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European heavyweights Arsenal, Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan and Manchester City all received large on Tuesday as Matchday 2 of the 2024-25 UEFA Champions League first spherical kicked off.
Listed here are three speedy takeaways.
Gunners make quick work of Paris Saint-Germain
There isn’t any query that the sexiest sport on Tuesday’s nine-game docket was between star-studded PSG and Arsenal in London. And for probably the most half, the marquee contest lived as much as the billing, with two of the continent’s most glamorous golf equipment delivering a spectacle worthy of Planet Fútbol’s most prestigious and vital membership competitors. That was very true for neutrals or followers of the house aspect.
It took Arsenal simply 20 minutes to edge forward by way of Kai Havertz, and final 12 months’s English Premier League runner-up doubled that benefit properly earlier than the halftime whistle sounded, with Bukayo Saka sparking Mikel Arteta’s squad to a properly deserved 2-0 win — although it is arduous to see how Saka’s free kick obtained previous a sea of our bodies after which visiting keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma earlier than settling into the far aspect of Donnarumma’s web.
Whereas PSG could not pull any nearer, it did not play badly. Primarily they had been inefficient. The Parisians compelled simply two saves by Gunners backstop David Raya regardless of out-shooting the hosts 10-6, and regardless of having fun with virtually two-thirds of the possession, as Arsenal sat again and guarded its lead.
Barça, Dortmund, Inter and Man City additionally cruise
A number of of the match’s former champions additionally notched lopsided victories. In entrance of the Yellow Wall inside Dortmund’s cavernous Westfalenstadion, the hosts confirmed no mercy to Scottish titan Celtic, crushing the Hoops 7-1 behind Karim Adeyemi’s first-half hat trick and two extra objectives from striker Serhou Guirassy.
In Barcelona, Robert Lewandowski’s brace paced the Catalans in a 4-0 drubbing of Young Boys. The Swiss outfit’s distress was compounded by a late personal aim. Final season’s shedding finalists Inter Milan topped Red Star Belgrade by an equivalent rating on the San Siro, the place second-half substitute, World Cup-winner and reigning Serie A MVP Lautaro Martínez was amongst 4 completely different scorers.
And Erling Haaland’s torrid Champions League scoring spree continued as 2023 champs Manchester Metropolis trounced Slovan Bratislava within the Slovakian capital.
AC Milan was all the time going to have its palms full in Germany towards Bundesliga champions Bayern Leverkusen. And Milan was nonetheless in good condition early within the second half, when Victor Boniface broke the stalemate with what later proved to be the game-winner:
Milan tried to claw its means again into the match however could not discover the equalizer regardless of pouring on the strain late. U.S. nationwide crew star Christian Pulisic’s four-game aim streak (5 together with his strike for the USMNT versus New Zealand final month) got here to an finish within the course of.
Pulisic wasn’t the one American in motion on Tuesday. Central defender Auston Trusty went the space for Celtic, whereas PSV Eindhoven trio Richie Ledezma, Ricardo Pepi and Malik Tillman all performed (with Tillman standing and logging 90 minutes) in a 1-1 tie with Sporting Lisbon. Yunus Musah was an unused sub for AC Milan.
Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports activities. A former employees author with ESPN and Yahoo Sports activities, he has coated U.S. males’s and ladies’s nationwide groups at FIFA World Cups on 5 continents. Observe him @ByDougMcIntyre.
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