Sports

Haaland Hoists Manchester City; Chelsea Lose

The Norwegian has now scored 12 goals in seven competitive games for City since joining the club from Borussia Dortmund during the close-season.

Sentinel Digital Desk

SEVILLE: Erling Haaland continued his free-scoring start to life at Manchester City with two more goals in an impressive 4-0 win over Sevilla in Champions League Group G on Tuesday.

The Norwegian has now scored 12 goals in seven competitive games for City since joining the club from Borussia Dortmund during the close-season.

The goals also made the 22-year-old the fastest player to score 25 goals in the Champions League -- a milestone he has reached in just 20 matches.

The blond striker put City ahead in the 20th minute, stretching to reach a cross from Kevin De Bruyne and place it past Sevilla keeper Yassine Bounou.

De Bruyne then found himself one-on-one with Bounou, after breaking clear, but this time the Moroccan goalkeeper pulled off a fine save to deny the Belgian.

Sevilla have managed just one draw from their opening four games in LaLiga and they struggled to cope with City's swift movement in a one-sided game.

Phil Foden made it 2-0 after the break, jinking and turning to create space on the edge of the box before placing the ball into the bottom corner.

Ilkay Gundogan had an effort disallowed after turning in a header from Foden, who was in an offside position but Pep Guardiola's side soon had the margin of victory their dominance deserved.

Haaland showed his goalscoring instinct to make sure of a comfortable victory, pouncing to tap-in after Bounou had pushed out a low drive from the impressive Foden.

Even with victory assured, City continued to push forward and defender Ruben Dias added the fourth in stoppage time, turning in a low cross from Joao Cancelo.

City have now scored 24 goals in seven matches in the Premier League and Europe and Guardiola hopes that they and Haaland can continue against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.

Dinamo Zagreb stun Chelsea

Dinamo Zagreb claimed a shock victory over Chelsea in their Champions League group stage opener as they beat the 2021 European champions 1-0 at home thanks to a blistering solo run from Croatian forward Mislav Orsic.

Zagreb had conceded in every league game this season but Ante Cacic's team kept a clean sheet against the Premier League side, who topped Europe's transfer spending charts with an outlay of over 250 million pounds ($299.62 million) this summer.

Chelsea have now lost three of their last five matches in all competitions and Thomas Tuchel was seen fuming on the touchline as his 100th match in charge of the London club ended in defeat.

Zagreb opened the scoring against the run of play when Orsic was sent through on goal on a solo counter-attack, outrunning Chelsea's new recruit Wesley Fofana and beating goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga with a delicate touch.

Chelsea had created scoring opportunities in the opening stages but were deflated by the goal and Tuchel's side looked short of ideas in front of a resolute Zagreb defence.

Mbappe shines as PSG score first win over Juventus

Kylian Mbappe played chief tormentor as Paris St Germain started their Champions League campaign by beating Juventus 2-1 at home, their first victory against the Italian side.

Mbappe opened the scoring with a stunning goal and added a second in the opening half before substitute Weston McKennie reduced the arrears after the break as the French champions' level went down a notch.

Juve had chances to equalise but keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma made several good saves to make up for a blunder for the visitors' goal, ensuring PSG beat the Italian side for the first time in nine meetings, having lost the last six.

Christophe Galtier's team are level on three points in Group H with Benfica, who beat Maccabi Haifa 2-0.

Real Madrid win at Celtic but suffer Benzema blow

Real Madrid scored a 3-0 victory over Celtic in their Group F opener but it came at a cost, as they lost forward Karim Benzema to a knee injury in the first half.

Vinicius Jr, Luka Modric and Eden Hazard were all on target in the second half for holders Real at a sold-out Celtic Park although they rode their luck at times as the Scottish side spurned a number of opportunities.

The hosts enjoyed an impressive start, creating several chances in front of their home fans but they were unable to find that killer instinct in front of goal and were punished by the 14 times champions.

Real's Federico Valverde had a cross-shot that went just wide in the 30th minute, but when play stopped, Karim Benzema bent over holding his right knee, asking for medical attention.

The French striker, who was clearly in pain, was replaced by Hazard in the 30th minute, limping off the pitch and straight to Real's dressing room.

"We will have to wait for the tests tomorrow, but the first impressions by our medical staff are that it is not something serious," manager Carlo Ancelotti told Movistar Plus about Benzema.

AC Milan held at Salzburg

AC Milan midfielder Alexis Saelemaekers earned the Serie A title holders a 1-1 draw at Austrian side Salzburg in their Group E opener.

Saelemaekers equalized in the 40th minute when Rafael Leao found him in the middle of the penalty area after Milan striker Olivier Giroud jumped out of the way to create the opening.

Salzburg next travel to Chelsea when Milan host Dinamo Zagreb.

Benfica ease past Maccabi Haifa

Alejandro Grimaldo scored a stunning long-range goal as Benfica eased to a 2-0 victory over Maccabi Haifa in their opening Champions League Group H fixture at the Estadio da Luz on Tuesday.

After a first half with few chances at either end, Benfica led on 50 minutes as Rafa Silva guided left back Grimaldo's cross from the left wing into the Haifa net, before the latter doubled the advantage shortly afterwards.

He picked up the ball 35 metres from goal and as the defenders stood off him, unleashed a wicked shot with pace, power and late dip that left Haifa goalkeeper Josh Cohen with little chance.

Benfica, who have won each of the 10 games they have played in all competitions this season, travel to Juventus for their second group match on Sept. 14, while Haifa will host Paris St Germain on the same evening.

Dortmund ease past Copenhagen

Borussia Dortmund cruised to a 3-0 victory over FC Copenhagen in their Group G opener, with the Germans playing in front of a rare capacity 81,000 crowd for a European match.

Captain Marco Reus rifled in for the lead in the 35th minute before Raphael Guerreiro added another just before the break and Jude Bellingham made it 3-0 in the 83rd with the hosts powered on by the famed 'Yellow Wall' with 25,000 standing fans.

Shakhtar stun Leipzig

Marian Shved scored twice in a dream debut for Shakhtar Donetsk as the Ukrainians crushed hosts RB Leipzig 4-1 in their Group F opener. Agencies

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