Haaland saves Man City, Real Silence Inter
by KickOff Reporter · KickOffErling Haaland scored twice in the second half and guided Manchester City to a 2-0 win over FC Porto at the Estadio do Dragao.
With commanding positions and perfect starts in their domestic campaign, the Cityzens and Portuguese giants knew only maximum points in the tournament opener would suffice.
Following a score-less first half, new signing Enzo Fernandez worked a piece of magic five minutes into the second half and teed-up on Erling Haaland to head in off the inside of the near post to make it 1-0 on the night.
Haaland popped up again a minute into stoppage time and made space in the area to tuck in a cross from Rayan Ait-Nouri and recorded his 59th goal in the competition.
Haaland has now netted five goals in four matches across all competitions for City this season
Mourinho haunts his former employers
Real Madrid scored twice in the first half and overcame Inter Milan 2-1 in their league phase opener in the UEFA Champions League at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday evening.
The new-look Los Blancos started their journey for a 16th Champions Lague title, but were eager to bounce back from Friday's loss to Real Betis.
Inter came out buoyant and played on the front-foot, but a defensive error by Yann Bisseck opened it up for the host who seized initiative and took the lead through Kylian Mbappe.
Yet another error at the back proved the undoing of the Italian champions after goalkeeper Josep Martinez failed to control a back-pass, allowing Federico Valverde to sneak in to make it 2-0.
Following a number of chances for both sides and superb goalkeeping in-between, the Nerazzurri pulled one back towards the last ten minutes through a tap-in from Carlos Augusto, but Los Blancos proved superior and emerged with the three points.
Betis edge Lille in five-goal thriller
Real Betis managed to come from behind twice to record a 3-2 victory over a ten men LOSC Lille and started their continental journey on the right footing.
After a morale boosting win over Real Madrid in LaLiga on Friday, the visitors came with their tails up but were soon on the back-foot after 12 minutes courtesy of a finish by Ayase Ueda.
Marc Bartra came to the rescue for the visitors in the 33rd minute and levelled it up with a well-taken header, but Alexsandro Ribeiro restored the lead three minutes later through a finish off the head following a corner-kick.
Betis overturned the contest early in the second half when Bartra helped himself to a brace with another headed finish before Troy Parrott ran onto a through pass to find the bottom-corner to complete the turnaround.
It got worse for Les Dogues who finished the match playing with ten players after Ethan Mbappe received a straight red card following an incident off the ball with the decision given following a review with the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
Dortmund squeeze past Villarreal
Borussia Dortmund made a perfect start to their campaign following an entertaining 3-2 victory over Villarreal.
The Black and Yellow hit the ground running ten minutes after halftime when Renato Veiga nudged in a cross from the left into his own net.
However, the visiting team rallied back around the midway mark of the second stanza and drew level when Santiago Mourino nodded a cross into the bottom-corner.
Dortmund didn’t let their heads dropped and grabbed complete control in the final five minutes through a double from Serhou Guirassy, with one coming from the penalty spot.
The forward experienced a misfortune of sorts at the other end right on the stroke of full-time when he scooped a ball in the box following a free-kick into his own net, but the Bundesliga outfit still emerged victorious.