UEFA Champions League
ALGERIA’S MAHREZ GRABS WINNER AS MAN CITY COME FROM BEHIND TO BEAT 10-MAN PSG IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Riyad Mahrez curled in a free-kick as a much-improved second half performance saw Manchester City come from behind to beat Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 in the first leg of their blockbuster Champions League semi-final on Wednesday (April 28).
Marquinhos had powered in a header to give PSG an early lead and the deserved advantage at half-time at the Parc des Princes.
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However, City skipper Kevin De Bruyne’s cross dropped in to pull City level just after the hour mark and Mahrez then beat Keylor Navas from a 71st-minute free-kick to complete the turnaround and give Pep Guardiola’s side the advantage going into next Tuesday’s return in Manchester.
After starting so well, PSG lost their way after half-time and had Idrissa Gana Gueye sent off in the 77th minute as a shocking tackle on Ilkay Gundogan earned the midfielder a straight red card.
Having already failed to win at home to Manchester United, Barcelona and Bayern in this season’s Champions League, the Parisians now face an uphill struggle in England if they are to reach the final for the second year running.
It is, then, first blood to Emirati-backed City against Qatar-owned PSG in a tie that is also a battle of competing Gulf nations.
After all the money pumped in by their owners from Abu Dhai, City are eyeing a first ever Champions League final, and this was their first appearance in the semi-finals since 2016, when they defeated PSG in the last eight before losing to Real Madrid.
However, PSG can still be optimistic about their prospects after sensational away performances against Barcelona and Bayern in the last two rounds.
PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino is hoping to once again get the better of Guardiola, just as he did when his Tottenham Hotspur side beat City in the quarter-finals in 2019.
Game of two halves
The first leg started so well for the French club too, with Neymar in the mood and Angel Di Maria and Gueye especially impressive early on.
They went ahead in the 15th minute as Marquinhos broke away from the attentions of Gundogan to attack Di Maria’s right-wing delivery at the near post and head in.
The PSG captain was making his first appearance since coming off in the first leg of their quarter-final defeat of Bayern, a game in which he also scored.
Indeed for all the importance of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe to the Parisians, the Brazilian defender has now scored in both the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the Champions League in back-to-back seasons.
It was not until the 42nd minute that the visitors really had a chance, Bernardo Silva teeing up Phil Foden for the shot that Navas saved.
PSG could have doubled their lead early in the second half, but the stretching Marco Verratti was just unable to connect with Mbappe’s low ball across the face of goal.
By then the pendulum was swinging towards City, as De Bruyne sent a powerful overhead kick just over the bar.
The equaliser arrived in the 64th minute. When a corner from the right was played short, the ball came all the way to De Bruyne, in line with the left edge of the box.
The Belgian looked up and bent in a cross which missed everyone including Navas as it nestled in the far corner.
The visitors had the momentum and won a free-kick 25 metres from goal with 20 minutes left when Gueye fouled Foden.
Mahrez, born and brought up in the Paris suburbs, curled a low strike from 25 metres through the wall and beyond the reach of Navas.
Things got worse for the home side soon after as Gueye was dismissed by German referee Felix Brych for a nasty challenge that caught Gundogan on the Achilles.
City saw out the game against the 10 men to take the advantage into the return.
A first Champions League final is in sight for Guardiola’s side, who could also wrap up the Premier League title this weekend.
-AFP
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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