New Delhi: Manchester United loanee Marcus Rashford scored a brace in Barcelona’s 2-1 win against Newcastle United at St James’ Park. Manchester City delivered a clinical performance to register a 2-0 victory against 10-man Napoli in their Champions League opener at the Etihad Stadium.
Eintracht Frankfurt thrashed Turkey’s Galatasaray at Deutsche Bank Park, while Sporting CP produced a dominant performance against Kairat to start their Champions League campaign with a victory at José Alvalade Stadium.
England forward Rashford scored a brace as Barcelona secured a 2-1 victory at St James’ Park. Newcastle started the match strongly, but failed to find a goal in the first half, and Rashford punished them when he headed in powerfully in the 58th minute, becoming the first English player to score for Barca in the Champions League.
Rashford then scored a sensational second goal in the 67th minute, with a powerful 20-yard shot that first hit the crossbar before going in. The forward has consistently performed well against Newcastle for Manchester United, and switching teams hasn’t changed that. Newcastle kept pushing for victory, and Anthony Gordon gave them hope late on with a composed finish, but Barca held on.
Erling Haaland netted his 50th Champions League goal to help Manchester City win against 10-man Napoli at the Etihad. He became the fastest player to reach the half-century mark in the tournament’s history, achieving this milestone in just his 49th appearance. The Italian club was reduced to ten men in the 21st minute when captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo was sent off, but goalkeeper Vanja Milinković-Savić kept the hosts at bay.
Phil Foden’s stunning pass set up Haaland to score past Milinković-Savić in the 56th minute of the match. Nine minutes later, winger Jérémy Doku scored a brilliant goal into the far corner to seal all three points for his team.
Jonathan Burkardt scored a brace as Frankfurt recovered from a slow start to beat Galatasaray. Yunus Akgün scored the opening goal of the match for the visitors in the eighth minute, but an own goal from Davinson Sánchez in the 37th minute brought the hosts level.
Can Uzun scored in first-half stoppage time, while Wilfried Singo also netted an own goal to give the German club a massive advantage. Burkardt scored in the 66th minute of the match, with a brilliant cross from Nathaniel Brown after the break, while Ansgar Knauff rounded Galatasaray goalkeeper Uğurcan Çakır to complete a fine win.
Sporting CP got their Champions League campaign off to a sensational start with a convincing victory against Kairat Almaty in Lisbon. A Francisco Trincao double strike gave the Portugal club a 2-0 lead before Alisson Santos and Geovany Quenda sealed the win.
Luis Suárez hit the post and crossbar after Morten Hjulmand’s first-half penalty had been saved by 18-year-old debutant Sherhan Kalmurza. Edmilson scored a late consolation for Kairat, but Sporting registered a dominating victory.
In other matches, Copenhagen and Bayer Leverkusen played a 2-2 draw, while Club Brugge registered a dominating 4-1 win against AS Monaco.
