5 Champions League
> Messi beats Buffon and Lewandowski proves a point as PSG’s glittering front three are already beginning to gel, Messi is as good as ever and Radja Nainggolan pleads for patience
THE Champions League group stage kicked off on Tuesday, on a hectic evening featuring eight matches, 28 goals and no end of drama.
Two English sides were in action, with Premier League champions Chelsea thrashing FK Qarabag 6-0 and Manchester United beating FC Basel 3-0.
A number of Europe’s biggest and best sides also began their continental campaigns, with Paris Saint-Germain destroying Celtic and Barcelona beating Juventus.
Here are five talking points from last night, from the games you may have missed.
Messi finally scores against Buffon
Lionel Messi finally scored against goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon as Barcelona beat Juventus 3-0 in their first match of the Champions League group stage yesterday.
Messi grabbed his 95th and 96th goals in the Champions League in the win, but his first ever against the 39-year-old Buffon, who had kept him without a goal in three previous meetings.
New signing Ousmane Dembele helped in Messi’sopening goal on a counterattack that caught Juventus’ defence off-guard. Messi took the ball from Dembele, worked a quick one-two with Luis Suarez and then rolled a left-footed shot just inside the far post.
Messi got his double in the 69th when he took the ball on the right side and cut back to go around two defenders. He left Buffon with no chance against another left-footed strike which smacked the lower corner of his net.
PSG’s front three already look formidable
While it is doubtful Neymar will be able to repeat the kind of spellbinding displays he managed alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, the more he plays alongside Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappé the slicker they will all become.
They all got on the scoresheet in PSG’s rout of Celtic, and the Brazilian proved that his new team’s attack is not solely built around him.After scoring the opener, Neymar could have gone for goal himself when presented with a back-post chance just after the half-hour mark but he unselfishly decided to head down for strike partner Mbappe to eventually ram home the second.
During his Nou Camp days, Neymar was seldom expected to involve himself in the more labourintensive aspects of defending and he looks to have been given the same licence by PSG boss Unai Emery. But there is good cause for that as it allows Neymar to keep himself fresh for the areas of the pitch where he can be at his most dangerous.
Lewandowski does his talking on the pitch
After criticising Bayern Munich’s transfer policy in an outspoken interview, Robert Lewandowski did his talking on the pitch against Anderlecht yesterday to kickstart the German side’s Champions League campaign.
The Pole’s forthright comments suggesting Bayern no longer compete in the transfer market dominated the build-up to the Group B game, with the club further unsettled by Thomas Muller talking about a possible move away and reports that Hoffenheim’s Julian Nagelsmann is lined up to succeed Carlo Ancelotti as manager.
A 2-0 weekend defeat to Nagelsmann’s present side confirmed Bayern’s worst start to a league campaign in six years and Lewandowski’s outburst led to a rare public rebuke by CEO KarlHeinz Rummenigge, who indicated that the Pole should stick to what he is good at.
Anyone doubting what that might be had to wait just 10 minutes into Tuesday’s game as Lewandowski threatened on goal before being hacked down by Sven
The Portuguese champions were tipped as Manchester United’s main rivals in Group A, and began their campaign at home to CSKA Moscow, who finished bottom of Tottenham Hotspur’s group last season.
A comfortable victory appeared to be on the cards, but substitute Timur Zhamaletdinov scored four minutes after coming on as CSKA Moscow hit back from a goal behind to stun an uninspired Benfica with a 2-1 away win.
The Portuguese champions struggled to get into gear in the first half as their Russian opponents sat back, but undeservedly took the lead when Haris Seferovic applied a neat finishing touch to a flowing move started by Alex Grimaldo and continued by Andrija Zivkovic.
But CSKA hit back within 13 minutes when Andre Almeida handled and Vitinho converted the penalty, and snatched all three points through Zhamaletdinov.