Champions League: PSG oust Barcelona, Liverpool and City stage comebacks

French champions Paris Saint-Germain tightened their grip on Spanish side Barcelona with a 4-2 victory, while English club Liverpool overturned Spanish team Villarreal with a 4-3 win. On Tuesday, English side Manchester City crushed Greek club AEK Athens 5-1 in Matchday 3 of the unified group stage of the UEFA Champions League.

At the Parc des Princes in Paris, Paris Saint-Germain’s goals were scored by Desirey Doue (38th minute), Luca Hernandez (72nd), Portuguese player Vitinha (81st), and Spanish player Fabian Ruiz (86th). Barcelona’s goals came from Chavi Espar (55th) and Lamine Yamal (79th).

This marked Paris Saint-Germain’s third consecutive victory across three stages of the prestigious continental competition this season, as well as their third straight win over the Catalan club in the tournament, and their second in the last five matches hosted at the Parc des Princes (one draw and two losses).

Paris Saint-Germain strengthened their position at the top of the unified group, adding Barcelona to their list of victims, after the Catalan side had previously secured a valuable same-scoreline win against English club Manchester City in Matchday 2.

Conversely, Barcelona suffered their first defeat after two consecutive victories, and their first in 12 matches across all competitions this season, ahead of their traditional rival Real Madrid in the upcoming Sunday La Liga Clásico.

Paris Saint-Germain were the better side at the start of the match, coming close to scoring in three chances within the first five minutes following powerful shots from Georgian player Khvicha Kvaratskhelia that hit the right post (2nd minute), as well as efforts from Ousmane Dembele and Desirey Doue (5th minute).

Paris Saint-Germain suffered a heavy blow when Dembele sustained a left thigh muscle injury and was replaced by former Barcelona player Ferran Torres (20th minute).

Barcelona also took a severe hit when Olmo was injured and replaced by Fermin Lopez (26th minute).

Doue gave Paris Saint-Germain the lead by capitalizing on a header cut off by Portuguese international Joao Neves to Lamine Yamal, who then struck it with his right foot from outside the box into the right side of goalkeeper Garcia’s net (38th minute).

Espar equalized after exchanging passes with Lopez, who then drove into the box and fired a powerful right-footed shot into the net (55th minute).

Paris Saint-Germain’s troubles increased with injuries to Kvaratskhelia and Marquinhos, who were replaced by Magnin Akliouche and Ukrainian player Ilya Zabani (59th minute).

Toris was denied by the left post from close range after a pass from Hakimi (72nd minute).

Hernandez restored Paris Saint-Germain’s lead with a header from a corner taken by Doue (72nd minute).

Yamal equalized for Barcelona by exploiting a mistake from Warren Zaire-Emery, driving into the box and striking the ball with the inside of his left foot into the net (79th minute).

However, Barcelona’s joy lasted only two minutes, as Vitinha capitalized on a clearance by Gerard Martin, heading in a cross from Hakimi and firing a powerful right-footed shot into the left side of goalkeeper Garcia’s net (81st minute).

Ruiz delivered the final blow to coach Hansi Flick’s men by scoring the third goal after a pass from Hakimi (86th minute).

At Anfield, Villarreal surprised the home side with a surprise goal from Mikotadze in the 4th minute following a serious error by Dutch international captain Virgil van Dijk, who attempted to head a backward pass to Brazilian international goalkeeper Alisson Becker.

The visitors doubled their lead when Cardona broke through the Brazilian goalkeeper and scored (29th minute).

But Liverpool quickly reduced the deficit with a header from Argentine player Alexis Mac Allister, following a pass from Greek international Konstantinos Tsimikas (36th minute). In the dying moments of the first half, Araújo, on loan from Spanish club Barcelona, equalized by heading in a cross from Rio Ngumoha that was heading out of play (45+2).

Alisson gave Liverpool the lead with a close-range shot following a cross from Ngumoha (65th minute), before substitute Wirtz scored the fourth goal with a powerful strike after a pass from another Dutch international, Cody Gakpo (68th minute).

Olawaseyi revived the hopes of the “Yellow Submarines” with a third goal from a penalty-area shot (87th minute), but they failed to equalize in the final moments.

In another match, a hat-trick from Phil Foden restored City’s continental balance, with goals in the 34th, 65th, and 76th minutes, after Elliot Anderson had opened the scoring (12th minute). French player Ryan Cherki scored the third goal (57th minute), while Albanian player Stavro Bilja scored the only goal for the visitors (52nd minute).

The Guinea international striker Serhou Guirassy brought his team, German club Borussia Dortmund, back to winning ways with a brace in a 2-1 victory over their Azerbaijani hosts, Sabah.

Turkish club Fenerbahçe squandered their first win, leading against visitors Slavia Prague 2-1 until the final minute when the visitors scored an equalizer.

Portugal’s Porto fell at home to Dutch side PSV Eindhoven 0-1, while Italy’s Napoli snatched a 4-3 win over Norwegian club Bodø/Glimt, their first in the competition after two consecutive defeats. Italy’s Roma regained their footing after a heavy 3-4 loss to Spain’s Real Madrid, with a convincing 4-0 victory over Slovak visitors Slovan Bratislava. Meanwhile, a positive draw settled the match between Germany’s Stuttgart and Spain’s Atlético Madrid (1-1).