The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Rashford’s strike stuns PSG again
Marcus Rashford f i r e d Man che s te r Un i t ed t o another memorable victory at Paris St Germain as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men started their Champions League campaign with a bang.
After a season away from European football’s top table, the Red Devils returned to action at the Parc des Princes, where just 19 months ago they secured one of their greatest ever comebacks in th is competition.
Rashford fired home the late winner that night and again sealed a last- gasp United triumph in the French capital, with last s e a s o n’s finalists PSG deservedly overcome 2-1 in last night ’s Group H opener.
Many predicted a home win given the s i d e ’s contrasting fortunes of late, with David De Gea making two important early stops before Anthony
Martial was brought down in the box by Abdou Diallo midway through the first half.
Stand-in skipper Bruno Fernandes saw his penalty saved for the second successive match, but held his nerve to find the net after the Video Assistant Referee ordered a retake for Keylor Navas straying off his line.
United looked convincing in a 3-5-2 formation and could have gone further ahead, only for Martial to glance a Neymar corner into his own net and spark a helter-skelter conclusion.
Both sides had chances to win but United looked more impressive and, just as Solskjaer’s side looked set for a morale-boosting draw, Rashford lashed a superb late winner to stun PSG once more.
Chelsea opened their campaign by grinding to a goalless draw with Sevilla at Stamford Bridge.
Kurt Zouma had the best chance of a frustrating night, the France defender’s free header losing all sting through a deflection.
Frank Lampard’s Chelsea ended the night with all six of their £200 million summer signings on the pitch for the first time.
But despite flashes of promise, the Blues boss is yet to find the best fit for his expensively-assembled jigsaw.
Fit-again Edouard Mendy at least kept a clean sheet, the Senega l keeper p roduc ing a t idy performance on the night 38-year-old technical director Petr Cech was named in Chelsea’s Premier League squad.
Liverpool’s defensive problems have increased after Joel Matip was ruled out of tonight’s Champions League opener against Ajax in Amsterdam.
With Virgil Van Dijk facing several months on the sidelines with knee ligament damage, manager Jurgen Klopp could ill afford to be without another central defender but, after sustaining a knock in Saturday ’s Merseyside derby draw, the club are adopting a cautious approach with Matip.
The same can be said of m id f ie lde r Th iago Alcantara, who did also not travel with the squad after he too sustained a knee injury against Everton, while goalkeeper Alisson Becker is still absent with a shoulder problem.
Manchester City will still be without several players for tonight’s home match with Porto.
Oleksandr Zinchenko will come back into the reckoning but Kevin De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus, Ay m e r i c Laporte and Benjamin Mendy remain sidelined.
Z i n c h e n ko is yet to feature for City this season due to an unspecified injury but Pep Guardiola said the versatile Ukrainian is now available and will be considered.