Archive October 1, 2025

Paris Saint-Germain, who are currently defending their title, defeated Barcelona 2-1 on Wednesday with a 90-minute winner over the Goncalo Ramos.

Barcelona were leading thanks to a cool finish from Ferran Torres, but before half-time, Senny Mayulu fired a depleted PSG level.

At the Olympic stadium, two of the competition’s favorites squared off in an even and thoroughly entertaining match, which PSG exploited Barca’s powerful defensive line to finally settle with Ramos’ late strike.

After Ronald Araujo was sent off against PSG in 2024, Hansi Flick chose Torres over veteran striker Robert Lewandowski.

Luis Enrique, who won the treble with Barcelona in 2015, struggled with several key players, and his team struggled at times to defeat the semi-finalists of last year.

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Barcelona and PSG haven’t had the best of terms in the past ten years, with Barcelona recording one of the best comebacks in the game’s history in 2017 with a 6-1 victory over the Parisians.

Although Luis Enrique’s approach and a number of injuries left the visitors without-star names on their return to Catalonia, PSG’s acquisition of Neymar and the signing of legendary Barca great Lionel Messi worsened relations.

Despite being unsure in the lead-up to the game, PSG midfielders Vitinha and Fabian Ruiz were fit to start despite disappointments, including Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembele and his regular attacking partners Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Desire Doue all missed out.

Lamine Yamal, a star of Barca right off the bat, was trying to prove a point. Dembele finished second, and the teen began making his case for the award next year.

As a statement of intent, Yamal pirouetted away from two defenders and struck Nuno Mendes, launching a thrilling battle with PSG’s left-back.

The defender shut him down for Portugal in the summer and was successful in disposing the winger in the box a few minutes later to equalize in their individual tussle.

Torres was given the first clear chance by Yamal, who made the sensational pass through his boot.

Lucas Chevalier’s goalkeeper was rounded by the Spaniard, but Illia Zabarnyi slid in to stop his goal-bound effort.

After Yamal and Pedri quickly combined, Barcelona took the lead in the 19th minute, when Torres slotted home from Marcus Rashford’s quick first-time lead.

Rashford has scored in each of his last four goals for Barcelona while on loan from Manchester United.

After a half-hour, PSG grew on top of the game and forced Wojciech Szczesny to score with a free-kick from Achraf Hakimi around the post.

Marauding Mendes, &nbsp

Mendes cut through Barcelona players before fatally shooting Yamal in the foot before cutting through the youngster before being shot by a desperate Frenkie de Jong.

Mendes repeated the error to give Barca the lead in the equalizer and the defense’s pace was shown to be the best way to hurt the defender.

Mendes slammed into Barca territory before Pau Cubarsi’s error caused Mayulu, a 19-year-old striker, to intercept his pass from just inside the area. Szczesny was then beat by Szczesny in the 38th minute.

As the European champions climbed into a higher gear, Bradley Barcola nearly fired over, forcing Szczesny into a solid save either side of the break.

PSG were fortunate that Mendes was spared a second yellow after striking Yamal in full flow on the box’s edge as the pendulum swung back the other way.

As the clock ran out in a goalless second half, PSG’s Kang-in Lee curled against the post while Dani Olmo’s shot was cleared off the line by Hakimi.

After the Moroccan stepped in behind Barca’s defense and tapped home, Ramos eventually scored three points for PSG as he stayed onside to collect Hakimi’s pass.

Borussia Dortmund’s first Champions League victory came on Wednesday against Athletic Bilbao 4-1 at home, with Serice Guirassy scoring one goal and adding another.

Before the half-hour mark, Karim Adeyemi gave Daniel Svensson the opener, and Carney Chukwuemeka added Dortmund’s second, his first goal since moving to Chelsea in the summer.

After drawing at Juventus in a fiery 4-4 draw, Dortmund promised more stability, but they instead invited Bilbao, who gave Gorka Guruzeta a goal with a defensive mix-up on the hour.

