Kylian Mbappe scored twice as Paris Saint-Germain kicked off their Champions League campaign with a 2-1 win over Juventus at the Parc des Princes.
Once more among the favourites as they seek to finally get their hands on European football’s premier club crown, PSG were heavy favourites to see off the Italians in their opener and Christophe Gaultier’s side got off to the perfect start, with Mbappe opening the scoring after just five minutes, drilling home after exchanging passes with Neymar, whose wonderful scooped pass dissected the Juve defence.
It was the ideal response from the duo to Mbappe's revelation that the pair endure a relationship that the Frenchman declared runs hot and cold, causing widespread headlines in the past 24 hours.
In the 22nd minute, Les Parisiens’ doubled their advantage.
Too quick, too sharp and effortlessly finding space between Juve’s defensive line and midfield, sharp work from Marco Verratti, Mbappe and Lionel Messi got Achraf Hakimi in down the right, and he picked out Mbappe who slammed home his second of the night.
At that point, Gaultier’s men were threatening to blow the Bianconeri away, with in-form Neymar dazzling and the majority of the game being played in the visitors’ half.
But, unfortunately, rather than continuing to dominate and dictate, they eased off the throttle.
Nevertheless, it should have been 3-0 early in the second half, when Mbappe had Neymar free for a tap in…but elected instead to blaze wide from an acute angle. This won’t have helped dampen the scrutiny over their relationship, and the Brazilian was far from pleased at not being handed the open goal; Mbappe was barely unable to look at his teammate in the immediate aftermath, knowing he had made a mistake.
Moments later, Juve were back in the game, Gianluigi Donnarumma getting lost at a corner and Weston McKennie rose highest in the penalty area to head home.
Max Allegri’s men pushed on, looking for an equaliser that never came, while PSG were never able to find the third that would have put the game to bed. In the end however, Gaultier’s men took the victory and the three points in Group H.
Elsewhere, pressure continues to mount on RB Leipzig boss Domenico Tedesco, after the German side crashed to a 4-1 home defeat against Shakhtar Donetsk.
Having seen his side trounced 4-0 at the weekend by Eintracht Frankfurt, Tedesco is a man under fire, with ex-Borussia Dortmund boss Marco Rose appearing to have been lined up to replace him at RBL.
Marian Shved scored twice for the visitors and it’s beginning to look like a matter of time before Tedesco’s tenure in Leipzig is brought to a halt.
It was a much better night for the other Bundesliga side in action however, as Borussia Dortmund eased to victory over Copenhagen at the Westfalenstadion.
Marco Reus, Raphael Guerreiro and Jude Bellingham all found the net for the home side.
Meanwhile, the other Red Bull-backed side in action, Salzburg, drew 1-1 with Italian champions AC Milan in Austria.
Noah Okafor opened the scoring through the legs of Mike Maignan in the 28th minute, but Alexis Saelemaekers levelled 12 minutes later.
Benfica claimed all three points in their opening fixture, at home to Maccabi Haifa, winning 2-0.
Rafa Silva and Alex Grimaldo scored within the space of six second half minutes to hand the Portuguese side victory, leaving the Israelis without a goal in the Champions League for 20 years.
