Newcastle stun PSG as Manchester City, Lazio, Barcelona and Atletico all win

By Sports Desk October 04, 2023

Local lads Dan Burn and Sean Longstaff scored as Newcastle celebrated a rousing 4-1 win over French champions Paris St Germain on the Champions League’s return to Tyneside.

Miguel Almiron lit the touch paper for a memorable evening in front of more than 50,000 raucous supporters at St James’ Park by scoring Newcastle’s first goal in Europe’s premier club competition since Alan Shearer’s double at Inter Milan in March 2003.

Burn and Longstaff put the Group F tie beyond PSG before Fabian Schar smashed home a superb fourth to secure three points to go with the one with which they had returned from AC Milan a fortnight ago.

Lucas Hernandez gave PSG brief hope when he pulled one back but a star-studded line-up including Kylian Mbappe were kept largely subdued in the Magpies’ first home Champions League fixture in two decades.

In the so-called ‘group of death’, Eddie Howe’s side sit top after two games as Borussia Dortmund held Milan to a goalless draw at the Westfalenstadion.

Manchester City struck twice late on to continue the winning start to the defence of their crown with a hard-fought 3-1 success at RB Leipzig.

Julian Alvarez finally settled City’s nerves in the Group G encounter with a fine strike six minutes from time at the Red Bull Arena before fellow substitute Jeremy Doku wrapped up the win.

Phil Foden had opened the scoring midway through a first half the holders dominated but the hosts responded against the run of play through Lois Openda.

Osman Bukari’s strike two minutes from time helped Red Star Belgrade claim a point after a 2-2 draw against Young Boys.

The Serbian side went ahead through Cherif Ndiaye and although Filip Ugrinic’s strike and Cedric Itten’s penalty turned the tide, Bukari slotted home to secure a share of the spoils.

Substitute Ferran Torres snatched the only goal of the game as Barcelona extended their 100 per cent start in Group H with a hard-fought 1-0 win in Porto.

The hosts had most of the chances but were undone by a blunder from Romario Baro in first-half stoppage time which allowed Torres to go through and slide the ball past Diogo Costa.

It was not all plain sailing for the visitors, who had to survive a torrid late spell which culminated in Gavi being sent off in stoppage time for a second yellow card.

Toby Alderweireld missed a last-gasp penalty as Royal Antwerp threw away a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 at home to Shakhtar Donetsk.

The hosts were cruising as Arbnor Muja and Michel-Ange Balikwisha struck but Danylo Sikan scored either side of Yaroslav Rakitskiy levelling as Donetsk turned the match on its head.

Alderweireld had the opportunity to at least claim a point for Antwerp after Taras Stepanenko was adjudged to have handled in the area but the former Tottenham defender put his spot-kick wide.

Celtic’s 10-year wait for a Champions League win at Parkhead continued as Lazio scored at the death to secure a 2-1 Group E victory – just after the home side were denied a goal following a lengthy VAR check.

Kyogo Furuhashi’s effort was cancelled out by Matias Vecino before substitute Luis Palma fired home in the 81st minute after Daizen Maeda had attempted an overhead kick from Alistair Johnston’s cross, and the VAR officials decided he was offside.

There was a bigger blow to come when former Barcelona and Chelsea forward Pedro headed home from fellow substitute Matteo Guendouzi’s cross five minutes into stoppage time.

Alvaro Morata bagged a brace as Atletico Madrid twice came from a goal down to secure a 3-2 triumph over Feyenoord.

Mario Hermoso’s own goal and David Hancko nudged Feyenoord ahead twice but Morata and Antoine Griezmann made sure Atletico went in at the break level. Morata then struck shortly after the resumption to secure victory for Atletico.

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    But despite his absence, Luis Enrique's side sit top of the Ligue 1 standings ahead of welcoming Toulouse to the Parc des Princes this Friday. 

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    Following Friday's fixture against Toulouse, PSG travel to the Allianz Arena to face Bayern Munich in the Champions League, hoping to ignite their European campaign. 

    The Ligue 1 champions are at risk of failing to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition having taken four points from their first four games this season.

    They currently sit 25th in the new 36-team league table, and with an important week coming up, Luis Enrique insisted he would think about rotating his squad. 

    "You mustn't only think about the game against Toulouse but also the workload for players with their national teams," he said. 

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    Ousmane Dembele did not feature during the international break after he left the France training camp with a hamstring issue, though he is expected to feature this Friday. 

    "In theory, it was nothing serious. I don't think it was a big issue and these things happen during the season," Luis Enrique said.

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    Bournemouth – Evanilson

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    MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW

    Bournemouth come into this in 12th place in the Premier League on 15 points after 11 matches, having lost 3-2 to Brentford in their most recent game.

    At home, though, they have taken 10 points from five matches (three wins, one draw, one loss) and come into this with three successive victories at the Vitality Stadium. They have never won four Premier League home games in a row.

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    Bournemouth – 41.2%

    Draw – 25.1%

    Brighton – 33.7%

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    Manchester United - Alejandro Garnacho

    Garnacho was among the scorers against Leicester two weeks ago and has now been directly involved in 20 Premier League goals for United (13 goals and seven assists).

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    Draw - 23%

    Manchester United - 54.8%

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