BARCELONA: Kylian Mbappe struck twice as Paris Saint-Germain battled back to beat 10-man Barcelona 4-1 and book a place in the Champions League semifinals with a 6-4 aggregate triumph on Tuesday.
Raphinha fired Barcelona ahead early on but Ronald Araujo’s 29th-minute red card turned the tide in PSG’s favor, despite the Spanish champions leading by two goals following a 3-2 quarter-final first-leg win.
Ousmane Dembele and Vitinha levelled the tie for PSG and the deadly Mbappe hit a brace to put them into the final four for the first time since 2021.
The French champions have never won the trophy despite huge investment but demonstrated they have the attacking weapons in their squad to do so.
Five-time winners Barcelona were dreaming of a first semifinal return since 2019 but Araujo’s red card for pulling down the relentless Bradley Barcola undermined their grip on the tie.
PSG coach Luis Enrique, who led Barca to the 2015 Champions League, said he believed his team would turn things around despite never having managed to after a first-leg defeat, and so it proved.
The visitors started with determination and penned Barcelona back in their own territory, but it was the hosts who took the lead.
Explosive 16-year-old starlet Lamine Yamal ripped past Nuno Mendes and crossed to the near post where Raphinha turned home despite pressure from Achraf Hakimi.
It was the Brazilian winger’s third goal of the tie after his brace in Paris.
Robert Lewandowski fired another chance over the top for Barcelona before Barcola tilted the tie in PSG’s favor. The winger was a nightmare for his French compatriot Jules Kounde to handle.
Barcola teed up Mbappe but Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen denied him well, before Araujo was sent off for bringing him down.
The Uruguayan center-back pulled Barcola back as he burst into the area, leaving Barca with 10 men.
Dembele whizzed the resulting free-kick narrowly over, but soon found the net, as he did in the first leg.
The former Barcelona winger struck after 40 minutes from another Barcola cross, which raked across the area to the back post where Dembele was arriving to fire into the roof of the net.
Barcelona sacrificed Yamal for defender Inigo Martinez after Araujo’s red card and it left them with few outlets in attack.
With PSG controlling the game Barcelona soon paid the price for their inability to keep possession.
Vitinha was given far too much space on the edge of the box and he drilled into the bottom corner to put PSG ahead on the night.
Ilkay Gundogan hit the post at the other end for Barcelona before their coach Xavi was sent off for a show of dissent on the touchline.
The Catalans were losing their heads and Joao Cancelo clumsily fouled Dembele to hand PSG a penalty.
Mbappe, who had been kept quiet in the first leg, hammered it into the top corner for his 40th goal across all competitions.
The striker’s future may lie in Spain, with Real Madrid aiming to sign him in the summer at the end of his contract, and he made no friends in Barcelona by hopping the advertising hoardings and running toward fans to celebrate.
Another member of Barcelona’s backroom staff was dismissed after Gundogan had a penalty appeal waved away and it became clear the hosts had no response.
Mbappe wrapped up the win in the 89th minute after a fine Ter Stegen double save, leaving Barcelona the victims of another bitterly disappointing night in Europe.
Mbappe’s PSG punish 10-man Barca to reach Champions League semis
https://arab.news/pd2ay
Mbappe’s PSG punish 10-man Barca to reach Champions League semis
- The visitors started with determination and penned Barcelona back in their own territory, but it was the hosts who took the lead
Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- “After seven games, we have 19 points, that’s the reality and the truth, and we’re really happy about that,” said Monaco coach Adi Huetter
PARIS: Monaco went top of the Ligue 1 table on Saturday with a 2-1 win away to Rennes, moving three points ahead of reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain.
Goals from Thilo Kehrer and Folarin Balogun sent the principality side to 19 points. PSG, who are on 16 with a better goal difference, will have the chance to overtake them when they play Nice on Sunday.
“After seven games, we have 19 points, that’s the reality and the truth, and we’re really happy about that,” said Monaco coach Adi Huetter.
However, he added: “The championship is not a 100-meter sprint, it’s a 400-meter race, and we’ve started very well.”
Monaco’s match in the rain in Brittany was decided early in the first half. Kehrer opened the scoring before Ludovic Blas levelled and Balogun then tucked home the winner, all in the first 22 minutes.
Continuing his fine start to the season, Monaco youngster Eliesse Ben Seghir had a part in both of his side’s goals.
His sixth-minute corner met the head of Kehrer, who glanced it into the back of the net despite the efforts of a defender on the line.
Blas put Rennes back on terms five minutes later with a rocket of a left-foot strike from more than 35 yards that flew past Philipp Koehn.
