Champions League Matchday Two: PSG Beat City, Liverpool and Villa Score Six

Paris Saint-Germain led 3-0 after 32 minutes at the Etihad. Desire Doué opened the scoring on 13 with a low shot past Gianluigi Donnarumma, crossed for Ousmane Dembélé to head the second two minutes later, and Vitinha finished the third after Maghnes Akliouche and Warren Zaïre-Emery had linked up. It was City's first home game since the verdict that they had broken the Premier League's financial rules, Pep Guardiola was back at the club to watch, and the supporters had turned the place into a show of defiance. PSG, the holders, answered it with three goals.

Enzo Maresca changed three players at half-time, Matheus Nunes, Ayyoub Bouaddi and Iliman Ndiaye replacing Rúben Dias, Rayan Cherki and Jeremy Doku, and City came out as a different team. Ndiaye crossed for Erling Haaland to flick in a header eight minutes after the restart, but Akliouche restored the three-goal lead on 62 when Donnarumma saved his shot and watched it drop behind him into the net. Haaland scored again on 75, Matvei Safonov kept out another effort from him, and Donnarumma saved a late penalty from Ferran Torres that Nunes had given away. After the interval City created chance after chance, and still lost by two.

City had 27 shots to PSG's 15 and 11 corners to two, but only nine shots on target to PSG's ten, which is the arithmetic of a side that spent the night behind. Maresca told TNT Sports that City had started well "until the first goal", lost "a bit of the balance" when pressing and "deserved something more" from the second half. Doué said PSG were "really happy", though the second half "wasn't as good", and Joleon Lescott called the first half an exhibition and said "clearly the best team won tonight". City host AEK Athens on Tuesday 20 October, and PSG host Barcelona the same night.

Bradley Barcola had gone six games without a goal or an assist since Liverpool paid £123m to bring him from Paris Saint-Germain, and in Linz it took him 24 minutes to end the wait. Two minutes earlier Ronald Araujo had headed in Kostas Tsimikas's corner for his first Liverpool goal. Rio Ngumoha ran down the right, Lewis Koumas picked out Barcola, and the Frenchman finished with his right foot. He added a second on 37, played through by Florian Wirtz, and Jeremie Frimpong headed in Tsimikas's cross on 51 to make it four.

It was 4-0 on 51 minutes and finished with nine goals. Robert Ljubičić scored for LASK on 63, Barcola completed his hat-trick on 66 from a Frimpong pass, and Koumas made it six on 72 with Frimpong again the provider. Florian Flecker then scored twice in three minutes, on 74 and 77, for LASK's second and third. Frimpong, at right-back, ended with a goal and two assists, and Tsimikas, captain for the night, with two assists.

Liverpool had 26 shots to LASK's 12, nine on target to four, 11 corners to three and 64.2 per cent of the ball. Andoni Iraola changed four players after Sunday's defeat by Manchester City, resting Virgil van Dijk, and Ryan Gravenberch played the full game, which was no hardship for a man suspended for Saturday. Liverpool have won both of their league-phase games. They are at Brentford on Saturday in the Premier League and host Villarreal at Anfield on Tuesday.

Jose Mourinho went back to the Stadio Olimpico to banners from the home fans, one of them reading "Welcome back Special One", and right up to the 83rd minute it looked as though Roma would send him home with a defeat. Marten de Roon scored on 20 with a first-time shot from Matias Soulé's pass. Kylian Mbappé equalised on 25, his shot taking a deflection off Gianluca Mancini and looping over Pierluigi Gollini, for his 72nd Champions League goal in his 100th appearance, which took him clear of Raul on 71. Donyell Malen then scored twice in six minutes, the first going in off Federico Valverde after Vinícius Júnior tried a flick and lost the ball, the second once a VAR check found that Valverde had kept him onside.

