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Home  » Sports » Champions League PIX: City dominate Slovan; Arsenal stun PSG

Champions League PIX: City dominate Slovan; Arsenal stun PSG

October 02, 2024 09:42 IST
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Haaland on target again in Man City's 4-0 rout of Slovan Bratislava

Manchester City

IMAGE: Manchester City's Erling Haaland celebrates scoring their third goal. Photograph: David W Cerny/Reuters

Manchester City's Ilkay Gundogan, Phil Foden, Erling Haaland and James McAtee got on the scoresheet as the visitors thrashed Slovan Bratislava 4-0 on Tuesday for the first victory of their Champions League campaign.

City, winners of the 2023 Champions League, have four points after two games, having opened this season's campaign with a 0-0 home draw with Inter Milan. Slovan's loss comes on the heels of a 5-1 thrashing by Celtic.

 

The Premier League champions parked themselves in Slovan's half and peppered the home side with shots all night.

Gundogan got City on the scoreboard in the eighth minute with his first goal since his return from a season at Barcelona. The German's shot from edge of the penalty area deflected off the leg of Kyriakos Savvidis and into the net.

Foden, who scored 27 goals in all competitions last term, doubled City's lead with his first of the season in the 15th minute, latching onto a pass from Jeremy Doku and curling a strike into the bottom corner.

Erling Haaland

IMAGE: Manchester City's Ilkay Gundogan celebrates scoring their first goal with Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku. Photograph: David W Cerny/Reuters

Haaland netted his 42nd goal in Europe's top competition in the 58th, sprinting onto Rico Lewis's pass and then stepping around keeper Dominik Takac before slotting into the empty net.

Haaland, who has 11 goals this season across all competitions, took a seat on the bench two minutes later, his work done for the night.

Foden chipped a pass to McAtee for his first ever City goal in the 74th minute to cap a perfect night for the visitors.

The score could have been far more lopsided in the one-sided game as City pummelled Slovan with 28 shots, 14 on target, including three that rang off the woodwork.

Havertz on target again as Arsenal beat PSG 2-0

Arsenal

IMAGE: Arsenal's Kai Havertz celebrates after the match. Photograph: Hannah Mckay/Reuters

Arsenal's Kai Havertz maintained his impressive start to the season with the opening goal in a 2-0 home victory against Paris St Germain which kick-started the London club's Champions League campaign on Tuesday.

After drawing away to Italian side Atalanta in their opening game the onus was on Mikel Arteta's side to deliver a home win against last year's semi-finalists and they delivered.

German forward Havertz headed his side in front after 20 minutes with his fifth goal of the season and 15 minutes later Bukayo Saka's free kick somehow found its way into the PSG net to put the hosts in complete control.

PSG, who won their opening game against Girona, struck the woodwork in each half and played with more urgency after the interval but could have few complaints about the outcome.

Victory propelled Arsenal into the top eight of the new 36-team league phase with their next match at home to Shakhtar Donetsk after the international break. PSG will seek to bounce back in their next match at home to PSV Eindhoven.

Taremi on target as Inter Milan thump Red Star 4-0

Inter Milan

IMAGE: Inter Milan's Mehdi Taremi celebrates scoring their fourth goal. Photograph: Claudia Greco/Reuters

Inter Milan's Mehdi Taremi scored his first goal for his new club and provided two assists to help them secure a comprehensive 4-0 victory over Red Star Belgrade in their Champions League clash at the San Siro on Tuesday.

Hakan Calhanoglu opened the scoring with a superb first half free kick, before Taremi’s tenacity set up further goals for Marko Arnautovic and Lautaro Martinez as the Iran forward fed off errors in defence from the visitors.

The 32-year-old Taremi, who joined as a free agent in July after leaving Porto, then converted a penalty late on to seal a superb night as Inter added to the point they earned in their Champions League opener at Manchester City.

Inter led after 11 minutes thanks to a sumptuous free kick from Calhanoglu, who curled his shot in off the post from 25 yards, leaving Omri Glazer in the Red Star goal with no chance.

Inter doubled their advantage just before the hour-mark as former AC Milan midfielder Rade Krunic was robbed of possession just outside his own area by Taremi, who slipped the ball through to Arnautovic to side-foot home from 10-yards.

Martinez came off the bench to seal the points as the hosts profited from another defensive error. This time Taremi took advantage of a heavy touch from centre back Uros Spajic and fed the Argentine forward for a simple finish.

Inter were awarded a penalty when Vanja Drkusic felled Martinez in the box and Taremi converted the spot-kick with ease to cap an excellent night.

Inter are at Young Boys on Oct. 23 in their next Champions League fixture while Red Star travel to Monaco a day earlier.

Stuttgart held to 1-1 draw by Sparta Prague in Champions League

Sparta

IMAGE: Sparta Prague's Veljko Birmancevic heads at goal. Photograph: Claudia Greco/Reuters

VfB Stuttgart were held to a 1-1 home draw by Czech champions Sparta Prague in the Champions League on Tuesday after Sparta midfielder Kaan Kairinen cancelled out an early opener by Enzo Millot.

Last season's Bundesliga runners-up Stuttgart took a seventh-minute lead against the run of play through Millot, who connected with an excellent lofted cross from Maximilian Mittelstadt and scored with a header.

But Sparta continued to press high up the pitch and Martin Vitik hit the post shortly after, before Kairinen levelled for the visitors after the half-hour mark by expertly firing a free kick into the top-right corner.

Midfielder Veljko Birmancevic had chances to put Sparta in front either side of the break, while Stuttgart had the upper hand throughout most of the second half but could not seal the three points.

Stuttgart, who returned to Europe's elite club competition for the first time since 2009-10, were much improved after losing 3-1 at Real Madrid last time out and they next visit Juventus on Oct. 22.

Sparta, whose 3-0 win against Salzburg in their opening game was the first time a Czech club has scored three goals on the competition's opening matchday, will be up against Manchester City next.

Brest complete Austrian double in 4-0 Champions League rout at Salzburg

Brest

IMAGE: Brest players celebrate after the match. Photograph: Leonhard Foeger/Reuters

Abdallah Sima scored twice as Brest won 4-0 at RB Salzburg in the Champions League on Tuesday, giving them a perfect start to their first ever European campaign, with both their victories coming against Austrian sides.

Brest won 2-1 at home against Sturm Graz in their opening Champions League game, and the French side put on a clinical counter-attacking performance which paid off against a Salzburg side unable to find a way through despite creating plenty of chances.

Brest had one shot on target in the opening half, and it was all they required to take the lead. The visitors cleared their lines from a Salzburg attack and Ludovic Ajorque's pass found Sima who held off his marker to slip his shot past the keeper.

Salzburg had spurned chances in the opening half with Amar Dedic and Karim Konate both shooting wide early on and in the second half they were completely opened up by the visitors.

A long clearance from the keeper in the 66th minute ended with Mahdi Camara doubling the lead with a superb strike after Salzburg failed to clear the ball and four minutes later Sima pounced on a rebound for his second.

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