Matchday 2 in the Champions League came to a thrilling finish, but it was a rocky journey to the full-time whistle for many teams on Wednesday. While Paris Saint-Germain had the worst night with their 4-1 loss at Newcastle United, several of Europe’s other heavy-hitters stumbled before eventually securing victories. Barcelona only just got over the finish line with a 1-0 win at Porto after the hosts dominated the match, while Italian giants Milan were unable to show off their attacking talents in the day’s 0-0 match at Borussia Dortmund.
Here are a few takeaways from Wednesday’s action.
Scoreboard
- Atletico Madrid 3, Feyenoord 2
- Antwerp 2, Shakhtar Donetsk 3
- Newcastle 4, Paris Saint-Germain 1
- Borussia Dortmund 0, AC Milan 0
- RB Leipzig 1, Manchester City 3
- Porto 0, Barcelona 1
- Crvena zvezda 2, Young Boys 2
- Celtic 1, Lazio 2
PSG get it all wrong
Paris Saint-Germain arrived in Newcastle as the oddsmakers’ favorites to win, and though a strong performance from the hosts was not out of the question, a 4-1 drubbing was hardly predictable.
The game state favored Newcastle to some degree — the English side had just 27% of possession and have a demonstrated history of playing well without the ball — and arguably had a little bit of luck on their side by outperforming their expected goals tally of 1.05. It’s not like PSG did not have openings during the match, though. They had 845 touches to Newcastle’s 392 had an 88% passing accuracy while Newcastle only hit a mark of 68%.
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The visitors were ultimately incredibly wasteful going forward, though. PSG were outshot 12 to 11, had just two shots on target to Newcastle’s eight and only racked up an expected goals score of 0.86. It was also an underwhelming night for star Kylian Mbappe, who had just one shot and hit just 0.02 in terms of expected goals.
Barcelona’s Lewandwoski worry
Barcelona continued their unbeaten start to the season but were arguably lucky to do so in Wednesday’s 1-0 win over Porto. The Portuguese side were the more commanding team during the first 45 minutes but learned the cost of missing chances when Barcelona scored in first-half stoppage time. The Spanish champions eventually played a fairly even game in terms of shots and shots on goal, but it was a less than ideal outing for a team considered a contender for Europe’s top prize.
Their offensive output is due to take a hit for upcoming fixtures, though. Star talisman Robert Lewandowski came off in the 34th minute, likely with an injury. Though Barcelona boasts plenty of attacking talent in the likes of Ferran Torres and Joao Felix, replacing Lewandowski will be easier said than done — he has six goals this season across La Liga and the Champions League.
The question now for Barcelona is this: How long will Lewandowski be out of the team and will they be able to continue this strong run of form without him?
Uninspiring day for Americans
Wednesday provided a lot of promise for a handful of U.S. men’s national team players, but it was an underwhelming day for the Americans who ended up earning some playing time.
The group is headlined by Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah, who started for AC Milan in their draw at Dortmund. Neither side delivered the goods in terms of end product, and Pulisic and Musah only notched one shot each. Musah also only had 15 touches in the first half, but improved in the second half and ended the game with 45 touches. Pulisic, meanwhile, had just 30 touches during the game but also delivered one of Milan’s best chances of the game.
The day was even less exciting for Celtic’s Cameron Carter-Vickers, who came on in the 62nd minute but failed to stop Pedro’s late winner for Lazio. Gio Reyna, meanwhile, was on Dortmund’s bench but did not play.
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