Kane-inspired Bayern too good for Chelsea
by AFP · The42HARRY KANE scored twice as Bayern Munich beat Chelsea 3-1 at home in their Champions League opener on Wednesday.
Michael Olise pressured Trevoh Chalobah into an own goal with 20 minutes gone, before Kane won and converted a penalty seven minutes later.
Cole Palmer finished off a superb team counter-attack just two minutes later to bring Chelsea back into the game.
But Kane stepped up again midway through the second half to wrestle control back Bayern’s way.
England captain Kane says facing Premier League sides gives him extra motivation to “play better”, and Chelsea were on the receiving end as he climbed up to 10 goals in just six games this season.
Bayern captain Manuel Neuer, the last survivor from the 2012 Champions League final between the sides, won by Chelsea at the same venue, brought up his 100th win in the competition. He now trails just Cristiano Ronaldo, Thomas Mueller and Iker Casillas.
Bayern have now won their past 22 Champions League openers dating back to a 2002 loss to Spain’s Deportivo La Coruna.
Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca restored Palmer and three others to the starting line-up, having copped criticism for resting players in Saturday’s limp 2-2 draw at Brentford.
Bayern had won five from five to start the season but were caught off guard early by the visitors’ intensity, with Chelsea pinning the hosts back.
Bayern caught their breath and created some pressure of their own before breaking through when Chalobah failed to deal with an Olise cross, turning it into his own goal.
The hosts were soon two up as Kane struck from the spot.
Moises Caicedo gave away the penalty with an awkward tackle in the box, but helped Chelsea hit back immediately, playing a clever one-two on the break, allowing Palmer to slam home.
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Bayern came to life 10 minutes into the second half, with Konrad Laimer, Kane and Olise all having efforts saved in quick succession.
Kane broke through shortly after, pouncing on a poor Malo Gusto back-pass before sliding the ball into the far corner.
The 32-year-old was taken off to a standing ovation in stoppage time, with Chelsea loanee Nicolas Jackson coming off the bench to make his Champions League debut against his parent club.
- PSG cruise past Atalanta -
PSG got their first Champions League campaign as reigning European champions off to a flying start with a 4-0 win over Atalanta in Paris.
Captain Marquinhos tapped into an empty net in the third minute, before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who was an injury doubt in the build-up, crashed home a fine second for Luis Enrique’s men six minutes before half-time.
It could have been even better for the hosts at the Parc des Princes if not for Bradley Barcola’s tame 44th-minute penalty, which was comfortably held by Atalanta goalkeeper Marco Carnesecchi.
Atalanta never looked likely to stage a comeback, though, and Nuno Mendes added a third not long after the restart.
Substitute Goncalo Ramos rounded off an excellent night for PSG with a dinked finish in stoppage time.
Inter Milan, who were humbled 5-0 in last season’s final by PSG, started their league-phase campaign with a 2-0 away win against Ajax.
Marcus Thuram put the visitors ahead in Amsterdam by heading Hakan Calhanoglu’s corner past ex-St Patrick’s Athletic loanee Vitezslav Jaros.
The second goal was almost a carbon copy, Thuram meeting another Calhanoglu corner less than two minutes into the second half.
Earlier, Bodo/Glimt marked their debut in the Champions League proper by coming back from two goals down late on to draw 2-2 at Slavia Prague.
Youssoupha Mbodji’s first goals for Slavia had the Czechs set for victory with less than 15 minutes remaining.
But Daniel Bassi got Norwegians Bodo/Glimt back into the game before Sondre Brunstad Fet crashed in a magnificent 90th-minute volley.
Cypriot club Pafos, playing in the tournament for the first time just 11 years since being founded, claimed a goalless draw at Olympiakos despite seeing wing-back Bruno sent off and veteran centre-half David Luiz hobble off injured in the first half.
Uefa Champions League results on Wednesday:
League phase, matchday one
Olympiakos (GRE) 0 Pafos (CYP) 0
Slavia Prague (CZE) 2 (Mbodji 23, 74) Bodo/Glimt (NOR) 2 (Bassi 78, Brunstad Fet 90)
Ajax (NED) 0 Inter Milan (ITA) 2 (Thuram 42, 47)
Bayern Munich (GER) 3 (Chalobah 20-og, Kane 27-pen, 63) Chelsea (ENG) 1 (Palmer 29)
Liverpool (ENG) 3 (Robertson 4, Salah 6, Van Dijk 90+2) Atletico Madrid (ESP) 2 (Llorente 45+3, 81)
Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) 4 (Marquinhos 3, Kvaratskhelia 39, Mendes 51, Ramos 90+1) Atalanta (ITA) 0