Gian Piero Gasperini made defensive substitutions to hold on to the lead, and Mourinho's changes did the opposite. Carlos Espí scored on 83, five minutes after coming on, converting a rebound after Endrick's header was parried. Endrick equalised two minutes later with a header from Arda Güler's corner, and on 90 Antonio Rüdiger volleyed in from close range at another Güler set-piece. Roma could not cope with the corners, and they crumbled.

The totals were close, 16 shots to Roma's 14 and eight on target to seven, with Real taking the corner count nine to five. It does not explain a lead of two goals in the 83rd minute turning into a defeat, and nothing in the figures tries to. Real Madrid have won both of their league-phase games and Roma have a point from two. Real host RB Leipzig on Wednesday 21 October, and Roma host Slovan Bratislava the night before.

Johan Manzambi marked his 21st birthday by scoring the opener, a deflected effort that sent Ederson the wrong way and dropped in on 12. Nicolas Jackson made it 2-0 with a low finish on 31 and added a second on 39, seizing on slack defending after Ross Barkley had dispossessed an opponent at the edge of the area, and Villa went in 3-0 up in front of Prince William. Fenerbahçe had their moments, in the sense that Zion Suzuki made two saves from Vedat Muriqi and tipped Oguz Aydin's strike onto the bar, but they were too fragile in defence to build on them.

Barkley scored a penalty on 68, awarded when Ismail Yuksek brought Manzambi down, and his strike from the edge of the box took a deflection on 72 for the fifth. Tammy Abraham, on for Jackson, tapped in the sixth late on. It was Villa's biggest European victory, and it came with their first win at Villa Park this season.

Villa had 20 shots to 15 and 11 on target to four, while Fenerbahçe had 55.2 per cent of the ball, which tells you what the possession was worth. Unai Emery told TNT Sports there were "still things to improve" and that Fenerbahçe may not have deserved six, and Glenn Hoddle said Villa had outplayed the visitors "in every aspect of the game". Jackson has four goals in three games. Villa host Viking on Wednesday 21 October.

Mikel Arteta made five changes from the side that beat Leeds at the weekend. Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke and Viktor Gyökeres failed to combine in a laboured first half, and Gyökeres had 12 touches before he was replaced. The breakthrough came on 64 when Jurrien Timber took Madueke's pass and finished smartly over Berke Özer. Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Martin Ødegaard came on at 65, Eze scored first time from Saka's cross on 67, and Saka rolled in the third himself on 71, after Havertz had set him up.

Arteta did not overhaul the team at half-time, and he was rewarded. He told TNT Sports that "teams are really well organised at this level" and that Arsenal "gave simple things away" before they improved, and Eze, who scored the second, said "we know that we have to grind teams down eventually". Saka ended with a goal and an assist, and Havertz with an assist.

Arsenal had 16 shots to four and eight on target to none, with seven corners to Lille's none and 58.1 per cent of the ball. They won all eight league-phase games last season before losing the final to Paris Saint-Germain, and they have now won both of this season's. They are at Bayern Munich on Wednesday 21 October, and Bayern will be without Michael Olise.

Manchester United were behind inside the first minute. Alex Baena ran in behind Diogo Dalot to collect a simple ball over the top, and his square pass found Pablo Barrios, whose shot slid under Ayden Heaven and into the net. Michael Carrick had made five changes, Carlos Baleba was making his full debut, and United were better than the start suggested: Bryan Mbeumo wasted two good chances before the break, Marcus Rashford missed Lisandro Martinez's pass altogether, and after the interval Bruno Fernandes lifted Youri Tielemans's pass over Jan Oblak and watched it drop off target. Alejandro Grimaldo clipped a free-kick against the post for the hosts, and Julian Alvarez, making his second start of the season, did not make enough of a chance Barrios had created.