With nine minutes left, Dortmund appeared shaky, but Guirassy eased their nerves by giving a Marcel Sabitzer shot to restore their two-goal lead.

In stoppage time, the hosts added a fourth before Julian Brandt wrapped up the contest.

We scored a few more goals than we needed, but we still managed to get there happy,” Brandt said.

Bilbao, making their first Champions League appearance since 2014-15 and just their third overall, lacked Nico Williams’ originality.

The Spain winger had only scored twice in those five games and was unable to play.

Coach Niko Kovac kept his pre-game promise to rotate the side and increase the number of minutes given to his bench players despite a season that has already started well.

Jobe Bellingham made his full debut in the starting lineup while Chukwuemeka made his debut for the first time since August.

Bellingham struggled to find his passing range, but Dortmund’s lack of fluidity was immediately apparent.

Despite the errors, Kovac praised the English midfielder. He did well, he said. He was quick, determined, and able to fend off the odds.

I don’t want to think so negatively about anything. He’s only 20 years old, so there may not have been many positives. He has a lot of potential.

Dortmund’s opener was scored by Adeyemi, who was in excellent form, who blazed down the right flank before slamming a pass across the face of goal for Svensson to fire home.

Dortmund’s decision-making was poor, despite the goal’s sputtering. In his first game of the season, Niklas Suele chose to score a long-range effort rather than pass it to Guirassy inside the box.

On the 50th minute, Chukwuemeka doubled Dortmund’s lead by shooting in from the near post after being pushed into space by Guirassy.

Dortmund had a routine win in mind, but they instead made a poor defensive error to draw Bilbao back. Guruzeta scored effortlessly from the penalty spot after Suele failed to clear a ball in the box.

Dortmund, who had a hard time breaking free of their own half, were in fear after scoring the goal.

Guirassy would put the hosts back on track again, deflecting Sabitzer’s shot into the goal for his sixth goal in seven games this season, but Bilbao had a few half-chances to equalize and a goal was ruled out for offside.

At the death, Brandt gave the scoreline more gloss.

An Erling Haaland double on Wednesday did not enough to earn Pep Guardiola’s side a 2-2 draw in the Champions League, so Eric Dier’s late penalty gave Monaco a 2-2 draw with Manchester City.

The Norwegian striker added 11 goals in eight games overall to his season total for the season with two goals in the first half for City, either side of a Jordan Teze stunner.

The 2023 European champions had the opportunity to leave the principality with a second victory in the league phase of the season, but a 90th-minute spot-kick denied them.

After a protracted VAR check, Spanish referee Jesus Gil Manzano eventually pointed to the spot after Nico Gonzalez was fouled inside the area by a Monaco free-kick.

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As Monaco won the Champions League title defense with a penalty kick and City moved onto four points after defeating Napoli last time out, Dier stepped up to send Gianluigi Donnarumma the wrong way.

Haaland now has 52 career Champions League appearances, including 52 with the 2-0 defeat to the Italian champions, after a half-century of goals in Europe’s elite club competition.

The Norwegian made it a quarter of an hour before the game’s final score of 5-1 Premier League victory over Burnley last Saturday.

After Josko Gvardiol tipped a ball over the top of the Monaco defense, Haaland escaped the attention of his marker before lobging the ball over Philipp Koehn’s home goal.

The teams’ first meeting since a memorable last-16 tie in 2017, which the principality side won on away goals after the score came in at 6-6 on aggregate.

Bernardo Silva, who was also wearing City’s captain’s armband this time, was also in that Monaco team.

Krepin Diatta cut the ball back for Teze in the 18th minute before firing a brilliant right-foot shot past Donnarumma from 20 meters high into the net.

Paul Pogba, a former Manchester United midfielder, is currently training with Monaco and hoping to make his Monaco debut once the season is over.

Without him, they struggled to contain the visitors, with City retaking the lead just before the break when Haaland headed in a cross from Nico O’Reilly.