Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League games featured a Messi-less Barcelona top Inter Milan, Tottenham splitting points with PSV, and Paris Saint Germain scoring a late goal to rescue a point against Napoli.
Borussia Dortmund eased its way past Atletico Madrid with a 4-0 win in Germany, while fellow German club Schalke 04 was forced to settle for a draw in Turkey against Galatasaray.
Elsewhere, Liverpool picked up three points with a 4-0 win over FK Crvena Zvezda, Thierry Henry’s first UCL game as manager saw him pick up a point against Club Brugge, and goals from a pair of Mexicans pushed FC Porto past Lokomotiv Moscow.
Here’s a closer look at some of Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League action:
Paris Saint-Germain 2, Napoli 2
Lorenzo Insigne gave Napoli the lead in the 29th minute with a clever finish over an onrushing Alphonse Areola. Jose Callejon sent the Italian through on goal with a well-weighted pass around PSG’s backline and Insigne popped it over Areola to break the deadlock.
PSG’s equalizer came in the 61st minute as Thomas Meunier’s cross bounced awkwardly off of a sliding Mario Rui’s foot deflecting the ball past David Ospina. Dries Mertens also benefited from awkward defending as he regained the lead for Napoli in the 77th minute after Marquinhos blocked a shot that fell to the Belgian inside the penalty area.
Angel Di Maria rescued a point for PSG in the dying moments with a curled effort from the top of the penalty area. Neymar’s clever play brought the ball into the opposition’s’ third before the ball eventually fell to Julian Draxler who laid the ball off for the Argentine to finish.
PSV Eindhoven 2, Tottenham Hotspur 2
Hirving Lozano scored the first goal of the match in the 30th minute capitalizing on a defensive error from Toby Alderwiereld who played with too much calmness on his attempted backpass to Hugo Lloris. Lozano picked the ball off of Alderwiereld before his shot was deflected by the Belgian over a helpless Lloris to give PSV the lead.
Following a disallowed Davinson Sanchez equalizer, Spurs found the back of the net in the 39th minute through Lucas Moura. After some wonderful buildup play, the Brazilian found himself alone in the penalty area before his shot deflected off a PSV defender before finding the back of the net.
Harry Kane gave Tottenham their first lead of the night in the 54th minute heading the ball home from close range after a wonderful cross from Christian Eriksen.
PSV found the leveler in the 87th minute as Luuk de Jong flicked the ball past Michel Vorm who entered the pitch in the 79th minute due to a Hugo Lloris foul on Hirving Lozano that saw the goalkeeper sent off. The two sides were forced to split the points after an entertaining draw.
Borussia Dortmund 4, Atletico Madrid 0
Axel Witsel gave the German club the lead in the 38th minute after scoring on what had become a theme of Wednesday games, a deflected shot.
The German fans had to wait until the 73rd minute to see another goal as Achraf Hakimi picked up his second assist of the night when his low cross found Raphaël Guerreiro in the penalty area. The 24-year-old would find the back of the net in the closing moments capitalizing on a poor giveaway from Atletico.
Sandwiched in between Guerreiro’s brace was a third goal for Dortmund courtesy of Jadon Sancho. Hakimi ran through on goal before unselfishly sliding the ball to the young Englishman who scored the easiest goal of the day.
Here’s the remaining results from Wednesday’s UEFA Champion League action:
Club Brugge 1-1 Monaco
Barcelona 2-0 Inter Milan
Liverpool 4-0 FK Crvena Zvezda
Galatasaray 0-0 Schalke 04
Lokomotiv Moscow 1-3 FC Porto
Pulisic has never regained his form after the USMNT debacle. He probably suffered some injury during that unfortunate campaign which would explain his reluctance to participate in the friendlies especially involving Concacaf or even other South American teams. They play dirty and he was their obvious target during those games.
This is my suspicion only, no rumors or expert observer claims behind it. But if you recall the US coaches and team mates during the qualifying games expected him to almost single handedly get the team into the world cup. He was barely 18 at the time and the coaching staff exploited his youthful enthusiasm and naiveté. Let me also add that the fans were guilty of the same overwrought expectations from him, the child savior of US soccer. His parents are not fools and my guess is that they are protective of him. He may never return until fully healthy. He must protect his career, we must understand that.
Yesterday he was OK. But often just a stepp slow and his pass completion rate was down to only 50%. The coach sub-ed him late in the game. Perhaps as he will get stronger in the leg and more match fit his game will get better. At this point he is not developing, moving sideways rather.
Spot on, in my opinion. If I’m the coach of Dortmund, Jadon Sancho starts over Pulisic every time. Pulisic has been downright mediocre.
It must be human nature to invent a conspiracy when a simple and rational explanation is staring you in the face. Each of the friendlies that he missed were due to real injuries. How do I know? Because Dortmund did not even have him on the bench for the games ahead of the break and work him back into the line-up slowly for the games after the break. There is no way Dortmund is going to go to those lengths unless he was actually injured. There is no cover up. No conspiracy. All is what it appears to be as it is 99% of the time in life. Imagine that! He’s just been more injury prone of late. Speculate all you want why that might be the case. That is legitimate speculation.
Anybody know how Pulisic looked ?
Not too bad…He was aggressive but you could tell still needing to get back to match fitness as he didn’t go the full 90….Would be interesting to see if he and Sancho were in the starting 11 at the same time (one right/one left/Reus in middle)….
In my opinion, he was mediocre at best. Jadon Sancho should start over him at Dortmund. That kid can ball and every time he steps on the field it seems to lift the play of the team…