UEFA Champions League
PSG CELEBRATE GOLDEN JUBILEE IN STYLE
Paris Saint-Germain coach Thomas Tuchel let out a scream of joy and relief at the full-time whistle on Wednesday.
It was both a sense of exhilaration and relief for the German, who despite leading the French giants to a domestic treble, was facing the axe had the club not progressed past Serie A side and Champions League debutants Atalanta.
Since the Qatari takeover in 2011, PSG have had four coaches, including Tuchel, and a fifth one looked to be on the cards as the clock signalled the 90th minute.
Atalanta, against all odds, were leading 1-0 courtesy of Mario Pasalic’s 27th-minute opener and fended off waves and waves of attacks by the Ligue 1 side.
PSG looked primed to fail on the biggest stage again and this time, against a side whose net spend since 2002 is still less than the combined €402 million (S$652 million) outlay on Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.
But as the final minute ticked down, Marquinhos fired home via a deflection off Mattia Caldara.
With the resistance broken, Mbappe then set up fellow substitute Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting for a stoppage-time winner, sparking wild scenes at the Estadio da Luz as Atalanta’s players slumped to the turf.
The intensity of Tuchel’s reaction was intensified by the fact that, with an ankle injury he picked up last week, he had been forced to sit on an ice-box and watch most of the game with his leg strapped in a “moon boot”.
Otherwise, the 46-year-old would have piled on his players in celebration as PSG reached the Champions League semi-finals for just the second time.
On sealing their first appearance in the last four since 1995, putting them within a shout of their maiden European Cup, Tuchel said: “Imagine what I would have done if I had two legs.
“Maybe today would be the day you would see me sprint for 40 metres. But it’s the club’s birthday today, exactly 50 years, so we will not forget this birthday for sure. It was absolutely deserved.”
The early curtailment of the French season in April due to the coronavirus pandemic left PSG with a lot of time to think and little action to prepare for the trip to Portugal – they had played only two competitive games since March prior to facing Atalanta – but Tuchel was full of praise for the heart shown by his players.
He said: “It was very difficult to prepare the team. There was no rhythm because there were no games, but I could feel in the last days that the determination, enthusiasm and effort of the group, the quality of the training and the mix between love and hard work, was exceptional.
“For me, it was a deserved win, but if you score so late, it was also luck – but I’m the first one to admit you need luck.”
But luck is also earned and in Mbappe, PSG had a devastating weapon off the bench and whose sheer pace forced the Italians onto the back foot.
The France forward was rated a serious doubt for the game, having suffered an ankle injury in July, but despite being only half-fit, his presence in the second half caused no end of problems.
Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini later called his introduction “decisive”, saying: “There was not long to go and it seemed we had done it, but when you play against some of the strongest in the world at a technical and athletic level, then it becomes tough.”
-AFP/Reuters
UEFA Champions League
Osimhen and Aubameyang: Africa’s First Men of the Match in 2025/26 Champions League
The Champions League has barely started and already African fans have something to be proud of.
Two of the continent’s biggest names, Victor Osimhen from Nigeria and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Gabon, have become the first African players this season to be named Man of the Match.
For Osimhen, it was a night to remember in Istanbul. Galatasaray were up against Liverpool, a team with a European pedigree and needed someone to step up. Osimhen did just that.
His goal gave Galatasaray a 1-0 win but it was more than just the goal. His energy and how he kept Liverpool’s defenders on their toes all night made him the best player on the pitch.
So his winning of the UEFA Man of the Match award. Galatasaray fans had proof they have a striker who can change games at the highest level.
Meanwhile, on the same night in Marseille, Aubameyang was showing why he has been Africa’s most reliable goal scorer for over a decade.
At 36, some wondered if he still had it on nights like this. His answer was a thunderous “YES.”
Marseille tore Ajax apart in a 4–0 demolition that saw Aubameyang seal his stature as the orchestrator and heartbeat of the French club’s attack.
His movement, his composure and his leadership stood out. So much so that he too was rightfully awarded the Man of the Match.
The fact that these two happened on the same night made it even more special for African football fans.
Osimhen represents the new generation: quick, hungry and with still a few years ahead to make history.
Aubameyang is the veteran still out there to prove – even though he really has nothing to prove anymore – that experience and class don’t fade easily.
