UEFA Champions League
Barcelona fight back to draw six-goal Champions League thriller with Inter
Barcelona twice battled back to draw 3-3 at home against Inter Milan in a rip-roaring first leg of their Champions League semi-final at Montjuic Olympic Stadium on Wednesday.
Denzel Dumfries scored twice for Inter, who led 2-0 and then 3-2, while Barca’s 17-year-old starlet Lamine Yamal dazzled with a brilliant individual effort to kickstart the hosts’ fightback.
After a see-saw encounter that showcased Inter’s clinical finishing and set-piece threat as well as Barca’s attacking strengths and defensive vulnerabilities, the result leaves everything to play for in the return leg at the San Siro next Tuesday, as both teams seek a place in the final in Munich against either Arsenal or Paris St Germain.
Inter Milan made an explosive start, opening the scoring with 30 seconds on the clock courtesy of a cheeky back-heel from Marcus Thuram, the quickest goal in a Champions League semi-final.
The visitors extended their lead in the 21st minute with Dumfries finding the net with an acrobatic volley from a corner.
However, an electrifying Yamal led Barcelona’s fightback, unleashing a superb strike from inside the box after a clever run from the right, to reduce the deficit three minutes after Inter’s second goal.
Playing his 100th game at 17 years and 291 days old, Yamal became the youngest player to score in a Champions League semi-final, surpassing Kylian Mbappe who was 18 when he did it in 2017.
Yamal went close again, hitting the post from close range before Ferran Torres levelled the score in the 38th minute with a first-time finish after a darting run to latch on to a Raphinha knock-down.
Despite Barcelona’s dominance, it was Inter who regained the lead in the 64th minute when Dumfries headed home from a corner. The hosts responded immediately, as Raphinha’s thunderous strike from outside the box hit the woodwork before ricocheting off the back of Inter keeper Yann Sommer and into the net to restore parity.
‘DUTY TO WIN’
“When you play at home like we did, the sensation is that we should have managed to earn a better result,” Raphinha told Movistar Plus.
“We can’t concede that many goals, especially at home. Sure, you have to give praise to our opponents who are strong and played well tonight but we are Barca and it’s our duty to win at home, that’s how it is.
“But the result is not that bad and it leaves it all open for the return leg in Milan so we will try to correct the mistakes so we can go there and grab the win that will take us to the final.”
In a riveting encounter, Inter were clinical with their finishing and withstood Barcelona’s relentless attack while capitalising on counter-attacks and set-pieces. Sommer was instrumental in securing the draw for Inter with a series of impressive saves.
Barcelona, fresh from their thrilling 3-2 victory over arch-rivals Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final last Saturday, appeared to be feeling the effects of that gruelling, ill-tempered 120-minute match.
The team, already without striker Robert Lewandowski, suffered a further blow when French fullback Jules Kounde was forced off in the first half with a suspected leg muscle injury.
Inter also had injury concerns, with star striker Lautaro Martinez unable to return for the second half due to a hamstring issue, having already lost Benjamin Pavard to an ankle injury.
Barcelona’s Yamal was seemingly unstoppable and twice hit the frame of the goal, including with a late chip following a brilliant run, while Henrikh Mkhitaryan thought he had scored Inter’s fourth on another quick counter, but the VAR replay showed he was offside by the tip of his boot.
“The match was beautiful and entertaining, even from the pitch we experienced it well, facing players of crazy calibre,” Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni told Sky Sport.
“We are happy with the result, we could have avoided some mistakes with a bit more attention but we give credit to Barcelona. Now it’s back to 0-0 again, and whoever wins goes to the final, so let’s do it.”
-Reuters
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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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