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• Milan lost 'mental balance' in Liverpool defeat, says Fonseca

  Paulo Fonseca cited a loss of "mental balance" that contributed to Milan starting their Champions League campaign with a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool on Tuesday. 

  Milan made a flying start when Christian Pulisic netted after two minutes and 47 seconds, the earliest the Serie A side had scored in the competition since Alexandre Pato's goal against Barcelona in 2011 (24 seconds). 

  But two headers from Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk, both from set-pieces, gave the visitors the lead before Dominik Szoboszlai sealed the victory after the break.

  Liverpool dominated proceedings after their early setback, registering 23 shots on goal, 11 of which were on target compared to Milan's eight and two. 

  Arne Slot's side ended the contest with an expected goals (xG) total of 3.09, while Milan could only muster a tally of 0.61 from their attempts on goal. 

  Ahead of kick-off, Fonseca expressed the importance of being defensively perfect against the Reds, but upon Espen Eskas' full-time whistle, the Milan head coach was left furious with his side's display. 

  "We played against Liverpool, who are a huge team," Fonseca began.

  "We started well, both attacking and defending, but then we conceded two goals from set plays that changed the game.

  "We lost our mental balance because when the team lacks confidence, we develop problems and don’t do what we prepared in training.

  "I told the players, you cannot make those mistakes in this kind of game.

  "At the same time, I have to admit Liverpool are more of a team right now than we are, we need to keep working to have not 20 good minutes, but 70, 80, 90 minutes playing our football.

  "After we conceded the second goal, the team stopped playing, and it became difficult after that.”

  Milan's danger man Rafael Leao also endured a quiet evening, despite completing more dribbles (five) than anyone during the fixture. 

  The Portugal international lost possession 15 times, the most in the Milan side, with Trent Alexander-Arnold coming out on top in their respective duels. 

  Fonseca reiterated his game plan was for Leao to attack Alexander-Arnold but lamented the lack of service provided to the winger by his midfielders. 

  “It was something we prepared in the little time that we had, try to put Leao against their right-back," he said.

  "We did it once or twice in the match. What we prepared was to send Rafa one-on-one against him and we hardly did it.”

• Bellingham hails 'big player' Mbappe in Stuttgart triumph

  Jude Bellingham lauded yet another landmark moment in the career of Kylian Mbappe after the Frenchman marked his Champions League debut for Real Madrid with a goal. 

  Mbappe, who has five goals in his first seven games for his new club, opened the scoring in Los Blancos' 3-1 win over Stuttgart on Tuesday. 

  The 25-year-old's effort saw him net his 49th Champions League goal, with only Robert Lewandowski (61) scoring more in the competition since Mbappe's debut. 

  He also became the second Frenchman to score on his debut for Madrid in the competition, joining Christian Karembeu who netted against Bayer Leverkusen in 1998. 

  Bellingham explained how quickly Mbappe has settled into life in the Spanish capital, saying: "He's going to be a huge player for us, this season and beyond.

  "He always delivers so far, it's a lot of pressure coming to a club like Madrid, but he's taken to it really easily and the lads love him already."

  The encounter against Stuttgart also marked Bellingham's return to the side after the England midfielder missed the last four games with a muscle injury. 

  Upon his return, Bellingham won more tackles (two) and accumulated the highest pass accuracy (93.3%) of anyone in the Los Blancos side. 

  Across all competitions last year, Bellingham made 42 appearances, notching 23 goals and laying on a further 13 assists in his debut year at the Santiago Bernabeu. 

  Having also starred for England at Euro 2024, the 21-year-old was excited to be back out on the pitch and is aiming for more success this term. 

  "Three-and-a-half weeks [out] has been difficult. I've not been injured a lot in my career, so whenever it happens, I'm a bit impatient," he said.

  “But this time I wanted to take it slowly and agreed this would be the game I came back in – maybe off the bench – but I was buzzing to start.

  "In the first half I left it all out there, I was that excited and all over the place, just wanting to create and get in the box.

  “Second half, I probably just ran out of a bit of steam, so I stayed a little bit deeper, but I'm getting used to being back, finding my feet again and I'm sure I'll be fine this season."

• AC Milan 1-3 Liverpool: Reds recover from early scare for winning start

  Liverpool celebrated their return to the Champions League with a 3-1 victory over AC Milan at San Siro on Tuesday, overcoming a shaky start for a comfortable triumph.

  The Reds got off to an awful start when Christian Pulisic finished Milan's deadly counter-attack in the third minute, aided by Liverpool's disorganised defending on their return to the competition after a year's absence.

  Arne Slot's side turned things around, however, as Ibrahima Konate equalised in the 23rd minute when he leapt high above a crowd of defenders to head in Trent Alexander-Arnold's free kick.

  Virgil van Dijk put Liverpool ahead after nodding home Kostas Tsimikas' corner prior to the break before Dominik Szoboszlai sealed victory in the 67th minute, slotting into the far corner from Cody Gakpo's cross after Milan gave up possession.

  Slot's first Champions League game at the helm of Liverpool ended in deserved victory, and it was a terrific response from his team after their shock 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Saturday.

  Data Debrief: Defensive delight for Reds

  With Konate and Van Dijk both on target, Liverpool had two defenders score in the same Champions League game for the first time.

  It marked a fitting way for Van Dijk to celebrate a landmark appearance, becoming just the third Dutch player to score on his 50th outing in the competition, after Ruud van Nistelrooy and Roy Makaay (both in 2005).

  Alexander-Arnold's assist for Liverpool's equaliser was also his 80th for the Reds. Since his debut in October 2016, only Kevin De Bruyne (146) and team-mate Mohamed Salah (90) have provided more in all competitions among Premier League players.

  Those defensive performances at the other end of the pitch helped Liverpool to a fifth win in their last six away games against Italian sides in all competitions (L1), having won just three of their first 14 such visits (D3 L8).