A fiery night and exciting matches witnessed in the first round of the group stage in the Champions League, in which Argentine star Lionel Messi appeared in the tournament for the first time with his French team, Paris Saint-Germain, on Wednesday.
Messi started with Saint-Germain, the star-studded club, in the face of its Belgian host Club Brugge in the first group, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
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Messi in his first shot hits the crossbar with a dangerous curling ball # Messi # Champions League # Paris Saint-Germain pic.twitter.com/j71nBzT0Dx
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) September 15, 2021
Ander Herrera scored the goal of Saint-Germain after a quarter of an hour, but Hans Vanaken equalized for Brugge in the 27th minute.
While the other match in the group was more heated and witnessed 9 goals, as Manchester City beat Leipzig 6-3 to lead the group with three points.
⚽️🥅 Grealish reassures City fans and boosts his team's progress #UEFA Champions League |
#Manchester_City_Leipzig#UCL |
#beINUCL pic.twitter.com/Eidm87qlPM
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) September 15, 2021
Five-pointed by City, Nathan Ake, Nordi Mukele, Riyad Mahrez from a penalty kick, Jack Graalich, Joao Cancelo and Gabriel Jesus, while Leipzig's Christopher Nkunku scored a hat-trick.
The second group witnessed a thrilling victory for Liverpool at Anfield over AC Milan 3-2, to lead the Reds in the strong group that witnessed a goalless draw between Atletico Madrid and Porto of Portugal.
😯 Milan turns the tables on Liverpool at the end of the first half thanks to the Spaniard "Diaz"# Champions League # Liverpool_ Milan # UCL #beINUCL #MilanLiverpool pic.twitter.com/CX3BhUZHT3
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) September 15, 2021
Liverpool advanced with an early goal by Milan Fikayo Tomori in his own net, but Milan scored two consecutive goals through Ante Rebic and Ibrahim Diaz before the end of the first half, during which Mohamed Salah missed a penalty kick for the Reds.
🧤⚽️ The ingenuity of Milan goalkeeper Mike Minnen prevents Liverpool from scoring the second goal!# Champions League # Liverpool_ Milan # UCL #beINUCL #MilanLiverpool pic.twitter.com/bIoDSY73j9
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) September 15, 2021
Salah compensated for the missed penalty by scoring the equalizer before Jordan Henderson scored the Reds' winning goal.
And Real Madrid snatched a valuable victory from the stadium of its host, Inter Milan, with a goal without a response, scored by Rodrygo, in the 89th minute.
⚽️🥅 Rodrygo in the last moments snatched a precious goal for Real Madrid # European_Champions_League |
#Inter_Real_Madrid #UCL |
#beINUCL pic.twitter.com/cEiq4VPVRu
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) September 15, 2021
Despite the victory, the royal occupies second place in Group D after the Moldovan Sherif Tiraspol - in his first appearance in the European Championship - who blew up a big surprise with his 2-0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine.