Champions League roundup 14/9/22: Napoli, PSG, Milan & Benfica win, Juventus beaten
By Sean Walsh
The Champions League just keeps on rolling, and thanks to Rangers' clash with Napoli being delayed by 24 hours, we were treated to nine matches on Wednesday.
Graham Potter began his reign as Chelsea manager, Real Madrid hosted RB Leipzig and Erling Haaland faced Borussia Dortmund in a reunion at the Etihad Stadium.
Here's a roundup of Wednesday's action.
Group A
Rangers 0-3 Napoli
It was a tail of three goals and three penalties at Ibrox as 10-man Rangers were beaten 3-0 by Napoli.
The returning Alfredo Morelos came close to nodding Rangers into a second-minute lead, before Piotr Zielinski went down the other end and struck the post. But the rearranged match kicked into life at the start of the second half when James Sands was dismissed for two quick fouls, giving away a spot kick in the process.
Zielinski's initial effort was saved by Allan McGregor, but Matteo Politano was on hand to tap in the rebound. However, VAR ruled that it had to be re-taken, and McGregor again stood tall to deny Zielinski.
The Serie A side were awarded another penalty when Borna Barisic was judged to have handled the ball, and this time Politano scored from 12 yards. Giacomo Raspadori added Napoli's second with five minutes remaining before Tottenham loanee Tanguy Ndombele notched a third in injury time.
Group E
Chelsea 1-1 Salzburg
Chelsea's start to life under Graham Potter began with a frustrating 1-1 draw at home to Salzburg.
The Blues paid with a real intensity and hunger in the first half, and were rewarded for their efforts at the beginning of the second through Raheem Sterling.
However, some relaxed defending from Thiago Silva allowed Noah Okafor to equalise for a Salzburg side who had created very little all evening and the spoils were shared.
Milan 3-1 Dinamo Zagreb
Milan chalked up their first Champions League win of the season with a 3-1 victory against Dinamo Zagreb at San Siro.
The hosts were given the chance to take the lead on the stroke of half-time when Josip Sutalo clumsily brought down Rafael Leao in the penalty area. Olivier Giroud made no mistake from the spot.
On the other side of the break, the Rossoneri doubled their advantage when Leao's cross was headed home by Alexis Saelemaekers.
Dinamo pulled one back when Bruno Petkovic dragged Fikayo Tomori and Pierre Kalulu away to allow Mislav Orsic the freedom to fire past Mike Maignan. But Milan made sure of victory 15 minutes from time at the end of a sweeping team move, with Tommaso Pobega firing into the roof of the net.
Group F
Shakhtar Donetsk 1-1 Celtic
Celtic will have felt they had done enough to beat Shakhtar Donetsk in Warsaw, but Ange Postecoglou's men were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw.
Matt O'Riley and Kyogo Furuhashi went close to breaking the deadlock in the opening exchanges, before one of Shakhtar's own put the Hoops in front, with Artem Bondarenko deflecting the ball into his own net after 10 minutes.
However, Celtic were pegged back soon after when the electrifying Mykhaylo Mudryk peeled away from Josip Juranovic and fired past Joe Hart.
The visitors enjoyed a plethora of chances to go ahead again but squandered all of them, with Daizen Maeda notably firing wide from point-blank range in the dying embers.
Real Madrid 2-0 RB Leipzig
Real Madrid left it late to beat RB Leipzig 2-0 and maintain their 100% European record this season.
Thibaut Courtois had to be at his best to deny Christopher Nkunku in the opening five minutes, while the Frenchman was soon after denied a penalty after falling under a challenge from Nacho.
Timo Werner, who scored at the Santiago Bernabeu last season for Chelsea, nearly added further goals in the Spanish capital to his collection in the first half but couldn't quite find the net.
Los Blancos were poor for long stretches but took the lead 10 minutes from time through the man of the moment Federico Valverde, who opened the scoring with a wonderful curling effort.
Marco Asensio made sure of victory with a stunner of his own in added time.
Group G
Manchester City 2-1 Borussia Dortmund
Manchester City pulled off a remarkable late comeback to beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium.
A dull first half was followed by an enthralling second in the north west, with Jude Bellingham's flick on from Marco Reus' deft cross giving BVB a shock lead.
However, John Stones thundered home an equaliser in the final 10 minutes, and Erling Haaland came back to bite the hand that used to feed him with a quite remarkable acrobatic strike not long after.
Kobenhavn 0-0 Sevilla
The only goalless game of the evening came in Denmark as Kobenhavn and Sevilla played out a 0-0 draw.
Ivan Rakitic and Youssef En-Nesyri went close for the Spanish side in the first half, while Mohamed Daramy could have won it for the hosts in the second.
Both sides remain winless in this season's competition, and the pressure remains firmly on under-fire Sevilla boss Julen Lopetegui.
Group H
Maccabi Haifa 1-3 PSG
Paris Saint-Germain had to come from behind to beat relative minnows Maccabi Haifa 3-1 in Israel.
Maccabi Haifa took a shock lead when they caught PSG cold in midfield, resulting in Dolev Haziza crossing for former QPR star Tjaronn Chery to slam home.
However, PSG equalised just before the break when Lionel Messi scored at point-blank range having met a deflected cross from Kylian Mbappe. Pressure from Les Parisiens eventually told and the French champions took a second-half lead when Messi split for the defence for Mbappe to finish perfectly.
Neymar got in on the act in the final few minutes to make sure of the points for Christophe Galtier's side.
Juventus 1-2 Benfica
Massimiliano Allegri's hopes of remaining in a job are hanging by a thread after Juventus lost 2-1 at home to Benfica.
After his late header against Salernitana was controversially and wrongly disallowed at the weekend, Arkadiusz Milik's fourth-minute header did stand here to break the deadlock.
From there on in, Benfica had the better of the first half. Rafa Silva rattled Mattia Perin's post before they were awarded a penalty by VAR after Goncalo Ramos was tripped by Fabio Miretti.
Former West Ham midfielder Joao Mario stepped up and converted to deservedly bring Benfica level on the verge of half time.
Benfica took a deserved lead when Rafa's initial effort was palmed away by Perin, only for David Neres to arrive on the scene and secure all three points for the visitors.
Juventus remain without a point in Group H and have an uphill task to reach the knockout stages now.