Key events
Newcastle 1-0 Benfica: Lukébakio takes a long-range shot that goes right off the face of Botman. Ouch! He seems OK though and Benfica take their seventh corner of the night … which leads to zilch.
Peep! We are back in action around the grounds. Will Newcastle hold on to their 1-0 lead? Will PSG score another 374738 goals? Let’s find out.
Some more from the half-time post bag!
Kári on the PSG tornado:
When this PSG side gets going, it’s really something to behold, like a tornado bearing down on the opposition’s goal. I think this is the first time this season they’ve reached that intensity. So far they’ve been huffing and puffing, but not blowing any houses down. This was something else, though.
And Chris on hairstyles and bad touches on Tyneside:
The big news from the Newcastle game is that Anthony Gordon
s̶c̶o̶r̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶ g̶r̶e̶a̶t̶ ̶o̶p̶e̶n̶e̶r̶momentarily lost his headband and was running around without it, so we got treated to his latest attempt at a hairstyle.Meanwhile, Nick Pope is in one of those moods where his first touch his bad, his second touch is worse and his third touch makes the first two touches look like prime Eusebio.
Some half-time reading: the Champions League round-up, to be updated throughout the night. Already with some hot-off-the-press news of a good night for Marcus Rashford.
Colum, keeping across the star-crossed goals in Eindhoven, writes in:
Focusing on the PSV-Napoli match here in Naples and have just witnessed two superb crosses by Spinazzola for Napoli and by the evergreen Peresic for PSV, leading to two goals. Glad McTominay has rediscovered his goal-scoring touch.
A lot of pressure on Napoli after the defeat to Torino in the league. Unfortunately, from the perspective of a Napoli fan, PSV have just scored a breakaway goal. But Napoli are playing positively, perhaps a tad too positive.
PSG scored in the 41st, 44th and 45+3rd minute to absolutely suffocate Leverkusen in the dying minutes of the half.
Half-time scores
Whew! It started slow and then there was quite a rush of goals. Here is how we stand after 45 minutes.
Newcastle 1-0 Benfica
Villarreal 0-2 Manchester City
Arsenal 0-0 Atlético Madrid
PSV 2-1 Napoli
Bayer Leverkusen 1-4 Paris Saint-Germain
Union Saint-Gilloise 0-2 Inter
Copenhagen 1-2 Borussia Dortmund
USG 0-2 Inter: From a corner after a good chance from Lautaro Martínez, Dumfries evades the crowded box and lashes in the opener. Five minutes later, Martínez gets his goal to give the visitors a comfortable lead.
GOAL! Leverkusen 1-2 PSG (Doué 41)
Clearly the game that keeps on giving. 10v10. Penalty drama. But the defending champions retake the lead after with a nice finish into the corner.
PSV 2-1 Napoli: The visitors had the lead but an Buongiorno own goal followed up by a Saibari goal in quick succession has turned things around.
GOAL! Villarreal 0-2 Manchester City (Silva 41)
Cruise control for City. Savinho picks out Silva in the middle of the box who heads it home. City are moving the ball well but the hosts are defending woefully.
RED CARDS! Leverkusen 1-1 PSG
It is not going well for the hosts. After a missed penalty earlier Andrich is sent off for striking Doué in the face with his elbow.
You would think PSG would relish the man advantage but Zabarnyi then gets a red and concedes a penalty. What a mess! García steps up this time and finds the back of the net.
GOAL! PSV 0-1 Napoli (McTominay 31)
Spinazzola spins away on the left and his cross into the box finds McTominay who heads home. Kovar got a hand to it but was unable to keep it out.
MISSED PENALTY! Leverkusen 0-1 PSG
Yikes! After a VAR check the hosts have a chance to equalise after Ilya Zabarnyi’s handball but Grimaldo’s effort hits the post.
GOAL! Newcastle 1-0 Benfica (Gordon 32)
Liftoff on Tyneside! Newcastle are rewarded for their high press. Murphy finds Gordon from the right with a low pass across the face of goal which Gordon finished in style. Direct and clinical.
Newcastle 0-0 Benfica: Better from Newcastle! They do well to win a corner and Burn heads it down. Guimarães latches on to the loose ball but Trubin makes a good save with his foot.
