An embarrassing late blunder gifted Paris St Germain a 1-0 home victory over Champions League debutants Girona on Wednesday as the visitors’ goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga let a Nuno Mendes cross slip through his legs and into the net.
After relentless PSG pressure, Mendes’ low ball across the goal slipped through Gazzaniga’s grasp in stoppage time to earn the hosts victory. Girona’s defence effectively neutralised PSG’s attack in the first half, causing mounting frustration for the hosts as they struggled to break down their opponents. Girona, who seemed content with a draw, began to waste time, drawing boos from the Parc des Princes crowd, while PSG’s Randal Kolo Muani and Achraf Hakimi had late chances, but both missed from close range in the dying minutes before Gazzinga’s error.
Inter Milan hold Manchester City to surprise draw
Inter Milan escaped Etihad Stadium with a surprise 0-0 draw against Premier League heavyweights Manchester City, exacting a small measure of revenge for their narrow loss to City in the 2023 final of Europe’s top club competition.
Both teams squandered numerous chances in a breathless back-and-forth affair. Pep Guardiola’s City were largely stalled by Inter’s impressive discipline in defence, while Simone Inzaghi’s Inter, who were dangerous on the break on a nervy night for both sides, lacked in finishing. City’s goal machine Erling Haaland, who would have become the fastest player in history to score 100 goals for a European club had he scored, had a couple of first-half chances including a header that keeper Yann Sommer jumped up to grab on the line, and a hard, low shot that rolled just wide of the post.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan had City fans breathing a huge sigh of relief when he missed a chance at late-game heroics, launching a rocket just over the bar from about eight metres out, then holding his head in disbelief. At the other end, Ilkay Gundogan elicited huge groans from City fans with his two narrow misses on short-range headers in the dying seconds, the second one glancing just over the bar right before the final whistle.
Gittens brace leads Dortmund to 3-0 win over Club Brugge
In Belgium, Substitute Jamie Gittens scored two goals and Serhou Guirassy added a late penalty as Borussia Dortmund punished hosts Club Brugge for several wasted chances with a 3-0 win. Last year’s beaten finalists rode their luck but grabbed the lead when English winger Gittens, 20, picked up the ball on the left-hand side of the box and his angled shot took two deflections before ending up in the far corner of the net.
He made sure of the three points with a second goal when he ran at the Brugge defence again before creating the space to shoot, firing a low drive into the net for a superb solo strike. Brugge will feel aggrieved – they struck the crossbar at 0-0 through Hugo Vetlesen and had a couple of penalty appeals waved away but were also wasteful in front of goal, especially in the first half when they spurned several excellent chances.
Brugge were arguably the better side for 76 minutes until they conceded and the confidence they had displayed up until then suddenly drained away. Vetlesen hit the underside of the crossbar early on with a shot from six metres after Dortmund failed to clear a corner, leading to a scramble in the box in which Raphael Onyedika’s shot was only parried by Gregor Kobel and the ball fell to Vetlesen, whose first-time effort came back off the woodwork.
After Gittens scored his first, Dortmund seized control of the contest and finished much the stronger, adding a late third goal when Brandon Mechele felled Guirassy in the box and could have little complaint as referee Irfan Peljto pointed to the spot.
Guirassy confidently struck the spot-kick to add gloss to a scoreline that did not tell the full tale of the contest.
Celtic off to winning start with 5-1 thrashing of Slovan
Celtic kicked off their Champions League campaign with a 5-1 home thrashing of debutants Slovan Bratislava.
Celtic went ahead after 17 minutes through Liam Scales’ powerful close-range header from a corner, while Kyogo Furuhashi doubled their advantage two minutes after the break with a tap-in off Nicolas-Gerrit Kuehn’s cross.
Arne Engels made it 3-0 from the penalty spot following a Danylo Ihnatenko foul on Alistair Johnston in the 56th before Kevin Wimmer pulled one back for the visitors with a superb volley into the far corner five minutes later.
Daizen Maeda restored Celtic’s three-goal advantage as he beat goalkeeper Dominik Takac from a pass from fellow Japan international Reo Hatate in the 70th and substitute Adam Idah sealed the rout with a simple finish three minutes from time.
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Gazzaniga howler gifts PSG 1-0 win over Girona
Mendes’ ball across the goal slipped through Gazzaniga’s grasp in stoppage time
Girona’s Portu (left) and Paris St Germain’s Joao Neves vie for the ball during the Champions League match in Paris. (Reuters)
Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan and Erling Haaland react after a missed chance.