PSG win big against AC Milan to top Group F in the Champions League

The third round of the group stage in the football Champions League has ended. PSG again took first place in Quartet F after they confidently defeated Milan – 3:0, and Newcastle lost to Borussia – 0:1. A change of leadership also occurred in Group E, where Feyenoord, having defeated Lazio 3:1, beat Atlético, which tied with Celtic 2:2.

The central event of Wednesday in the Champions League was the confrontation between the two giants of European football – PSG and Milan. And in general the most powerful in terms of participants group F traditionally was the center of attention. After all, even one of the best German clubs – Borussia Dortmund – ended up here as outsiders after two rounds, and the leadership was taken not by PSG, but by Newcastle, which defeated the star Parisians led by Kylian Mbappe with a score of 4:1.

After such an embarrassment, Luis Enrique’s team needed to rehabilitate themselves in the home match with Milan, but Stefano Pioli’s team did not start in the best way, ending two meetings in a 0:0 draw. The hosts started very actively and by the seventh minute they had given their opponents two yellow cards. Nevertheless, the guests did not flinch and quickly brought this offensive impulse to naught. Their attacks also did not cause much trouble for PSG, and absolute equality was established on the field, in which there was practically no goal, not even goals.

However, in the 32nd minute, Mbappe upset the balance. Only the Milanese loosened the guard of the French star a little and let him into the penalty area with the ball, when he immediately took advantage of his freedom of maneuver and scored from under Fikayo Tomori. Although one cannot fail to note the contribution to the success of Mbappe and 17-year-old Warren Zaire-Emry, who prepared this scoring situation.

In the second half, the visitors finally created a real threat when Christian Pulisic ran one on one with the goalkeeper, but instead of shooting, he passed the ball to Olivier Giroud, and it was already very difficult for him to hit from a tight angle. But PSG did not miss their chance when the Milanese for some reason got confused when playing a regular corner. Ousmane Dembele calmly received a convenient pass in the penalty area and shot, and most importantly, no one stopped Randal Kolo Muani from picking up the rebound from goalkeeper Mike Maignan and sending the ball into the net.

This goal actually predetermined the outcome of the match. Moreover, Milan again failed to seal the other team’s goal. But Lee Kang-in also distinguished himself among the Parisians. PSG led the group with six points as Newcastle lost at home to Borussia, who, unlike Milan, scored their first goal in the current Champions League. At St James’ Park everything was decided by a single goal from Felix Nmechi. With four points, Dortmund moved up to second place, ahead of Newcastle in additional indicators. The Milanese are still last here with two points.

An important match took place in group E, where three clubs are fighting for spots in the playoffs. Feyenoord hosted Lazio and took the lead thanks to a goal from their top scorer Santiago Jimenez, who easily dealt with the visitors’ central defender inside the penalty area and turned his shot into the bottom corner. Moreover, a little earlier, the goal scored by the Mexican was canceled due to an offensive meager offside, but this trouble only provoked him. In stoppage time of the first half, the Romans did not keep track of defensive midfielder Ramiz Zerrouqui, allowing him to freely connect from mid-range. And in the second half, Jimenez once again upset Lazio, finishing the ball into an empty target after goalkeeper Ivan Provedel parried a shot from Quinten Timber. The Italian team could only respond with a prestige goal from the penalty spot, which was converted by Pedro Rodriguez.

With a 3-1 win, Feyenoord picked up six points and moved into first place. The leading Atlético achieved only a draw in Glasgow – 2:2, and during the match the Madrid team lost twice to the local Celtic. They also had Rodrigo De Paul sent off in the end. The Spanish club dropped to second place with five points. Lazio has four points, Celtic has one.

In other groups, the absolute favorites met with obvious outsiders. So, in Quartet N Barcelona, ​​with class, even in the absence of seven players from the main team, including the injured Robert Lewandowski and the disqualified Gavi, beat Shakhtar. Before the break, the goal of the Ukrainian club, which just the day before was headed by new coach Marino Pusic, who replaced Patrick van Leeuwen in this post, was struck by Ferran Torres and Fermin Lopez. And although Georgy Sudakov reduced the difference to a minimum in the second half, the Catalans, without any extra effort, maintained the winning result – 2:1.

With nine points, Barça is still in first place, while Porto is second, now with six points. The Portuguese club crushed Antwerp away – 4:1, despite the fact that it was losing 0:1 at the break. In this match, Brazilian Evanilson scored a hat-trick. The Belgian team had zero points left. Shakhtar are in third position with three.

IN group G Manchester City won for the third time in a row. The winner of the last Champions League had to struggle a little in Bern with Young Boys, and until the 67th minute the score was 1:1. But then Erling Haaland scored a double and that was the end of it. RB Leipzig beat Crvena Zvezda at home – also 3:1. The German club has six points, while the Swiss and Serbian clubs share third and fourth places with one point.

Alexander Ilyin