GOAL! Copenhagen 0-1 Dortmund (Nmecha 20)
Bellingham finds Nmecha, who cleverly dodges a challenge on the edge of the area and fires the opener into the roof of the net.
Newcastle 0-0 Benfica: Lukébakio is causing problems for Howe’s backline. He picks up the ball and bends a great curler towards the far corner but the ball clips the outside of the post.
GOAL! Villarreal 0-1 Man City (Haaland 17)
Who else? Rico Lewis with a great run and he finds his teammate with a low cross into the middle of the box. The ball almost comes off his shin but he smashes it straight in. Twelve games in a row that Haaland has now scored for club and country. Unreal.
Newcastle 0-0 Benfica: Lukébakio leaves Burn on his backside and gets into the box on the right but Pope makes himself big and parries away the shot. Huge chance!
Villarreal 0-0 Man City: The hosts almost play themselves into trouble after just avoiding City’s press while playing out from the back. Nervy.
Villarreal 0-0 Man City: Savinho has a shot blocked before the hosts counter. Nunes challenges Mikautadze in the box and there are cries for a penalty but the complaints are waved away and VAR confirms no foul.
GOAL! Leverkusen 0-1 PSG (Pacho 7)
The defending champions are on the board! It is the defender’s first goal for the club and he is quite emotional as he celebrates his header at the far post after a great delivery from Mendes on the right.
Newcastle 0-0 Benfica: Close for the hosts! Great last ditch defending from Silva to deny a rushing Murphy. The resulting corner is headed down by Burn but Benfica clear their lines.
Newcastle 0-0 Benfica: Trippier catches Barrenechea late and initially the hosts play on until the referee is forced to blow the whistle. The commentators suggest this might be Benfica’s way of taking the sting out of the atmosphere. That might be harsh and unfair – Trippier’s challenge was low but Barrenechea’s ankle was caught.
Villarreal 0-0 Man City: Inside 30sec and City have a great chance. Savinho passes it to Haaland and the striker lays it back to the Brazilian. He should have taken the shot as his pass was slightly behind Savinho, who can’t get to it in time.
Newcastle 0-0 Benfica: Howe and Mourinho share a quick embrace before kick-off. The latter has won one in his last seven on Tyneside and he knows how difficult this will be.
Kick-offs
Here we go! A reminder of the games to follow:
Newcastle 0-0 Benfica
Villarreal 0-0 Manchester City
Arsenal 0-0 Atlético Madrid
PSV 0-0 Napoli
Bayer Leverkusen 0-0 Paris Saint-Germain
Union Saint-Gilloise 0-0 Inter
Copenhagen 0-0 Borussia Dortmund
We are less than 15 minutes away from the 8pm BST kick-offs. You can follow Arsenal’s match against Atlético Madrid with Scott Murray below.
Full-time in the early games:
Barcelona 6-1 Olympiacos
Kairat Almaty 0-0 Pafos
Barcelona get their second win of the league phase while Kairat get their very first Champions League point on the board.
Two minutes after Rashford’s first, López the hat-trick hero as Barcelona are now 5-1 up. This was all about the assist from the 19-year-old Roony Bardghji – some left footed magic.
And as I type the above, Barcelona go 6-1 up, a cool finish from Rashford after cutting inside. A huge result for Hansi Flick’s side ahead of El Clasico this weekend.
Barcelona are currently 4-1 up at home to Olympiacos. The opener came in the seventh minute after Kostas Tzolakis tapped the ball off Lamine Yamal’s quick feet. The ball then fell for Fermín López, who took a touch before firing in from close range.
López also scored the hosts’ second after Pedri latched on to a loose pass and laid it off to the 22-year-old. Great play from Marcus Rashford as well, who managed to drag some defenders away to create space for the goalscorer.
The visitors then had a goal disallowed for offside but in the buildup, García stuck his arm out and conceded a penalty in the process. From the spot, Ayoub El Kaabi’s left-footed strike was enough to beat Wojciech Szczęsny. Minutes later Santiago Hezze was sent off after a second yellow.
Rashford then earned the hosts’ a penalty which Lamine Yamal converted before scoring himself to make it 4-1.
