Forty-six goals. Nine games. A hat-trick in Linz, a record rout in Birmingham, a heist in Rome, and the back-to-back champions walking into the Etihad and walking out with a statement. Matchday 2 of the Champions League league phase closed on Wednesday with the kind of night that reminds you this competition has no interest in being sensible — and the Premier League's clubs were at the center of it, for better and for worse.
The holders set the standard at the Etihad
Paris Saint-Germain did not just beat Manchester City 4-2; they spent the first half hour explaining the gap between the champions of Europe and everyone else. Désiré Doué finished a sweeping move in the 13th minute, Ousmane Dembélé headed in a second two minutes later, and when Vitinha struck a third on 32 minutes, City — playing their first home game since an independent commission found the club guilty of 114 breaches of Premier League financial rules — were staring at a rout in their own stadium.
Enzo Maresca changed three players at half-time and City finally woke up. Erling Haaland's header eight minutes after the restart made him the club's all-time top scorer in this competition, and, per Reuters, the fastest player to 60 Champions League goals — 60 games, twenty fewer than Lionel Messi needed. But every time City threatened the comeback, PSG answered. Maghnes Akliouche restored the three-goal cushion just after the hour, and although Haaland swept in a second with fifteen minutes left, Gianluigi Donnarumma's late penalty save from Ferran Torres closed the door. It was Maresca's first defeat as City manager and the end of an eight-match winning run, and it happened with Pep Guardiola, the man who built the modern City, watching from the stands on his first return since leaving in the summer. PSG, chasing a third straight European crown, have two wins from two. The wider fallout from the verdict is in our coverage of City's perfect league start under a cloud.
Barcola's night in Linz
If PSG's win was a statement, Liverpool's was a release. Three days after losing 3-0 to City in the league, Andoni Iraola's side won 6-3 at LASK Linz, and the night belonged to Bradley Barcola. The nine-figure summer signing from PSG had not scored for Liverpool and had worn the criticism for it; he left Austria with the first hat-trick of his senior career, in the 24th, 37th and 66th minutes.
Ronald Araújo's header from a Kostas Tsimikas corner opened it, Jeremie Frimpong headed the fourth early in the second half, and young Lewis Koumas added the sixth with his first senior goal. Liverpool's 19 first-half shots were the most by an away team in the first half of a Champions League match since Opta's records began in 2003-04. LASK, in their first Champions League campaign, kept swinging — Robert Ljubicic scored within seconds of coming on, and Florian Flecker twice in the closing minutes — but the game had long gone. Liverpool, who beat Atlético Madrid on Matchday 1, are two from two.
Six of the best at Villa Park
Aston Villa's 6-0 demolition of Fenerbahce was the biggest European victory in the club's history, produced by a side sitting 16th in the Premier League. Johan Manzambi, on his Champions League debut, opened the scoring on twelve minutes via a deflection off Milan Skriniar, and Nicolas Jackson arrowed in two more before half-time. Villa needed Zion Suzuki's saves from Vedat Muriqi to keep the first half clean; after it, they ran away. Ross Barkley converted a 68th-minute penalty that Manzambi had won, scored again four minutes later, and substitute Tammy Abraham finished Alysson's cross in the 90th minute. Two games, two wins for Unai Emery — Europe is suiting this new-look Villa side rather better than the league is.
Seven minutes in Rome
And then there was the Olimpico. Roma, playing their first home Champions League match in more than seven years, led Real Madrid 3-1 with 82 minutes gone: Marten de Roon's deflected opener, an equalizer from Kylian Mbappé on his 100th Champions League appearance, then a Donyell Malen double early in the second half that had the home crowd dreaming — and José Mourinho, back at Roma as Madrid's manager and serenaded by the home fans before kick-off, facing defeat.
Madrid scored three times in seven minutes, each goal stemming from a corner. Carlos Espí poked in the first on 83 minutes, substitute Endrick headed the leveler two minutes later, and in the 90th minute Antonio Rüdiger — who spent two seasons at Roma — forced in the winner and kept his celebrations short. Roma's players were left explaining how a famous win became a 4-3 defeat in about the time it takes to make tea. It was that kind of night across the continent, as Tuesday's wrap had already promised.
