Europe

DORTMUND, Germany — Borussia Dortmund needed a 78th-minute penalty from Jadon Sancho and a stoppage-time goal from Erling Haaland to beat visitors Zenit St Petersburg 2-0 in their Champions League Group F match on Wednesday.

The Germans, who lost their opener to Lazio, controlled the game from the start but carved out few chances before Vyacheslav Karavaev inexplicably wrestled Thorgan Hazard to the ground for Sancho to score from the spot.

Haaland added a second in stoppage time with a powerful run.

The introduction of Marcus Rashford in the 63rd minute turned a 1-0 Manchester United lead over RB Leipzig into a 5-0 bloodbath with the chivalrous young forward recording a hat trick over the course of an unplayable cameo. 

Lionel Messi has yet to score from open play this season, his only three goals coming from the penalty spot. At times his finishing makes it appear as though he could care less about scoring for the club that strong-armed him into staying in Barcelona colors this year.

But the Argentine can still strike the ball like few who have ever played the game. 

Christian Pulisic put on a display of modern footballing excellence (handball!) in Chelsea’s 4-0 Champions League win over Krasnodar on Wednesday. Chelsea’s one-goal advantage was under siege when Pulisic entered the match in the 71st minute, but the American quickly smashed a shot into Alyaksandr Martynovich’s arm for a penalty, whiffed on an overhead kick, provided a hockey assist on Hakim Ziyech’s goal and finally scored one of his own. 

It was 19 minutes of pure Pulisic Ball. 

After a disappointing defeat to Manchester United to open the Champions League campaign, Paris Saint-Germain needed to right the ship on Match Day 2. A visit to Istanbul Basaksehir on the one hand meant facing the Turkish champs, but on the other represented a must-win match against arguably the weakest side in a stacked Group H.

Cristiano Ronaldo has been left out of the Juventus squad for the Champions League match at home to Barcelona later on Wednesday, two weeks after first testing positive for COVID-19.

The Portuguese had been hoping to return in time for Wednesday's match and, although there was no official comment on his condition, he was not included in the squad announced by Juventus coach Andrea Pirlo. Reports on Tuesday suggested Ronaldo tested positive for Covid again this week.

Champions League Group B was an easy one to predict with LaLiga champion Real Madrid and Serie A runner-up Inter Milan joined by the difficult-to-spell sides of Shakhtar Donetsk and Borussia Mönchengladbach, but we’re two match days in and both Real and Inter have yet to win.

João Félix bagged a brace for Atletico Madrid as they survived a scare to complete a 3-2 Champions League Group A victory over Red Bull Salzburg and kick-start their European campaign at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium on Tuesday.

Marcos Llorente had put Atletico ahead in the first half, but goals from Dominik Szoboszlai and Mergim Berisha swung the fixture in the favour of the visitors early in the second half.

BARCELONA — Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu resigned from the club on Tuesday ahead of a vote of no confidence that was due to be held next month after some 20,000 fans signed a petition demanding that he step down.

The rest of the board of directors also resigned.

"It's a thought-out, serene, informed decision" to resign, Bartomeu said in a televised speech.

It’s not getting any better than this for 19-year-old goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin and Shakhtar Donetsk — or is it?

Last Wednesday, Shakhtar travelled to the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano and pulled off an incredible 3-2 upset of 13-time European champion Real Madrid despite missing 10 players through a combination of injury and pandemic. That match marked a Champions League debut for Trubin, who recorded three saves.