But Balogun wrapped up the points for Huetter’s side when he clipped the ball past an advancing Steve Mandanda in the 22nd minute after a defense-splitting pass from Ben Seghir.
Earlier on Saturday, Lille moved up to fourth, coming from behind to win at home against lowly Toulouse.
Zakaria Aboukhlal gave the 16th-placed side a surprise lead six minutes before the interval when he squeezed a shot on the rebound over the line from a tight angle.
But former Manchester United playmaker Angel Gomes levelled for Lille on 57 minutes when he prodded home Osame Sahraoui’s lofted pass from close range.
Mitchel Bakker made it two wins in a week at home for Lille — after Wednesday’s 1-0 victory over Real Madrid in the Champions League — with a composed finish in the 72nd minute, rounding off a swift counter-attack.
A hat-trick from Zuriko Davitashvili propelled Saint-Etienne out of the relegation zone as they beat Auxerre 3-1 at home.
The Georgian opened the scoring first after a quarter of a hour with a thumping finish after carrying the ball 40 yards into the visitors’ penalty area.
He hit his second on 54 minutes after again cutting in from the left flank and taking aim with his right foot.
Theo Bair halved the deficit with 15 minutes remaining, before Davitashvili completed his triple with a dinked finish on 87 minutes.
On Sunday, Lyon host Nantes while Reims and Lens are also in action, before PSG travel to ninth-placed Nice.
Inter Miami dampens Toronto FC’s postseason hopes with 1-0 victory
- Campana scored for the eighth time this season for Inter Miami (21-4-8), which has already wrapped up the Supporters’ Shield
TORONTO: Leo Campana took a pass from Luis Suárez and scored in the third minute of second-half stoppage time, 38-year-old goalkeeper Oscar Ustari had seven saves and a clean sheet in his first start in the league, and Inter Miami put a damper on Toronto FC’s playoff hopes with a 1-0 victory on Saturday.
Campana scored for the eighth time this season for Inter Miami (21-4-8), which has already wrapped up the Supporters’ Shield and the top seed in the postseason that comes with it. Suárez notched his seventh assist to go with 18 goals after subbing into the match in the 71st minute.
Toronto (11-19-4), which played without top scorer Federico Bernardeschi after he drew a red card in a match against the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday, will have to way until the end of the day to find out whether it has been eliminated from the postseason. A win or draw by the Philadelphia Union or D.C. United would end Toronto’s slim playoff hopes. Both clubs also have a game in hand on Toronto, which has a bye Oct. 19 on Decision Day.
Sean Johnson finished with one save in goal for Toronto.
Lionel Messi, coming off a two-goal effort in Inter Miami’s win over the Columbus Crew on Wednesday, entered in the 61st minute. He has 17 goals and 15 assists in 18 appearances this season.
Inter Miami is off until Oct. 19 when it will host the New England Revolution to close out the regular season. A victory would give the club 74 points, one more than the New England Revolution had in their record-setting 2021 season. Inter Miami is the fourth team in history to top 70 points.
Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Mikel Arteta’s side were rocked by Cameron Archer’s shock opener for the winless visitors early in the second half at the Emirates Stadium
- Bukayo Saka wrapped up Arsenal’s fifth win in seven league games
LONDON: Arsenal staged a stirring fightback to keep their Premier League title challenge on course with a 3-1 victory against struggling Southampton on Saturday.
Mikel Arteta’s side were rocked by Cameron Archer’s shock opener for the winless visitors early in the second half at the Emirates Stadium.
But Kai Havertz and Gabriel Martinelli struck in quick succession to restore order, before Bukayo Saka wrapped up Arsenal’s fifth win in seven league games.
After finishing as runners-up to Manchester City for the last two years, the Gunners are again in contention for their first title since 2004.
Saka this week said he expects Arsenal to finally lift the Premier League trophy this season.
They sit in third place, one point behind leaders Liverpool, after extending their unbeaten run to 10 matches in all competitions.
Four days after their statement victory against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, Arsenal faced a Southampton side who have managed only one point from seven games since their promotion.
Aaron Ramsdale, who appeared 78 times in the Premier League for the Gunners, made his Emirates return and nearly gifted Arsenal an early opener with a sloppy clearance, but Raheem Sterling squandered the chance.
Arsenal dominated the first half without testing Ramsdale until stoppage-time when he parried Thomas Partey’s strike.
In the 55th minute, Sterling was out-muscled by Mateus Fernandes in midfield and he played in Archer, who broke free of William Saliba to fire a deflected shot past David Raya.