The argument ended on 74 minutes, when VAR intervened and Leny Yoro, the last man, was shown a red card for a tangle with substitute Jonathan David. Ademola Lookman, once of Everton, made it 2-0 on 79. United were the first English club to be beaten in this season's competition and have not won in their last five games. Carrick told Amazon Prime the red card was "a poor decision" and Wayne Rooney called it "very soft". The shots were close, 11 to nine for Atlético with five on target to four, and Atlético had 58 per cent of the ball.

The match was not what people talked about afterwards. Martinez used his post-match interview to criticise the people running the club for not adding to the squad, and on Wednesday he explained himself on social media. Carrick said he had not seen the interview and that "now is the time to be together", Tielemans had "no comment", and Rooney thought Martinez had "maybe gone a bit too far". United are at Como on Wednesday 21 October.

Barcelona tried to calm the Istanbul crowd by keeping the ball, but fell behind to the home side's first real attack. Seconds after Anthony Gordon's penalty appeal was waved away, Rafael Leão charged down the left and cut the ball back for Aleksey Batrakov, whose shot took a deflection off Joao Cancelo on its way into the bottom corner. Barış Alper Yılmaz put Victor Osimhen's header past Joan Garcia six minutes later, but VAR ruled it out for a marginal offside. Two minutes before the break Cancelo, helped by Dani Olmo's deflection into his path, curled an equaliser into the corner.

The second half belonged to Barcelona. Fermín López headed in Lamine Yamal's cross on 50, and three minutes later some close control from Yamal set up Gordon, who fired in his first Champions League goal in a Barcelona shirt, three days after scoring for the club for the first time. Karim Adeyemi, a fellow summer signing, replaced Gordon and scored the fourth on 65 from the left side of the area, after Gabriel Jesus touched another Yamal cross into his path.

Barcelona had 22 shots to Galatasaray's five, 11 on target to three, and 71 per cent of the ball. Flick's Barcelona have 84 goals from 28 Champions League matches, three a game, which is the best ratio since 1992-93 among clubs with at least 20 games under one manager. Barcelona have six points and visit Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday 20 October. Galatasaray, beaten 3-1 by Sporting last month, are waiting for a first win in the league phase and play Lille on Wednesday 21 October.

Viking, the Norwegian champions, were in their country's second tier as recently as 2018 and were making their first appearance in the competition since 1992-93. They scored after 71 seconds, Gianni Stensness rising highest to head in a corner, and Peter Christiansen made it 2-0 on 38 minutes by slotting past Jonas Urbig on the break. The six-time European winners went in at half-time two goals down.

Harry Kane pulled one back from the penalty spot on 54 and equalised with a back-post header on 60. Luis Díaz tapped in the third on 71, and two minutes later Michael Olise was sent off for two yellow cards in the same passage of play, one of them for throwing the ball into a Viking player's face. Viking were the better team with the extra man and equalised on 90, when substitute Herman Haugen headed in at the back post. Bayern had 25 shots to Viking's eight, 15 corners to seven and 65.5 per cent of the ball, and drew.

Kane has 36 Champions League goals in the 40 games he has played since turning 30, one clear of Lionel Messi's record of 35 in his thirties, and he has scored in each of his last nine Champions League games. Only Cristiano Ronaldo, who holds the record at 11, Robert Lewandowski and Ruud van Nistelrooy have done that before him. Viking's captain Zlatko Tripić told Tv2 he had "waited 34 years for this", and Vincent Kompany said Olise's red card was "super dumb". Bayern host Arsenal on Wednesday 21 October without Olise, and Viking visit Aston Villa that night.

Club Brugge's Nicolo Tresoldi scored three times and Inter Milan lost four Champions League games in succession for the first time in the club's history. The first of the seven goals came on the half-hour, when referee Rohit Saggi awarded Brugge a penalty and Tresoldi hammered it into the top right corner. Just before half-time Lautaro Martinez levelled at 1-1, his first goal in the competition since November 2025.