The other early game remains goalless but Pafos’ João Correia was sent off in the fourth minute after a dangerous challenge on Luís Mata, kicking the Kairat Almaty player in the face.
Pep Guardiola has called Rayan Cherki a “street player” and hailed the 22-year-old Frenchman one of the most talented players he has ever seen. Big words from a man who coached Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernández.
“Technically and individually he is top. The question is how he settles and what we are going to do, how he reads the game and every action the game needs. He started at the [Club] World Cup, but then there was some time off. [We have to go] step by step, but the talent he has: I have the feeling that most of the time when the ball comes to him, the situation gets better.
More from Sid Lowe below on Guardiola’s thoughts, including City’s improving form and Nico González, who is poised to start at Villarreal.
Newcastle is a special place for José Mourinho. In 1999 Bobby Robson wanted the Portuguese to join him at Newcastle as an assistant manager with a view to eventually taking the top job but Mourinho declined.
Today’s match will be Mourinho’s 13th competitive appearance on Tyneside as a manager but previous trips with Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham produced only three wins.
“I’m a little Magpie,” he told interviewers in Portugal last month. “The club up there know how much love and respect I have for them. I learned that from Mr Robson.”
Read more below from Louise Taylor on how Mourinho thinks Benfica are benefiting from a newer version of himself and Eddie Howe’s thoughts on his opponent.
Team news: Villarreal v Manchester City
Villarreal (4-4-2): Luiz Júnior; Mouriño, Foyth, Veiga, Pedraza; Gueye, Partey, Comesaña, Buchanan; Pépé, Mikautadze
Subs: Conde, Tenas, Altimira, Marín, Solomon, Moreno, Parejo, Akhomach, Moleiro, Oluwaseyi, Pérez, Cardona
Manchester City (4-3-3): Donnarumma; Nunes, Stones, Dias, Gvardiol; González, Lewis, Silva; Savinho, Doku, Haaland
Subs: Trafford, Bettinelli, Reijnders, Aké, Marmoush, Kovacic, Cherki, Aït-Nouri, O’Reilly, Foden, Bobb
Referee: Serdar Gozubuyuk (The Netherlands)
Team news: Newcastle v Benfica
Newcastle (4-3-3): Pope; Trippier, Thiaw, Botman, Burn; Miley, Ramsey, Guimarães; Gordon, Woltemade, J Murphy
Subs: Thompson, Ramsdale, Schär, Joelinton, Tonali, Barnes, Krafth, Osula, Elanga, Willock, A Murphy
Benfica (4-3-3): Trubin; Dedic, A Silva, Otamendi, T Araújo; Barrenechea, Rios, Aursnes; Sudakov, Lukebakio; Pavlidis
Subs: Soares, Obrador, Ivanovic, Barreiro, Schjelderup, Dahl, H Araújo, Wynder, Veloso, Rego, Prioste, Lima
Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland)
How things stand in the Champions League league phase table after every team’s first two games.
Preamble
Matchday three action in the Champions League is upon us. It may seem a tad early but teams may be starting to look at their position in the table after this week and wonder if they will get enough points on the board to qualify for the knockouts. Some intriguing matchups tonight will certainly help us
José Mourinho is back on British shores three weeks after Benfica’s narrow loss at Chelsea. Since then, the Portuguese outfit managed a goalless draw at Benfica and a 2-0 win at the second-tier side Chaves in the Taça de Portugal. Can they keep Newcastle – and Nick Woltemade – side at bay in front of a bouncing St James’ Park?
Plus Pep Guardiola’s men head to Villarreal with the hopes of righting some wrongs after a 2-2 draw against Monaco last time out in the competition. Villarreal will have to limit Erling Haaland if they are to register their first win in Europe this season. The striker has scored eight goals in eight Champions League appearances against Spanish opponents.
Champions League
Barcelona 2-0 Olympiacos
Kairat Almaty 0-0 Pafos
Newcastle v Benfica
Villarreal v Manchester City
Arsenal v Atlético Madrid
PSV v Napoli
Bayer Leverkusen v Paris Saint-Germain
Union Saint-Gilloise v Inter
Copenhagen v Borussia Dortmund
Loads to look forward to. Feel free to get in touch with any thoughts, predictions, queries or your favourite goal of the season in Europe so far via email.
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