Southampton’s lead lasted just three minutes as Saka dispossessed Flynn Downes before finding Havertz in space, who confidently drilled home for his fourth goal in his last four games.
On the hour mark, Arteta introduced Martinelli and Leandro Trossard in a pair of substitutions that turned the tide.
Saka’s fine cross found Martinelli unmarked in the 68th minute and the winger’s side-footed volley went in through Ramsdale’s legs.
Tyler Dibling’s deflected shot hit the foot of Raya’s post and Adam Armstrong’s effort cannoned onto the bar in a tense finale.
But as the Saints pushed for an equalizer, Trossard broke free.
Yukinari Sugawara’s interception only fell to Saka, who blasted past Ramsdale to keep Arsenal in pursuit of their title dream.
Bayern rivals Leverkusen and Dortmund drop points in Bundesliga
- Dortmund slumped at Union Berlin to a 2-1 defeat without injured forward Karim Adeyemi
- Defending champion Leverkusen squandered an early two-goal lead over promoted Holstein Kiel and drew 2-2
BERLIN: Bayern Munich won without playing on Saturday as Bundesliga rivals Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund dropped points to modest opponents.
Dortmund slumped at Union Berlin to a 2-1 defeat without injured forward Karim Adeyemi, who starred in the team’s 7-1 rout of Celtic in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Defending champion Leverkusen squandered an early two-goal lead over promoted Holstein Kiel and drew 2-2. It was only Kiel’s second point in its debut top-flight season.
Leverkusen played in a special black jersey with red trim to commemorate the club’s 120th anniversary, and for Xabi Alonso it was also a special occasion – the Spanish coach took over exactly two years before.
Leverkusen fans didn’t have to wait long to celebrate after Victor Boniface opened the scoring in the fourth minute and Jonas Hofmann made it 2-0 four minutes after that. Leverkusen looked set for a rout.
But the home team failed to make more of their dominance — Boniface had another goal ruled out for offside — and Kiel secured a lifeline before the break when Max Geschwil scored after a corner. Fiete Arp scored an unlikely equalizer from the penalty spot in the 69th.
Also, Freiburg won at Werder Bremen 1-0, and Wolfsburg enjoyed a 3-1 win in Wolfsburg.
St. Pauli was playing Mainz later.
League leader Bayern visit second-placed Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.
Motta tight-lipped on Pogba’s Juve future after doping ban reduction
- Pogba, a World Cup winner with Les Bleus in 2018, will be able to return to competitive football from March 11 next year
- “The club will assess the situation and make a decision if necessary. Paul was a great player but he hasn’t played for a long time,” coach Motta told reporters
ROME: Thiago Motta refused on Saturday to say whether Paul Pogba had a future at Juventus after the France midfielder’s four-year doping ban was slashed to 18 months.
Pogba, a World Cup winner with Les Bleus in 2018, will be able to return to competitive football from March 11 next year following Friday’s ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Italian media report that Juve might still seek to terminate Pogba’s contract, which runs until the end of June 2026 and is reportedly worth up to 10 million euros ($10.97 million) a season.
“The club will assess the situation and make a decision if necessary. Paul was a great player but he hasn’t played for a long time,” coach Motta told reporters ahead of Sunday’s Serie A fixture with Cagliari.
“All I’m thinking about is our match tomorrow, nothing else really matters as far as I’m concerned.”
Juventus refused to comment on Pogba, who tested positive for testosterone following the Turin club’s opening Serie A fixture of last season, a 3-0 win at Udinese in August 2023.
He was provisionally suspended the following month and then banned for four years by the Italian National Anti-Doping Tribunal in February, a sanction which put the 31-year-old’s career at risk.
Pogba’s representatives said the testosterone came from a food supplement prescribed by a doctor he consulted in the United States.
Pogba collected four Serie A titles in his first stint at Juventus between 2012 and 2016 but had a string of problems on and off the pitch after his 2022 return from Manchester United.
During the 2022-23 season, Pogba made just 10 appearances for the club, mainly due to a knee injury that also ruled him out of the World Cup in Qatar, where France lost out to Argentina in the final in December 2022.
He was also the victim of a case of organized extortion, for which six men, including his brother Mathias, were last month ordered to stand trial.
Since Pogba last played for his club at Empoli in early September last year, Juve have switched manager from Massimiliano Allegri to Motta and brought in a host of new players as part of a rebuild.
Juve, who finished third last term without Pogba, splashed out over 120 million euros on midfielders Teun Koopmeiners, Douglas Luiz and Khephren Thuram in a busy summer on the transfer market.
