UEFA Champions League Roundup September 18th, 2018
The UEFA Champions League kicked back into action on Tuesday to bring fans many enjoyable moments as 16 sides lined up to open the European campaign in entertaining fashion.
Barcelona made light work of PSV Eindhoven, beating the Dutch side 4-0 at home despite losing Samuel Umtiti late on and going down to 10 men. Lionel Messi did as Lionel Messi does, recording a hat-trick in only his first Champions League match this season as Ousmane Dembele chipped in with an incredible solo goal.
Premier League side Tottenham will head back to England disappointed after ?losing 2-1 to Inter at San Siro. Christian Eriksen’s goal handed the Londoners an advantage in the 53rd minute, but Mauro Icardi smashed home with five minutes left on the clock, before Matias Vecino stunned the visitors with a stoppage-time strike.
Over on the Mediterranean coast, Monaco winger Samuel Grandsir gave his side a 1-0 lead over Atletico Madrid in the 18th minute of their home clash. However, Diego Costa dragged the Rojiblancos back level 13 minutes later, pouncing on Antoine Griezmann’s skilful pass off of a counter to find the back of the net.
Jose Maria Gimenez would give the Spanish side the lead just before the halftime whistle and they would keep it for the 45 minutes that followed, holding on for a 2-1 win in their first ?Champions League encounter of the new season.
Liverpool were also in action on the night and quickly built themselves a 2-0 lead over French giants Paris Saint-Germain through Daniel Sturridge’s unmarked header and James Milner’s penalty in the first half. Thomas Meunier, however, pulled one back for the Ligue 1 side five minutes before halftime.
Mohamed Salah had a goal struck off after Daniel Sturridge was adjudged to have fouled the keeper in the build up. And it must have hurt even more when his pass was picked off by Julian Draxler en route to an 87th-minute Kylian Mbappe equaliser.
Roberto Firmino would have the final word, though, popping up with an incredible, stinging shot to snatch the three points for the Reds in the second minute of stoppage time.
Borussia Dortmund also left it quite late as they beat Club Brugge 1-0 courtesy of birthday boy Christian Pulisic’s 85th-minute winner. However, Napoli were made to share the points with Red Star Belgrade in a 0-0 stalemate.
Schalke 04 also played out to a draw, finishing 1-1 in their match against Porto, with Breel Embolo opening in the 64th minute before Otavio took the Portuguese side level with a 75th-minute penalty.
Turkish giants Galatasaray recorded a 3-0 win on their return to the Champions League, beating Lokomotiv Moscow despite finishing the tie with only 10 men, having lost Badou N’Diaye late in the match. Garry Rodriguez opened things up in the ninth minute before Eren Derdiyok and Selcuk Inan added goals of their own.
