Barcelona put their El Clasico defeat and off-field dramas behind them with an impressive 2-0 win at Juventus in the Champions League.
While Cristiano Ronaldo’s positive coronavirus test meant there was no showdown between the Juventus star and his great rival Lionel Messi, the Argentina ace still delivered a masterclass and capped the victory with a late penalty after Ousmane Dembele’s deflected opener.
Barcelona were beaten 3-1 at home by Real Madrid on Saturday and saw president Josep Maria Bartomeu and the entire board resign on Tuesday, but there were no signs of those distractions during a dominant display in Turin.
It was a frustrating night for the second-best hosts, who saw Alvaro Morata put the ball in the net three times and be denied by an offside call on each occasion, and they had Merih Demiral sent off with 10 minutes to play after he got slapped a second yellow card.
The result puts Barcelona in control of Group G with two wins from two, with Juventus in the second spot after Dynamo Kyiv and Ferencvaros drew 2-2.
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Stats and facts from the match (Backed by Opta)
- Barcelona have only suffered one defeat in their last 18 UEFA Champions League group stage games on the road (W11 D6), going unbeaten in each of the last 11.
- Juventus’ loss to Barcelona was just their second home defeat in their last 25 Champions League group stage games (W15 D8), the other a 1-2 loss to Manchester United in November 2018.
- Juventus failed to record a shot on target in a Champions League home game for the first time since 2003/04 (when Opta have this data available).
- Merih Demiral was the 22nd different Juventus player to be sent off in the Champions League, with the Italian side receiving seven more red cards than any other side in the competition (27).
- Since the start of last season, no player has been caught offside on more occasions in the Champions League than Álvaro Morata (13).
- Ousmane Dembélé’s goal was his first goal scored outside the box for Barcelona in all competitions since September 2018 against PSV, also in the Champions League. His previous 11 goals had all been inside.
- Since Lionel Messi’s first Champions League campaign in 2004-05, only Cristiano Ronaldo (38) has provided more assists in the competition than the Argentine (35).
Istanbul Buyuksehir 0-2 Paris Saint-Germain: Moise Kean grabs his second brace for the French champions
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) got a well-deserved 2-0 victory over Turkish side Istanbul Basaksehir on Matchday 2 of the Champions League group stage.
The runners-up from the last edition of the competition got straight into the action from the very blast of the whistle as they understood that they would need to find solutions against a physical opponent.
Thomas Tuchel’s team was forced to do without Neymar Jr. who left the field inside the first 20 minutes of the match due to a hamstring injury and was replaced by Pablo Sarabia.
Angel Di Maria, Alessandro Florenzi, Ander Herrera, and Kylian Mbappé all tried their luck in the first half but couldn’t find the breakthrough and the trend continued after the break.
After several chances for Basaksehir, Angel Di Maria almost got PSG in front after getting on the end of a Kylian Mbappé sleek cross.
Thomas Tuchel’s side would eventually find the opener from a set-piece situation as a quick corner, taken by Kylian Mbappé, was buried by Moise Kean who powered an unstoppable header into the back of the net to open the scoring in the 64th minute.
And the cherry on the cake? He secured another brace after his smart turn and shot concluded a rapid move 15 minutes later.
Les Rouge et Bleu were able to count on the impeccable Keylor Navas to snuff out any chances for the home side on the defensive end of the pitch as Les Parisiens maintained their lead until the final whistle.
They will be back in domestic action on Saturday, when they travel to Nantes, before facing RB Leipzig in the Champions League in a week’s time.
Champions League Matchday 2 results
Wednesday 28th October 2020
- Krasnodar 0-4 Chelsea
- Istanbul Basaksehir 0-2 PSG
- Manchester United 5-0 R.B Leipzig
- Club Brugge 1-1 Lazio
- Juventus 0-2 Barcelona
- Sevilla 1-0 Rennes
- Ferencvaros 2-2 Dynamo Kyiv
- Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Zenit St. Petersburg
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