Champions League day 3
Man United and PSG got stunned in day three of the Champions League by Istanbul Basaksehir and RB Leipzig respectively. Manchester United conceded their first loss in the competition and second loss in a matter of days, following the 1-0 defeat to Arsenal.
Coach Solskjaer comments on the disappointing loss:
“The performance wasn’t good enough against a team that worked and ran and they hit us on the break a couple of times and scored two goals like sometimes you do in Europe when you don’t defend well enough. Of course we picked a team to win the game. We hoped we had enough to create chances, we just didn’t. Emotions don’t matter – when you lose, well you can think to yourself how we feel after we lose, that’s not something we go out to do.”
Man United leads the group with 6 points in three games tied with RB Leipzig while PSG suffers two losses in three matches.
Paris Saint-Germain in trouble
The only French club capable of performing in the Champions League (Marseille 0 point, Rennes 1 point in each of the first 3 games are not relevant) will almost need a perfect second half of the group stage to advance to the Round of 16. The loss at Leipzig was, for the most part, disappointing as the Parisians held an early 1-0 lead from Di Maria. But, they let the German team take over slowly in the game. The game was a rematch of the 2020 semifinals that saw PSG win 3-0. Leipzig got a small revenge and stunned the French champions and last season’s runners-up.
Chelsea dominates
Chelsea had no problem taking care of Rennes and made it simple in this game. The French side participates in the Champions League for the first time in club’s history. They made two early mistakes by conceding two penalties and a red card to annihilate any chance for a result from Stanford Bridge. The final score of 3-0 is well-deserved as Chelsea and FC Sevilla cruise to top 2 places in the group.
Coach Lampard on the win:
“I enjoyed it tonight. It shows the work we’re doing and the direction we’re going. We did the right things in every aspect – started well, got our goals, saw the game out well and had the chance to give others minutes later on.
‘We dealt with the early part of the second half really well. It’s not always easy against 10 men when they’ve had a bit of time to talk and arrange themselves. But we kept the ball moving in the early parts of the second half.”
Other notable clubs were playing as FC Barcelona and Juventus Turin grabbed the win. The Catalans lead the group with 9 points. Juventus seconds with 6 points will move on to the round of 16.