Together, they gave African football fans a double reason to smile.
For Nigeria and Gabon, these awards are more than individual trophies. They are ultimately a reminder of how much African players contribute to the Champions League season in, season out.
And the tournament is still in its early stages. So there’s every chance more players from the continent will follow in their footsteps before the Budapest finale in 2026. Only good omens for the 2025 AFCON that starts in a few months.
-Morocco World News
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In his glory days, Jose Mourinho celebrated dramatic goals from his teams by sprinting down the touchline, sometimes sliding on his knees for extra euphoric effect.
On Tuesday, back at his former club Chelsea as the new coach of Benfica, Mourinho’s most eye-catching intervention was down the touchline again, but this time his run was to urge his team’s fans to stop hurling objects onto the pitch.
Benfica under Mourinho, in his fourth game in charge, were defeated 1-0 by an under-strength Chelsea side in the Champions League after a fist-half Richard Rios own goal.
The self-declared “Special One” was lauded by the home fans with a few choruses of “Jose Mou-rin-ho” in recognition of his successes – three Premier League titles and four other trophies – which no other Chelsea manager has come close to matching.
Mourinho, 62, acknowledged the chants with a gentle wave, got a cheer when he ventured onto the pitch to clear a spare ball and quickly vanished down the tunnel at the final whistle after shaking the hand of Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca.
It was all a far cry from the fervour of 20 years ago when Mourinho – having led Porto to an unlikely Champions League triumph – turned Chelsea into English champions for the first time in 50 years in 2005 and won the title again a year later.
After a collapse of form, Mourinho departed in 2007 but he won the Champions League again, this time with Inter Milan in 2010, knocking out the Londoners on the way to the final.
He went on to manage Real Madrid before returning to Chelsea where he claimed a third English title and then had spells at Manchester United, London side Tottenham Hotspur – an unforgivable move for many Chelsea fans at the time – and Roma.
As the big offers dried up, Mourinho went on to coach Fenerbahce in Turkey where he lasted little more than a year before his return to Portuguese football with Benfica.
Asked after Tuesday’s defeat by Chelsea if he still had the drive of the early days of his career, Mourinho insisted he felt more motivated.
“If I am in a job it’s because I like to put myself on the line every day,” he told reporters. “I am desperate to win the next match.”
Mourinho said he thought Benfica had deserved more from the game. “We started well, we controlled well. I don’t know if I can say big chances but we had chances for sure.”
Chelsea’s Maresca said he was relieved to secure a win – albeit a scrappy one – after two consecutive defeats in the Premier League and a 3-1 loss at Bayern Munich in the his side’s Champions League opener.
“Sometimes you need to learn to win in another way,” he said of Chelsea’s improved defensive performance. “At least we learned how to win a game with a red card.”
Striker Joao Pedro was dismissed for a second yellow card after coming on as a substitute, the third time in four matches that Chelsea have finished with 10 men
-Reuters
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Hosts Eintracht Frankfurt scored four times in 29 minutes to bounce back from a goal down and hammer Galatasaray 5-1 in their Champions League opener on Thursday.
The Turkish sides are without their talismanic striker, Victor Osimhen who was injured while on international duty with Nigeria.
The Turks had hit Frankfurt on the break with Yunus Akgun completing the move from a Leroy Sane assist in the eighth minute. Germany international Sane, who joined from Bayern Munich this season, became the only player in Champions League history to play for four or more clubs and score or assist on his debut for each of them.
Frankfurt, competing for only the second time in the Champions League main round, struggled to break through Galatasaray’s defence until a defensive error from Akgun in the 37th. Ritsu Doan pounced, charged into the box and Davinson Sanchez deflected the Japanese winger’s shot in for an own goal.
The hosts took the lead in first-half stoppage time when 19-year-old Turkey international Can Uzun scored a superb goal on his Champions League debut after fine control and a quick turn in the box. The hosts netted again before halftime with Jonathan Burkardt’s well-timed glancing header putting them 3-1 up.
With the visitors forced to take more risks after the break, Frankfurt found space and Burkardt completed his dream Champions League debut with another header in the 66th for his second goal of the evening. Ansgar Knauff completed the rout in the 75th.
Frankfurt next travel to Atletico Madrid on September 30 when Galatasaray host Liverpool.
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