The third round of the Champions League league phase, played on 20 and 21 October, gave Paris Saint-Germain a third win in three games and took away Barcelona's unbeaten record for the season. At the Parc des Princes, the French side won 4-2 in a match that turned twice.
PSG opened the scoring in the 38th minute through Désiré Doué, who seized on a Lamine Yamal error inside Barcelona's own half and finished from just outside the box. After the break, Xavi Espart equalised following a pass from Fermín López, Lucas Hernández headed the hosts back in front from a corner, and Yamal levelled again. In the 81st minute Vitinha controlled the ball on his chest and struck from outside the area; Fabián Ruiz sealed it from close range.
Yamal's goal was his tenth of the campaign and Barcelona's 50th of the season in all competitions — numbers that did not prevent the end of a run of 11 consecutive wins since the start of the season. PSG, for their part, have now won seven in a row across Ligue 1 and the Champions League. The night came at a cost for coach Luis Enrique: Ousmane Dembélé left the pitch with a hamstring injury after 20 minutes, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Dani Olmo also went off hurt.
In Como, Manchester United lost 4-1 to a debutant
On Wednesday, the most unexpected result of the round came at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia. Como, playing in the Champions League for the first time, beat Manchester United 4-1.
Argentine Nico Paz opened the scoring in the 2nd minute, assisted Tasos Douvikas's goal in the 49th and scored again in the 57th. Jacobo Ramón added a fourth in the 76th, and Joshua Zirkzee pulled one back in the 91st, deep into stoppage time. Cesc Fàbregas's side finished with 2.04 expected goals against United's 1.05, according to data from the platform The Analyst.
At 22 years and 43 days, Paz became the youngest player to be directly involved in three goals in a Champions League match against Manchester United, and the second-youngest South American to score against the English club in any competition, behind only Lionel Messi in the 2009 final.
For Michael Carrick's United, the result extends a run of seven games without a win in all competitions — their first such streak since a series of eight matches in November and December 2015. The club have won only one of their last 11 away games in the European competition. Como, meanwhile, are the first Italian side to win their first two home Champions League games since Lazio in 1999/00.
The round's 18 results
Tuesday 20 October
- Fenerbahçe 2-2 Slavia Prague
- Sabah 1-2 Borussia Dortmund
- Roma 4-0 Slovan Bratislava
- Porto 0-1 PSV Eindhoven
- Liverpool 4-3 Villarreal
- Manchester City 5-1 AEK Athens
- Paris Saint-Germain 4-2 Barcelona
- Napoli 4-3 Bodø/Glimt
- Stuttgart 1-1 Atlético Madrid
Wednesday 21 October
- Como 4-1 Manchester United
- Lille 2-4 Galatasaray
- Aston Villa 3-1 Viking
- Club Brugge 3-0 Lens
- Bayern Munich 2-2 Arsenal
- Inter Milan 1-0 Shakhtar Donetsk
- Real Madrid 4-1 Leipzig
- Real Betis 1-0 Feyenoord
- Sporting CP 2-3 LASK
In all, the two nights produced 74 goals in 18 matches, an average of 4.1 per game. Besides Real Madrid, who beat Leipzig 4-1, Manchester City thumped AEK Athens 5-1, and Liverpool needed seven goals to get past Villarreal. The 2-2 draw between Bayern Munich and Arsenal, at the Allianz Arena, was the most evenly matched tie among the favourites.
With information from UEFA, Al Jazeera and The Analyst.
