Barca labour to victory as Juventus, Chelsea cruise
French champions PSG go down in Leipzig as pressure piles on head coach Thomas Tuchel
Barcelona earned a far from convincing 2-1 win at home to a depleted Dynamo Kyiv on Wednesday as Lionel Messi scored a penalty for the third Champions League game in a row with the Spaniards maintaining their winning start to the group stage.
The Argentine, who had also scored spot-kicks in wins over Group G opponents Ferencvaros and Juventus, tucked away a penalty in the fifth minute while Gerard Pique netted in the second half, glancing in a fine cross from Ansu Fati.
Dynamo, who were missing six players due to COVID-19 positives, which also afflicted five members of staff, gave a decent account of themselves and spurned a couple of chances to equalise as well as having a goal from a corner ruled out due to the ball going out of play.
They deservedly pulled a late goal back in the 75th minute when Viktor Tsygankov slid the ball into the net, pouncing on a rebound after Barca keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen could only parry a shot from Benjamin Verbic.
The victory put Barca on the verge of a place in the knockout stages, leaving them top on nine points after three games, with Juventus second on six and Dynamo and Ferencvaros with a point each.
Barca coach Ronald Koeman was visibly anxious on the sidelines and did not attempt to gloss over the sloppy performance.
“We suffered more today than in any other game so far, we need to improve a lot when we don’t have the ball,” said the Dutchman.
“I’m happy with the result but not with certain aspects of our game and luckily we had Ter Stegen around.
“I think we started well and got the goal early and had some clear chances but after that we lost control and they created a lot of danger. Thanks to Marc, who was phenomenal, we held on.”
In the group’s other game, Cristiano Ronaldo made his first start for Italian champions Juventus since September after testing positive for Covid-19 in a 4-1 win at Hungarian side Ferencvaros. However, the Portuguese star was outshone in Budapest by Alvaro Morata, whose two goals put Andrea Pirlo’s team in control.
Paulo Dybala added a third before an own goal from Lasha Dvali, with Franck Boli netting for the hosts in the final minute.
In London, Chelsea eased to a 3-0 win over 10-man Rennes in the Champions League Group E on Wednesday, thanks to two first-half penalties hammered home by striker Timo Werner and a tap-in by Tammy Abraham. The match swung the way of the Londoners with the two penalty decisions which both went against Rennes defender Dalbert Henrique, on loan from Inter Milan.
The Brazilian was shown a second yellow card and sent off in the 40th minute, after a long VAR check, when the ball ricocheted from his calf to his arm, having earned his first caution for tripping Werner in the box after 10 minutes.
Werner converted both spotkicks emphatically, taking the role of Chelsea’s penalty-taker from Jorginho who missed two earlier this season.
“I am happy, I am happy Jorginho is cool with it. It is another point that speaks for our team, we are not selfish. We all go in one direction which is good,” Werner told BT Sport.
Abraham made it 3-0 five minutes into the second half with a short-range finish after an inch-perfect cross by Reece James.
Sevilla beat Krasnodar 3-2 in the other game in Group E.
In Bruges, in-form Erling Haaland scored twice as Borussia Dortmund surged to the top of their Champions League Group F with a comfortable 3-0 victory over hosts Club Brugge on Wednesday.
Dortmund scored all of their goals inside the first 32 minutes as they overwhelmed their hosts with some incisive attacking play.
Belgian international Thorgan Hazard gave Dortmund the lead in the 14th minute before Haaland scored twice.
Lazio and Zenit played out a 1-1 draw in the other Group F game.
Tuchel defiant
Paris Saint-Germain coach Thomas Tuchel waved away questions over his future after a 2-1 defeat at RB Leipzig on Wednesday dealt a major blow to the Champions League aspirations of last season’s runners-up.
Emil Forsberg’s second-half penalty gave Leipzig victory in their Group H clash after Christopher Nkunku cancelled out Angel di Maria’s opener.
Di Maria crucially missed a penalty which would have put the French champions 2-0 up despite them coming to Germany without both Neymar and Kylian Mbappe due to injury, and they ended this game with nine men after the late sendingsoff of Idrissa Gana Gueye and Presnel Kimpembe.
It is a damaging defeat for PSG, who beat Leipzig 3-0 in the semi-finals of last season’s competition in Lisbon in August.
Less than three months after leading the Qatar-owned club to the final for the first time, Tuchel has overseen a poor start to this season’s group stage and speculation is growing that he might not even last until the end of the season when his contract expires.
When asked by French broadcaster RMC Sport if he felt his position was under threat amid reports he does not see eye to eye with sporting director Leonardo, Tuchel replied simply “no”.
Tuchel was also pushed on an interview with Sky Germany on the eve of the game in which he implied it was unlikely he would sign a new contract. “They asked me why the French press are always saying the coach is in danger,” Tuchel said.
“But that does not change the job I do with the staff and the players. It won’t change anything. It is just the way life is for the coach in Paris -- it is never enough, but I have no problem with that.”
Basaksehir's Demba Ba, left, vies for the ball with Man United's Axel Tuanzebe on Wednesday.