Paris Saint-Germain missed a big step towards the knockout phase in the Champions League and now has to seriously worry about progressing.
PSG lost its lead in Group F to Borussia Dortmund after a 1-2 (1-1) defeat at AC Milan. BVB previously won 2-0 against Newcastle United on Tuesday evening.
Defending champions Manchester City, on the other hand, have reached the round of 16 of the premier class early. The English soccer champions beat Young Boys Bern 3-0 (2-0) and can no longer be pushed out of one of the first two places in Leipzig’s Group G.
Milan Skriniar (9th) initially gave Paris the lead. But then Rafael Leão (12th) and Olivier Giroud (50th) turned the entertaining game in favor of the hosts. Milan (5 points) moved within one point of second-placed PSG (6). Dortmund leads the extremely tight group with seven points.
ManCity confidently against Bern
Far from such close constellations is City, which has won all of its four games so far. Erling Haaland (23rd/foul penalty/52nd) and Phil Foden (45th+1) scored the goals for Manchester against weak Swiss.
Atlético Madrid is also on course for the knockout rounds after their 6-0 (2-0) win against Celtic Glasgow. Antoine Griezmann (6th/60th), Álvaro Morata (45th+2/76th), Samuel Lino (66th) and Saúl Ñíguez (85th) scored. However, the guests had to act outnumbered early on because Daizen Maeda (23′) had seen red.
Pepe makes history
Meanwhile, a little piece of Champions League history was written in Porto: Portuguese star defender Pepe headed his way to become the oldest goalscorer of all time in the premier class at the age of 40 years and 254 days. Pepe scored the final score in the 2-0 (1-0) win against Royal Antwerp – as so often in his career, with a header (90+1).
Pepe, who also holds the record for the oldest outfield player used in the Champions League, pushed the Italian legend Francesco Totti out of first place on the record list. The 2006 World Cup winner was “only” 38 years and 59 days old when he scored for AS Roma at CSKA Moscow in November 2014.
In the previous European Cup, there were four players who were older than Totti when they scored, including Manfred Burgsmüller (Werder Bremen) and the Hungarian icon Ferenc Puskas. However, none of the quartet was older than 39 – and would therefore come close to super oldie Pepe.