Josep Martinez then rushed out of his goal and missed the ball, and Tresoldi slotted into an empty net for his second on 63. Eleven minutes later he latched onto the goalkeeper's save and drove it into the bottom corner, 3-1. Lautaro pounced on a loose ball in the box on 81 for his second, which gave Inter hope of a point, and Romeo Vermant restored Brugge's two-goal lead on 87. Ange-Yoan Bonny, on as a substitute, came inside from the left and fired into the far corner in the 93rd minute for 4-3, which was as close as Inter came to the point.

The numbers favoured Inter: 30 shots to 18, 12 on target to eight, 53.3 per cent of the ball and four corners each. Brugge scored four times from eight on target. It was their first win of the league phase, and Inter, with no points from two games, are at home to Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday 21 October while Brugge host Lens that night.

Real Betis led after 47 minutes and trailed after 61, which is a lot of football for fourteen minutes. Abde Ezzalzouli's curling effort from the edge of the area, 80 seconds into the second half, put them ahead after VAR had disallowed a first-half goal by Porto's Martim Fernandes because Borja Sainz had handled the ball in the move. Porto's Gabri Veiga levelled it with a free-kick from 25 yards on 54, and substitute Samu Aghehowa rifled in for Porto via the underside of the bar from Pepê's backheel seven minutes later.

Betis regrouped. Cucho Hernández, who had replaced Troy Parrott 12 minutes earlier, scored from Antony's cutback on 74, and Isco, the captain, scored from the penalty spot on 84 after VAR spotted a trip on Ángel Ortiz. It was only Betis's second home win in the Champions League, the other, against Chelsea, being in November 2005, and they have won both games this season. They host Feyenoord on Wednesday 21 October, and Porto host PSV the night before.

Assane Diao gave Como the lead on 18, running onto a long ball, shrugging off a defender and finishing into the bottom corner, but Feyenoord were behind for only 127 seconds. Feyenoord's Gjivai Zechiël rifled in from the edge of the area at the end of a slick team move, and Anis Hadj Moussa came in off the right wing six minutes after the break to hit a low strike in at the near post of Como goalkeeper Robert Sánchez.

Tasos Douvikas headed over unmarked from under 12 yards minutes after coming on, Nico Paz shot wide, and then Hadj Moussa's shot hit the post and bounced in off the back of Sánchez on 81. Douvikas scored at last, three minutes into stoppage time, past Tjark Ernst, but too late to matter. Como created the clearer chances and looked the slicker side in possession, although the shots finished 13 to 11 to Feyenoord, and Cesc Fàbregas's team lost in the competition for the first time because they could not cope with Feyenoord's transitions. Feyenoord visit Real Betis on Wednesday 21 October, and Como host Manchester United earlier that day.

Villarreal had lost seven Champions League games in a row, since a 2-2 draw with Juventus in October 2025, and were heading to be the first Spanish club to lose eight European games in a row when Napoli went ahead on 8, Amir Rrahmani left free at the back post. Rasmus Hojlund hit the crossbar for Napoli, and almost at once Villarreal were level: Georges Mikautadze pounced on Matteo Politano's underhit pass back, on 23, and Santiago Mouriño's strike from distance put them in front on 26. Substitute Tani Oluwaseyi ended the run with a composed finish from inside the area on 86. Villarreal had 16 shots to 11, four on target to three. They visit Liverpool on Tuesday 20 October, and Napoli, with no points from two games, host Bodø/Glimt.

Sabah, the Azerbaijani champions, won in the league phase for the first time, after being thrashed by Manchester United in their opening game. Kaheem Parris, whose earlier goal in the first half had been disallowed by VAR for offside, swept in Ivan Lepinjica's cutback on 49. Slavia came close when Lukas Provod hooked a shot that was saved and then headed the loose ball goalwards, only for Akim Zedadka to block it on the line, and they appealed for a penalty, but after an extended check VAR ruled that the ball had come off Zedadka's chest before reaching his arm. Joy-Lance Mickels settled it on 88 in bizarre fashion: Jakub Markovic came a long way out of his goal and lost control of the ball, Mickels hit a weak shot from distance, and David Moses tripped over his feet as it bobbled in. Slavia have now gone 21 Champions League matches without a win (seven draws, 14 defeats), the longest such run in the competition since FCSB's 23 games in 2013. Sabah host Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday 20 October.

