned substance DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone), which boosts testosterone levels. The suspension was cut to 18 months after an appeal at the Court
FINAL STRETCH: After the McLaren drivers’ disqualifications, Verstappen’s chances of a fifth successive title would depend on another big slip-up from Norris and his team Formula One world champion Max Verstappen on Saturday produced a masterful drive to win the Las Vegas Grand Prix and his title hopes were boosted further with the McLarens of championship leader Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri being disqualified. Norris finished the race in second with Piastri fourth, but the skid blocks on both cars were found after the race to be less than the minimum depth. The disqualifications mean that with two race weekends remaining, four-time defending champion Verstappen is level on points with Piastri in the title race, just 24 points behind Norris. However, Verstappen’s chances of a
Houston’s Calen Bullock on Thursday intercepted reigning NFL Most Valuable Player Josh Allen twice and the league’s top defensive unit powered the Texans over Buffalo 23-19. Allen was sacked eight times, his most in any game, for 70 lost yards and Bullock’s final pickoff killed the Bills’ last desperate drive with 18 seconds remaining. The Texans, who have allowed the NFL’s fewest points and fewest yards a game this season, shut down Allen, who produced six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay just four days earlier. “The defense stayed disciplined,” Houston’s Danielle Hunter said. “We had a game plan to keep him
RSS