Two of the world’s biggest clubs have played out a UEFA Champions League epic that featured three goals in a chaotic nine-minute period.
Meanwhile, Liverpool survived a massive scare despite captain Virgil van Dijk’s horror moment just minutes in; and Manchester City made another emphatic statement in their final UCL campaign before brutal Premier League sanctions over their cheating scandal land – but not without a telling sight from the stands.
All that and more in the latest edition of Champions League Wrap!
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9-MIN CHAOS IN SUPERGIANTS’ SIX-GOAL EPIC
Vitinha’s superb late strike proved crucial as reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain saw off rivals Barcelona 4-2 on Tuesday in a dramatic game between two of the leading contenders to win this season’s Champions League.
The match was poised at 2-2 between two sides worth more than A$14 billion combined when the Portuguese playmaker, who came third in last year’s Ballon d’Or ranking, controlled on his chest and fired in from just outside the box in the 81st minute at the Parc des Princes.
The match featured a whopping 40 shots on goal in an early game of the tournament contender, with Sky Sports commentator and former Blackburn Rovers Premier League-winning captain Tim Sherwood calling it “an absolute pleasure to watch”.
“Two of the best teams in the world with full belief in themselves and only one intention: outscore the other,” Sky journalist Callum Bishop wrote.
“If you want a demonstration of what two heavyweight giants playing each other should look like, it is this. Blow for blow, haymaker for haymaker.”
Fabian Ruiz then sealed PSG’s third victory in as many matches in this season’s competition, as they aim to win the Champions League for the third season running.
It had briefly looked as though Barcelona would leave the French capital with a point when Lamine Yamal, who is hoping to win this year’s Ballon d’Or, stabbed in Barcelona’s second equaliser on the night.
Desire Doue had earlier opened the scoring for PSG, and Lucas Hernandez got their second goal after teenager Xavi Espart found the net for the Catalans.
The defeat is a setback for Barcelona, albeit not one that is likely to seriously hurt their prospects of advancing further in Europe’s elite club competition.
They had travelled to France on a run of 11 consecutive wins at the start of the season in all competitions. That sequence is now over, but the goals keep coming, and Yamal’s strike here was Barcelona’s 50th of the season all told.
PSG, meanwhile, have now won seven games in a row between Ligue 1 and Champions League, but they lost both Ousmane Dembele – last year’s Ballon d’Or winner – and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to injury on the night.
Dembele’s hamstring injury saw him make way after just 20 minutes for former Barca star Ferran Torres to feature against his old side for the first time, with fans reacting strongly to his substitution.
It remains to be seen how seriously hurt those two attackers are, although Doue was the real star of the show here and Luis Enrique’s team are well set to comfortably reach the knockout phase at this rate.
This was the 14th meeting of the teams in the Champions League in the last 13 years, and for Barcelona it was probably not their biggest game of the week – beat Real Madrid at home this coming Sunday and they go nine points ahead of their great rivals in La Liga.
That helps explain why Rodri, the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner, was left on the bench at kick-off, although Raphinha was back in the starting line-up after a recent spell out.
Fresh from winning 4-2 at Manchester City last week, PSG almost scored inside 90 seconds as Kvaratskhelia hit the post, but still opened the scoring in the 38th minute following an error by Yamal.
He gave away possession in his own half, and the ball came to Doue who showed superb footwork before firing low into the bottom corner from just outside the area.
The home side were worthy of their lead at the interval, yet Barcelona drew level soon after half time as Fermin Lopez released Espart who drove into the box and fired in his second senior goal.
Rodri soon entered the fray for Barca but the game became increasingly unbridled and Torres hit the post for the hosts just before Hernandez headed them back in front from a corner.
The defender was called into the side to mark Yamal in the absence of usual starting left-back Nuno Mendes. The goal was just his third for PSG in over 100 appearances, and a first since February 2024.
That crowned a fine performance for Hernandez, but he was substituted moments later by coach Luis Enrique, and replacement Warren Zaire-Emery was at fault for Barcelona’s second equaliser.
He got caught underneath a high ball, allowing Yamal to run away and stab in his 10th goal of the campaign.
PSG had the last laugh, though, as they reminded their opponents that they remain the team to beat in Europe this season with Vitinha making it 3-2 before Ruiz sealed the win from close range.
TEEN FREAK’S STUNNER MAKES UP FOR CAPTAIN’S HOWLER
Liverpool stormed back from a two-goal deficit to beat Villarreal 4-3 at Anfield and maintain a perfect start to their Champions League campaign on Tuesday.
18-year-old Rio Ngumoha proved the matchwinner with a sensational display featuring two assists as the Reds recovered from a nightmare start, with an error at the back from captain Virgil van Dijk conceding a shock early goal inside five minutes to silence the Anfield crowd.
Ngumoha became the youngest Liverpool player to score an assist in the Champions League when his cross set up a header from Ronald Araujo to level the scores in first half stoppage time.
Villarreal took full advantage of a much-changed Liverpool side early on and were gifted the opening goal when van Dijk miscued his attempted header back to Alisson Becker, with Georges Mikautadze finishing coolly from close range.
Villarreal coach Inigo Perez looked set to get one over on his old boss Andoni Iraola as the Spaniards deservedly took a 2-0 lead inside 30 minutes through Sergi Cardona.
But twice the visitors were undone by their failure to defend crosses into the box as Alexis Mac Allister and Araujo levelled before half time.
Mac Allister fired in his second 25 minutes from time and substitute Florian Wirtz completed the comeback as Liverpool moved alongside Paris Saint-Germain at the top of the Champions League table with nine points from three games.
