Kylian Mbappé struck twice as Paris Saint-Germain launched their latest quest for Champions League glory with victory over Juventus. The France international took just five minutes to put his side in front after running on to Neymar’s audacious through-ball and he doubled his tally with just 22 minutes gone.
Half-time Juventus substitute Weston McKennie reduced the deficit with a 53rd-minute header after Mbappé had squandered a great chance for the hosts, failing to square the ball across to the unmarked Neymar early in the second half.
“Mbappé played a great game and he is goal obsessed,” PSG manager Christophe Galtier said. “Maybe he did not see Neymar, I don’t know.”
However, Juventus could not force an equaliser and slipped to a 2-1 defeat in Group H.
Both Mbappé and Galtier faced a backlash before the game for laughing off a question about why the team took a private jet for a short trip to a game in Nantes at the weekend.
“Are you serious, responding like this???,” Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo tweeted. “Wake up guys???”
Quizzed on PSG’s jet trip to Nantes at a news conference on Monday, Galtier and Mbappé looked at each other and the World Cup winner burst out laughing as his coach responded with a quip.
“This morning we talked about it with the company which organises our trips and we’re looking into travelling on sand yachts,” Galtier said. Asked for his views on the matter, Mbappé said he did not have any.
A video of their comments immediately went viral, triggering angry responses from social media users, environmentalists and ministers. Galtier later labelled his joke as one of “bad taste”.
PSG are joined at the top of their Champions League group by Benfica, who won 2-0 at home to Maccabi Haifa thanks to goals from Rafa Silva and Alejandro Grimaldo, who scored the goal of the night, curling a bewildering shot into the top corner from 25 yards out.
Marco Reus and Raphaël Guerreiro struck inside seven first-half minutes to set Borussia Dortmund on their way to a 3-0 home win over FC Copenhagen. England international Jude Bellingham made sure of the points with seven minutes remaining and Copenhagen’s disappointment was complete when Rasmus Falk saw a late consolation strike ruled out by the new semi-automated VAR system.
Manchester City top Group G on goal difference after they beat Sevilla 4-0 away from home, with Erling Haaland notching another two goals to continue his sublime start to the season in front of goal.
RB Salzburg and Milan drew 1-1 in Austria after Alexis Saelemaekers cancelled out Noah Okafor’s opener for the home side. Chelsea sit bottom of Group E after their shock 1-0 defeat to Dinamo Zagreb.
Marian Shved scored twice as Shakhtar Donetsk powered their way to a 4-1 victory at RB Leipzig. Goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi handed Shved the opening goal when after he stumbled over the ball outside his penalty area with 16 minutes gone and looked on in horror as the forward rolled it into the empty net.
Mohamed Simakan levelled for Leipzig with 57 minutes gone, but Shved struck again within seconds before Mykhailo Mudryk and Lassina Traoré wrapped up the points. Shakhtar lead Group F with Real Madrid, who overcame a nervy start to beat Celtic 3-0 in Glasgow.
