The second slate of Matchday 2 served up more drama, upsets, and goals. Goals galore – after all but one of Tuesday’s matches served up 2+ goals, six of today’s matches had at least 5 goals scored. There was late action all around as three matches saw a winning goal in the 80th minute or later.
Here the Faculty does a quick roundup of Wednesday’s highlights.
For much of the night in Rome, Real Madrid were second best to a Roma side full of confidence and energy. Martin de Roon finished off a lovely team move for the first, and after Kylian Mbappe’s deflected shot brought the sides level at half, Donyell Malen scored a pair of goals early in the second half to set the Stadio Olimpico alight.
Yet Real Madrid and Jose Mourinho can never be counted out in Europe. The strength of the Madrid bench showed, as substitutes Carlos Espi, Endrick, and Arda Guler inspired Madrid’s comeback. Pierluigi Gollini, starting between the sticks in place of the injured Mile Svilar for Roma, will be having nightmares of his corner flags. Three smart finishes on three corner kicks inside the last 10’ of the match, and Madrid walked away 4-3 victors.
Mourinho makes it two-for-two against his former clubs and Madrid sit comfortably in the automatic qualification spots after MD2.
With Pep Guardiola in the stands at the Etihad, Manchester City players and fans were hoping to ignore the noise surrounding the club’s Premier League charges and build on their 3-0 weekend win over Liverpool. Instead, the two-time reigning European champs ran riot, as Luis Enrique’s PSG squad showed their depth & class.
Desire Doue caught Gigi Donnarumma at his near post in the 13th minute, and set up Ousmane Dembele for an easy header with a lovely cross just two minutes later. He should’ve picked up another assist in the 31’, as Hakimi headed another fine cross onto Donnarumma’s post. A thumping Vitinha finish just a minute later meant City were three down in just over thirty minutes.
Erling Haaland twice pulled City back within a goal, and Donnarumma attempted to atone for his mistakes with a late penalty save on Ferran Torres, but ultimately the result was indicative of PSG’s performance.
Expectations were much higher for Bodø after last season’s shock run to the final 16. Their campaign started with a 5-0 drubbing in Munich, but they took their revenge against another Bundesliga side. Coming into the match undefeated in their prior 10 home matches, Bodø created the majority of first half chances and were rewarded for their efforts early in the second period as a nicely worked move was finished off by right-back Fredrik Sjøvold in the 51”.
Dortmund ratcheted up the pressure in the remaining period, forcing several smart saves from Nikiti Haykin, and Arsenal loanee Ethan Nwaneri, still seeking his first goal for Dortmund, should’ve converted a free header. Regardless, Bodo take another scalp off a big club on their visit to the Aspmyra, making it 4 wins and a draw from 7 home UCL matches over the past two seasons.
* In the early matchup, Bradley Barcola broke out for Liverpool, scoring his first three goals for the Merseyside club, as Liverpool eased past Austrian champions LASK for a 6-3 victory.
* Aston Villa also put up a six-spot and kept a clean sheet against Fenerbahce. Johan Manzambi marked his UCL debut with a goal in the 12’ and Villa never looked back. Villa have now scored 9 goals across the first two matchdays, despite only scoring 6 in 6 in the Premier League.
* Real Betis came from 2-1 down against Porto to notch a second consecutive 3-2 win. They’ve now won 8 of their first 10 matches in all competitions this season.