French club Paris Saint-Germain, the defending champion of the Champions League, returned with a valuable victory from the Etihad Stadium, after defeating its English host, Manchester City, 4-2, on Wednesday, in the second round of the league stage of the continental competition, in the first European appearance for the English team since its crisis related to violations of financial rules.
The goals of the Parisian team were scored by Desiree Douet (13), Ousmane Dembele (15), Portuguese Vitinha (32), and Magnes Akleush (63), while Norwegian Erling Haaland scored two goals for Manchester City (53 and 75), raising his tally to 61 goals in 60 Champions League matches.
Paris Saint-Germain continued its strong offensive performances, after starting its campaign with a great victory over Slovan Bratislava, Slovakia, 6-1, raising its score to six points and leading the standings on goal difference over eight teams, most notably Barcelona, Liverpool, and Real Madrid.
On the other hand, Manchester City suffered its first loss in the tournament, after opening its campaign with a 2-0 victory over Porto, amid the repercussions of being convicted of more than 100 violations of the financial rules of the English Premier League.
The hosts were close to opening the scoring in the 12th minute, when Ghanaian Antoine Semenyu's attempt hit the crossbar, following Russian goalkeeper Matvey Safonov's confusion in dealing with a corner kick taken by Argentine Enzo Fernandez.
But the Parisian response came quickly, as Douai opened the scoring after one minute, taking advantage of a counterattack that he ended with a perfect low shot that Italian Gianluigi Donnarumma, the former goalkeeper of Paris Saint-Germain, was unable to block.
Only two minutes had passed until Dembele doubled the visitors' lead, after he followed Douai's cross from close range, putting Spanish coach Luis Enrique's team in a comfortable position.
Moroccan Achraf Hakimi almost added the third goal, but his shot was returned by the left post in the 31st minute, before Vitinha succeeded in increasing the lead one minute later, with a wonderful curved shot following a pass from Warren-Zaire Emery.
Before the end of the first half, Safonov blocked a dangerous attempt from Belgian Jeremy Doku, preserving his team's lead by three clean goals.
With the start of the second half, City coach Enzo Maresca made three substitutions, in an attempt to change the course of the match, and the English team began to impose offensive pressure, which resulted in reducing the difference through Haaland in the 53rd minute, with a header following a cross from Senegalese Elimane Ndiaye.
However, Paris Saint-Germain restored the gap to three goals in the 63rd minute, when Akliush fired a powerful shot with his left foot from outside the penalty area, after a pass from Dembele.
City refused to surrender, and intensified its offensive attempts, as Portuguese Nuno Mendes removed Croatian Yoshiko Gvardiol's ball from the goal line in the 70th minute, before the post prevented Enzo Fernandez from scoring, and then Haaland's header attempt was blocked by the crossbar.
The Norwegian striker finally succeeded in adding his second personal goal in the 75th minute, taking advantage of a pass from Moroccan Ayoub Bouadi inside the penalty area, reducing the difference to two goals.
In the last minute, Spaniard Ferran Torres missed the opportunity to add a fifth goal for the Parisian team, after Donnarumma saved a penalty kick, so the confrontation ended with Paris Saint-Germain winning 4-2, confirming its superiority in one of the most prominent confrontations of the second round.
The Spanish Real Madrid made a dramatic comeback against its Italian host, Roma, after overturning a 1-3 deficit to a dramatic 4-3 win, on Wednesday, at the Olympic Stadium in the Italian capital, in the second round of the league stage in the Champions League.
Roma was on its way to achieving a valuable victory in its first home match in the continental competition in more than six years, after taking the lead with three goals scored by the Dutchmen Martin de Roon (20) and Donyiel Malen (51 and 57), versus a goal by the Frenchman Kylian Mbappe (25).
But Real Madrid, led by its Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho, who returned to the stadium of his former team, rose up in the last minutes thanks to his decisive substitutions, scoring three consecutive goals through substitutes Carlos Espe (83), the Brazilian Indrik (85), and the German Antonio Rudiger (90).
Turkish Arda Guler played a prominent role in the Madrid comeback, after creating the equalizer and the winning goals from two corner kicks, as the royal team emerged with a victory that seemed unattainable before the final ten minutes.
The victory came to spare Real Madrid a new setback, after it was announced that its Brazilian striker Vinicius Junior was suspended for four matches due to his sending off against Villarreal in the Spanish League, last Saturday.
Vinicius participated as a starter, but did not perform as expected, so Mourinho decided to replace him in the 59th minute and include his compatriot Endrik, who became one of the most prominent stars of the match with his decisive contribution to turning the score around.
The confrontation witnessed a historic moment for Mbappe, who celebrated his 100th match in the Champions League by scoring his 72nd goal in the competition, strengthening his position as fifth in the ranking of historical scorers.
The French striker became the youngest player to reach the 100-game mark in the tournament, at the age of 27 years and 298 days, surpassing the previous record of Argentine Lionel Messi, who played his 100th match at the age of 28 years and 84 days with Barcelona in September 2015, and ironically, it was also against Roma.
Real Madrid raised its score to six points, achieving its second win in a row, after beginning its campaign by defeating Inter Milan 2-1, while Roma suffered its first loss after drawing with Fenerbahce in Turkey 1-1 in the opening round.
The Royal Club also strengthened its historical superiority over Roma, achieving its ninth victory in 13 matches between the two teams, all within the Champions League.
Roma was the better side at the beginning of the match, and threatened Belgian Thibaut Courtois' goal early through Spaniard Mario Hermoso and Argentine Matias Sole, before Paulo Dybala wasted a dangerous opportunity in the 12th minute.
De Roon succeeded in opening the scoring in the 20th minute with a powerful shot that hit Frenchman Ibrahima Konate's head and deceived Courtois, but Mbappe equalized five minutes later with a shot from outside the penalty area that went from Gianluca Mancini's foot into the net.
In the second half, Roma regained its lead through Malin in the 51st minute, after he took advantage of a pass from Portuguese Rodrigo Moura, before the same player added the third goal six minutes later with a powerful low shot.
Mourinho responded by fielding Guler and Endrik instead of Denzel Dumfries and Vinicius, in a move that revitalized Real Madrid's attack, which began to press in search of reducing the gap.
Roma goalkeeper Pierluigi Golini excelled in stopping two dangerous attempts from Mbappe, before Espy succeeded in scoring the second goal in the 83rd minute, taking advantage of a rebound from the goalkeeper following a header by Andrik.
Only two minutes later, Endrik equalized with a header from close range following a corner kick taken by Guler, before Rudiger delivered the final blow to his former team in the 90th minute, after following another corner kick from the Turkish player into the net.
Thus, Real Madrid completed one of its most prominent European comebacks, turning a two-goal deficit into an exciting victory in the final minutes, while Roma came out with a painful loss after being close to achieving a historic victory in front of its fans.
