After a draw at the start, Real Sociedad San Sebastian got its first win in the current Football Champions League season on Tuesday (October 3rd, 2023). Galatasaray Istanbul caused a bang. Real Madrid and Inter Milan celebrated narrow wins for the favorites.
Group A
Behind leaders Bayern (2:1 in Copenhagen). Galatasaray Istanbul moved up to second place. The Turkish top club surprised with a 3:2 (1:1) in the crisis Manchester United. The English took the lead twice through Rasmus Hojlund (17th, 67th).
Gala came back through Wilfried Zaha (23rd) and Kerim Aktürkoglu (71st) and then wanted more. Istanbul missed the following penalty after a foul and yellow-red against Casemiro (77th). But then Mauro Icardi (81′) let the guests celebrate with a lob over United goalkeeper Onana.
Group B
With the Arsenal FC Another English team also got hit on matchday 2. The “Gunners” lost RC Lens to France 1:2 (1:1). Gabriel Jesus gave the guests, with Kai Havertz in the starting line-up, the lead from a switch situation (14th). But Lens also took advantage of a setup error a little later and equalized again through Adrien Thomasson (25th).
In an open game, Elye Wahi made the decision for Lens with his first Champions League goal. With four points, the French lead the table in Group B ahead of Arsenal. Behind them are those still without a win Sevilla FC and PSV Eindhovenwhich was 2:2 (0:0) in a direct duel.
Things got wild, especially in the final phase. Youssef El-Nesyri answered Eindhoven’s 1-1 equalizer with a penalty from Luuk de Jong (86th) and gave Sevilla the lead again. Jordan Teze (90.+5) saved PSV their first point in added time.
Group C
Returns with a lucky three points real Madrid from the SSC Napoli back. Federico Valverde (78th) secured the 3:2 (2:1) victory with a dropkick from 25 meters. Since the ball bounced from the bottom edge of the crossbar to the head of SSC goalkeeper Meret and from there over the line, the hit was counted as an own goal.
In the other game in the group, Union Berlin lost in stoppage time at Real Madrid, as they did at the start of the Champions League. This time the knockout came in the late 2-3 defeat against Sporting Braga
Group D
Mikel Oyarzabal (7th) and Brais Mendez (27th) scored for Real Sociedad San Sebastian at the FC Salzburg a 2:0 (2:0).
San Sebastian started offensively in Salzburg and was quickly rewarded. Captain Oyarzabal scored early with a shot from the edge of the penalty area to make it 1-0. Just when Salzburg had recovered a bit, Mendez made it 2-0 after a counterattack.
After a triple substitution at the break, the Austrian champions started the second half energetically and were initially awarded a penalty. But according to the video scenes, the referee withdrew his decision. The Spanish guests then defended their 2-0 lead with a lot of discipline.
San Sebastian leads the table with equal points Inter Milan in his game a 1:0 (0:0) against Benfica Lisbon fetched. The victory was ensured by ex-Gladbach Marcus Thuram (62nd), who ice-coldly used a pass from outside from eight meters.