Shakhtar Donetsk played their first home match in London, at Stamford Bridge, 2,000km or so from their base in Kyiv. They have not played at the Donbas Arena in Donetsk since 2014, and the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine that began in 2022 has since sent their home European fixtures to Poland, Germany and Slovenia. AEK Athens led on 28 through Lovro Majer, who swept in Stavros Pilios's square pass, and Shakhtar were level six minutes later when referee Chris Kavanagh, after a VAR intervention, ruled that Filipe Relvas's foul on Alisson Santana was inside the area and Pedrinho sent Alberto Brignoli the wrong way from the spot. Vinicius Tobias's drive took a deflection off Brignoli to put Shakhtar ahead on 80, and Gleiker Mendoza made it three on 86. AEK travel to Manchester City on Tuesday 20 October, and Shakhtar go to Inter Milan the next night.

Denis Undav gave Stuttgart the lead on 29 with a low shot across Dominik Takac, and Josha Vagnoman then hit the crossbar. Slovan's Sandro Cruz hit the woodwork himself just after the hour and three minutes later turned the ball into his own goal, which made it 2-0. Slovan had one shot on target all night to Stuttgart's eight, and substitute Ermedin Demirović headed in Lorenz Assignon's cross from the right on 90 for the third. Stuttgart are among nine clubs with two wins from two. Slovan, managed by the former Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure, began with a 6-1 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain and travel to Roma on Tuesday 20 October, the night Stuttgart host Atlético Madrid.

Sporting have two wins from two. After soaking up the early pressure they scored on 22, when Luis Suarez met Nestory Irankunda's low cross with a first-time flicked finish. Suarez has scored in eight matches in a row across all competitions this season, and he is now Sporting's highest scorer in the tournament's history, with seven. Ten minutes later Lens goalkeeper Robin Risser tipped a fierce strike from him wide, Franjo Ivanovic hit the post for Lens, and Sporting goalkeeper Kaique Pereira kept out Lens's Amadou Haidara and Odsonne Edouard, before Sporting's Issa Doumbia, a summer signing, ran on to Silas Andersen's through-ball and slotted the ball calmly beyond Risser on 74. Sporting host LASK on Wednesday 21 October. Lens, who beat Slavia Prague last time out after trailing, visit Club Brugge that night.

PSV's Ivan Perisic, 37, had a penalty saved by Leipzig goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoordt on 19 minutes, awarded after VAR judged that Leipzig's Ridle Baku had handled the ball as he challenged for a header. The decision was controversial. There was little to separate the sides in the second half, and then Leipzig's Brajan Gruda controlled a clearance and curled a thumping shot from outside the area past PSV goalkeeper Matej Kovar on 75. It was Leipzig's first win in this season's competition, and PSV, with a point from two games, have yet to beat a German side in the Champions League. Leipzig had 19 shots to 11 and seven on target to five, although PSV had 13 corners to six. Leipzig go to Real Madrid on Wednesday 21 October, and PSV visit Porto the night before.

Bodø/Glimt had been beaten 5-0 by Bayern Munich on the opening matchday, and at home they were much better. Fredrik Sjøvold met a low ball from the right by Sondre Auklend seven minutes into the second half and placed it low into the corner with the side of his foot, from around the penalty spot. Dortmund went looking for an equaliser and created the better openings, but could not get past Nikita Haikin. It was another good home result in Europe for a club that reached the Europa League semi-finals in 2024-25 and last season won at home against Manchester City, Inter Milan and Sporting in the Champions League before going out in the round of 16. Bodø/Glimt are at Napoli on Tuesday 20 October, and Dortmund go to Sabah.