The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
French cruise sees City take control
Manchester City took control of their Champions League group as they eased to a 3-0 win over Marseille at the Stade Velodrome last night.
Ferran Torres struck in the first half before further goals from Ilkay Gundogan and Raheem Sterling after the break wrapped up a convincing victory.
The result gives City a three-point lead in Group C after just two games and the intensity of the performance should boost confidence levels after an underwhelming start in the Premier League.
City made light of their lack of a recognised centre forward, as well as a host of other injuries, as they took the game to their French hosts from the outset and dominated throughout.
Liverpool also made it two wins from two games in Group D as they beat Midtjylland 2-0 at Anfield.
Diogo Jota and substitute Mohamed Salah netted second-half goals but Fabinho was forced off in the first half to add to their defensive injury problems.
The Brazilian, playing at the back again in the absence of Virgil Van Dijk and Joel Matip, had to be substituted after half an hour having pulled up while running. That was amid an underwhelming display from the Reds in the first half, during which they failed to register a shot on target.
Jota then put Liverpool ahead in the 55th minute with a close-range finish and, shor tly af ter the visitors had gone close to scoring a late equaliser through Anders Dreyer, substitute Salah added a penalty in stoppage time.
Manchester United will use “more or less the same squad” as Saturday’s 0- 0 draw with Chelsea for tonight’s Group H visit of Leipzig , said boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Strikers Edinson Cavani and Marcus Rashford and midfielder Bruno Fernandes are all available.
Thiago Silva will miss Chelsea’s Group E trip to Krasnodar, having been rested.
Goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga remains sidelined with shoulder trouble, so academy stopper Karlo Ziger has joined the Blues’ 22-man travelling squad.
Edouard Mendy should start again in goal, however, having chalked up successive clean sheets for the Stamford Bridge men.
Barcelona, who face Juventus tonight in Group G, announced that president Josep Maria Bartomeu and his board had resigned ahead of an expected vote of no confidence next month.
Bartomeu was heavily criticised by Gerard Pique and then Lionel Messi, who saw a summer exit from the club blocked.