Iraola left out all three of his over £100 million ($133 million) forwards as Alexander Isak and Bradley Barcola joined Wirtz on the bench with one eye on the visit of high-flying Brighton in the Premier League on Sunday.
Perez’s own managerial career got started by chance when he was denied a work permit to join Iraola as his assistant at Bournemouth.
Instead he ended up as boss at Rayo Vallecano, where he had previously worked under Iraola, and led the La Liga minnows to the Conference League final last season.
Perez’s knowledge of Iraola’s system was clear as Villarreal opened up Liverpool at will at times during the first half.
A fine team move finally led to a second goal when Nathan Saliba picked out the run of Cardona from left-back and he steered the ball past Alisson.
Liverpool’s understudies in attack had barely threatened until Mac Allister’s looping header from a Kostas Tsimikas corner kickstarted the fightback.
Ngumoha then began to tease the Villarreal defence, but the first of his two assists owed a lot to poor defending.
Cardona let a cross go at the back post, unaware that Araujo was steaming in to head in the equaliser.
That was the Uruguayan’s last act as he made way for Wirtz at half time and Liverpool clicked through the gears after the break.
Ngumoha’s searing pace down the right wing then opened up the Villarreal defence and his low cross was smashed in off the underside of the bar by Mac Allister.
Just three minutes later Cody Gakpo picked out Wirtz to score his first goal of the season and hit back at his critics over a lack of end product.
“I enjoyed myself out there. The team helped me as well a lot,” the teenager said post-match.
“Whenever I get the ball and there’s an opportunity to go 1v1 or 2v1 sometimes, by all means I’ll do it.
“I believe in myself to do it. The more chances we get, the more it makes the opposition worried.”
Iraola’s men remained suspect at the back, though, and Tani Oluwaseyi set up a nervy finish with a sweet connection to Ayoze Perez’s cross.
But Liverpool held on to close in on the last 16 and leave Villarreal on just three points from their first three games.
TELLING SIGHT IN CITY’S BRUTAL STATEMENT
Phil Foden hit a hat-trick to underline his long-awaited return to form as Manchester City crushed AEK Athens 5-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday.
After a significant dip over the last two seasons, Foden provided hope of a renaissance for the England playmaker with a sublime display at the Etihad Stadium.
The 26-year-old, who has admitted struggling with mental health issues, hadn’t scored for 10 months prior to his goal in Saturday’s win against Ipswich.
Long heralded as one of England’s brightest talents, Foden was left out of his country’s World Cup squad earlier this year in a damning sign of his fall from grace.
Having ended his run without a goal in the Champions League since November 2025, Foden now has to produce nights like this on a regular basis to complete his revival.
Elliot Anderson put City ahead early in the first half with his first goal for the club since his close-season move from Nottingham Forest.
Foden doubled City’s lead before the break and although Stavros Pilios pulled one back for the Greek side after the interval, the Premier League leaders finished with a flourish.
Rayan Cherki bagged City’s third goal in typically flamboyant fashion and Foden struck twice more to complete his treble.
It was City’s second win in the league phase after beating Porto in their opening game and losing to holders Paris Saint-Germain last week.
City’s future remains in limbo as they wait the result of their appeal against an independent commission’s verdict that they were guilty of more than 100 breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules.
With reports emerging that City are set to be hit with a massive points deduction that will almost certainly condemn them to relegation, this season’s Champions League campaign could be the club’s last for some time.
Enzo Maresca and his players have shown little sign of being affected by the scandal, while City’s fans defiantly show their backing for the Abu Dhabi-owned club.
But concerningly, the match was played in front of half-empty stands at the Etihad, a stark contrast to the lionhearted support fans have shown in Premier League outings since the scandal broke.
They have won 10 of their 11 games in all competitions this season and even the absence of Erling Haaland couldn’t derail them.
City started with Haaland on the bench after the Norway striker limped down the tunnel at the final whistle with a foot injury following his double against Ipswich.
Maresca made eight changes from the Ipswich game, with 17-year-old academy graduate Floyd Samba showing flashes of his talent on the flanks.
City’s understudies took just 12 minutes to seize the lead.
Enzo Fernadez’s free-kick cannoned down off the bar and Anderson reacted quicker than the flat-footed AEK defence as the midfielder slotted into the empty net from 10 yards.
Foden doubled City’s lead at the climax of an eye-catching move in the 34th minute.
Exchanging passes in a blur of movement and precision, Foden and Rico Lewis cut through AEK with ease before Foden fired high into the roof of the net from an acute angle.
Perhaps overconfident after such a one-sided half, City lost their focus, allowing Pilios to reduce the deficit with their first shot on target in the 52nd minute.
City quickly regained their two-goal lead in the 57th minute. Picked out by Foden on the edge of the area, Cherki unfurled a balletic turn that took him into space for a fine finish in keeping with his graceful first touch.
In the 65th minute, Cherki’s long ball was knocked down by Lewis and Foden arrived to caress his shot into the top corner from 18 yards.
Foden made a perfectly-timed run to tap home Ryan McAidoo’s cross in the 76th minute, sealing his first hat-trick for over two years.
There was further drama in a wild seven-goal thriller between Napoli and Bodø/Glimt, with the Italian giants benefiting from an 88th minute own goal from Odin Bjørtuft that put them 4-2 ahead, before the Norwegian team scored in the 94th minute to fight right to the end.
Roma dismantled Slovan Bratislava 4-0, registering 22 shots to zero for the game; while a 10-man Atletico Madrid held on for a 1-1 draw against VfB Stuttgart and PSV edged Porto 1-0.
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