The rest of a ridiculous night
Bodø/Glimt did it again. Fredrik Sjøvold's near-post finish from Sondre Auklend's cross on 52 minutes beat Borussia Dortmund 1-0 at the Aspmyra — the 8,200-capacity Arctic ground where Manchester City and Inter have also lost in the past year — and goalkeeper Nikita Haikin protected the lead as Dortmund threw on four substitutes at once. Dortmund coach Niko Kovac admitted his side deserved to lose; both teams sit on three points.
Shakhtar Donetsk's adopted home is Stamford Bridge this season, and they marked it with a 3-1 win over AEK Athens: Lovro Majer put AEK ahead, Pedrinho leveled from the penalty spot, and Vinicius Tobias and Gleiker Mendoza settled it in the last ten minutes to leave Shakhtar on four points. Stuttgart made it two wins from two, beating Slovan Bratislava 3-0 through Deniz Undav's first goal of the season, a Sandro Cruz own goal and Ermedin Demirović's late header. Slovan remain pointless.
In Rotterdam, Feyenoord beat Como 3-2. Assane Diao put the visitors ahead, Gjivai Zechiël answered inside two minutes, Anis Hadj Moussa put Feyenoord in front, and an own goal by Como goalkeeper Robert Sánchez — a Hadj Moussa shot off the post and in off the goalkeeper's back — decided it before Anastasios Douvikas's stoppage-time reply. It was a first Champions League defeat for Cesc Fàbregas's Como, who beat RB Leipzig 4-1 on their debut, and first points for Feyenoord after their 5-1 opening loss to Barcelona.
And in Seville, all five goals came after half-time as Real Betis beat Porto 3-2: Abde Ezzalzouli's opener, a Gabri Veiga free-kick and a Samu Aghehowa finish turning it Porto's way, Cucho Hernández leveling, and captain Isco converting an 84th-minute penalty. It was Betis's first Champions League home win in 21 years. Porto are pointless; Betis, like Liverpool, PSG, Villa and Stuttgart, have won two from two.
What it means
Two rounds in, the league phase has a familiar shape at the top and a mess underneath. The perfect starters include the holders and two Premier League clubs, and City's defeat — at home, three down inside half an hour — will follow Maresca's team for a while. Italy had the night to forget: for the first time ever, per Reuters, all four Serie A clubs lost on the same matchday, Inter and Napoli on Tuesday, Roma and Como on Wednesday. And above the Arctic Circle, the smallest stadium in the competition keeps collecting scalps. Matchday 3 arrives next week — the standard for it to match, as the full picture on our Champions League hub shows, is Wednesday's 46 goals.
- Man City 2-4 PSG — Haaland 53', 75'; Doué 13', Dembélé 15', Vitinha 32', Akliouche 62'
- LASK Linz 3-6 Liverpool — Ljubicic 63', Flecker 74', 77'; Araújo 22', Barcola 24', 37', 66', Frimpong 51', Koumas 72'
- Aston Villa 6-0 Fenerbahce — Manzambi 12', Jackson 31', 39', Barkley 68' (pen), 72', Abraham 90'
- Roma 3-4 Real Madrid — De Roon 20', Malen 51', 57'; Mbappé 25', Espí 83', Endrick 85', Rüdiger 90'
- Bodø/Glimt 1-0 Dortmund — Sjøvold 52'
- Shakhtar 3-1 AEK Athens — Pedrinho 34' (pen), V. Tobias 80', Mendoza 86'; Majer 28'
- Slovan Bratislava 0-3 Stuttgart — Undav 29', Cruz OG 65', Demirović 90'
- Feyenoord 3-2 Como — Zechiël 20', Hadj Moussa 52', Sánchez OG 81'; Diao 18', Douvikas 90+3'
- Real Betis 3-2 Porto — Ezzalzouli 47', Cucho 74', Isco 84' (pen); Veiga 54', Aghehowa 61'
