Paris Saint-Germain’s disappointing Champions League campaign continued on Wednesday as they slumped to a last-gasp 2-1 home defeat by Atlético Madrid that left the Ligue 1 leaders in the elimination zone.
Warren Zaïre-Emery’s opener was quickly cancelled out by Nahuel Molina in the first half of a largely disappointing match which ended with Ángel Correa stabbing in the winner three minutes into added time.
On four points from as many games, PSG are 25th in the 36-team league, six points behind fellow Ligue 1 teams Monaco and Brest, while Atléti moved out of the red zone with six points.
PSG next travel to Bayern Munich and RB Salzburg, and they were, once again, left ruing their missed chances.
“We tried and tried, right up to the last minute,” said ,” said the PSG midfielder Vitinha. “Unfortunately, we conceded a goal on their last chance. Would things be easier with a real centre-forward? Well, you never know. That’s our gameplan. We’ll get better at it.”
Bayern bounced back from their 4-1 defeat in Barcelona in their previous Champions League match with a 1-0 home win against Benfica thanks to Jamal Musiala’s bullet header. The Germany midfielder scored from close range in the 67th minute. Bayern had dominated the match and missed several chances before breaking the deadlock. The result lifts Bayern into 17th place with Benfica, who were toothless in attack, also on six points in 19th.
Robert Lewandowski struck twice as Barcelona cruised to a 5-2 victory against Red Star Belgrade in Serbia. The Poland striker scored his 17th and 18th goals of the season in his 16th match, and notched his 98th in the Champions League as Barçca made it seven straight wins in all competitions. Red Star forward Silas cancelled out Iñigo Martínez’s header, but Lewandowski restored Barça’s lead before the interval and added his second before Raphinha and Fermín López put gloss on the scoreline. Milson added a late consolation, but Barça’s third successive win in this season’s revamped competition lifted them up to sixth.
Brest’s impressive start to life in the Champions League continued as they won 2-1 at Sparta Prague. Edimilson Fernandes put Brest in control and Kaan Kairinen’s own goal gave them breathing space before Victor Olatunji scored Sparta’s stoppage-time consolation.
Second-half goals from Ademola Lookman and Nicolò Zaniolo earned Atalanta a 2-0 win at Stuttgart and the Italian side are still yet to concede a goal in this season’s competition. The opener came in the 51st minute when Lookman tapped in a cross from Charles De Ketelaere and, with the home side struggling to find a way through, Zaniolò struck the decisive second two minutes from time. The defeat ended Stuttgart’s impressive home record of not losing a game in any competition for more than a year, while Atalanta are now unbeaten in their last eight matches.
RB Salzburg notched their first win, 3-1 at 10-man Feyenoord. Karim Konate scored either side of the interval for Salzburg before VAR upgraded Feyenoord midfielder Chris-Kévin Nadje’s yellow card to a red. The home side hit back through Anis Hadj-Moussa, but Daouda Guindo restored Salzburg’s two-goal advantage.
The Ukrainian champions, Shakhtar Donetsk, registered their first win, 2-1 against Young Boys in a ‘home’ tie in Gelsenkirchen. Young Boys are among the current bottom five clubs who have lost all of their first four matches.