Football

Champions League roundup: Icardi wins it for PSG while Juventus impress


Mauro Icardi scored his first goal for Paris Saint-Germain as they beat Galatasaray 1-0 away to take control of Champions League Group A on Tuesday. Icardi touched the ball home from close range in the 52nd minute after being teed up Pablo Sarabia, whose superb pass took out the Galatasaray keeper Fernando Muslera.

PSG have taken the maximum six points from their first two matches and are four points clear of second-placed Club Brugge, who drew 2-2 at Real Madrid earlier in the evening. Madrid are bottom, level on one point with Galatasaray.

PSG wasted several other chances throughout the game, dominating the encounter and finding space in the final third on several occasions. The hosts had their first chance in the 18th minute when Younès Belhanda and Jean Michaël Seri exchanged passes, before Seri fired wide. Radamel Falcao missed an opportunity to level the scores in the 69th minute, but he failed to convert a free-kick from just outside the box.

Gonzalo Higuaín scored one goal and made another before Cristiano Ronaldo added a third as Juventus cruised to a 3-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen to go top of Champions League Group D. Juventus, who threw away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 away to Atlético Madrid on the tournament’s opening week, played Higuaín with Ronaldo in attack and it did not take long for the move to pay off. Higuaín exploited a disastrous attempt at a headed clearance by Jonathan Tah in the 17th minute, taking a touch before thumping the ball into the bottom corner to leave Lukas Hradecky no chance.

With Leverkusen enjoying plenty of possession but creating precious little in front of goal, Higuaín turned provider in the second half, whipping in a low cross from the left for Federico Bernardeschi to sweep home Juve’s second. Hradecky nearly conceded a third in the 70th minute, taking a bad touch on a back pass that almost steered the ball into his own goal and then trying to get out of trouble with a risky short pass before the danger was cleared.

Gonzalo Higuaín celebrates his opener.



Gonzalo Higuaín celebrates his opener. Photograph: Alessandro Di Marco/AP

Ronaldo had a frustrating night in attack but after uncharacteristically missing some decent second-half chances, he slotted the ball through Hradecky’s legs to make it 3-0 in the 88th minute.

Atlético Madrid’s €126m forward João Félix scored his first goal in the Champions League to help his side earn a 2-0 win at Lokomotiv Moscow in Group D. The Portugal international broke the deadlock early in the second half of a tight game, sliding to the floor to knock the ball in on the rebound after his first shot had been parried by the hosts’ goalkeeper Guilherme.

Thomas Partey doubled Atlético’s lead 10 minutes later, knocking a ball from Diego Costa into the net after a lovely chipped pass from Félix, who became the fourth-most expensive player of all time when he joined from Benfica in July.

Former European Cup holders Red Star Belgrade fought back to earn a 3-1 home win against 10-man Olympiakos in a pulsating Champions League Group B clash after late headers by Nemanja Milunovic and Richmond Boakye.

In the evening’s other early kickoff, Shakhtar Donetsk scored with practically the last kick of the game to beat Atalanta 2-1 as the Italian side’s first home match in the Champions League ended in defeat. The substitute Manor Solomon netted in the fifth minute of stoppage time after Júnior Moraes cancelled out Duván Zapata’s opener for Atalanta in the first half.



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