The Champions League is always as entertaining as ever and we were treated to such footballing entertainment on Wednesday’s matchday 3 of the Champions League. We saw Chelsea overcome Italian champions AC Milan 3-0, and Lionel Messi scored PSG’s sole goal in their 1-1 draw against Benfica. Erling Haaland also continued his magnificent goal scoring form when he scored a brace in Manchester City’s 5-0 victory against FC Copenhagen, and Julian Lopetegui lost his job at Sevilla following a heavy 4-1 defeat at the hands of Borussia Dortmund.
Chelsea were still searching for searching for their first 3 points in the Champions League, and they had their work cut out for them when they lined up against AC Milan who were leaders of Group E. In a game that young fullback Reece James was named man of the match, Chelsea were able to emerge victorious against the Milan side with a convincing performance in Graham Potter’s 3rd game in charge of The Blues. The London club lined up using former manager Tuchel’s preferred 3-4-3, a formation the team you would think is more comfortable with now, and it took only 4 minutes for Mason Mount to test the opposition’s goal when his bottom corner aimed attempt was well matched by Milan goalkeeper Tatarusanu. Chelsea would continue moving the ball around well and winning a corner in the 23rd minute, taken by Chilwell and was bundled in by Wesley Fofana for his first goal in Chelsea colours. Mason Mount thought he had double the lead in the 33rd minute but the goal was ruled off for offside, and to put another kick into the Blues goal scorer Wesley Fofana had to forced off in the 38th minute after an injury he sustained, and was replaced by Trevor Chalobah.
AC Milan’s only goal on target came on the brink of halftime when Kepa was forced into an excellent reaction save to deny Krunic. The midfield duo of Loftus-Cheek and Mateo Kovacic did well to keep the game running for the Blues not allowing Milan to create their chances and going into half-time with their lead intact. Chelsea began the second half the same they ended the first, having control of the ball and working AC Milan to the bone to create any chances. 56 minutes into the game Chelsea doubled their lead through their striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who was able to tap in a splendid cross from Reece James. Just 6 minutes later James would notch a goal for himself when he received a pass from Sterling on the overlap, taking a touch before blasting it into goal to make it 3-0 to Chelsea and put the game beyond reach. It was a dominant performance from Chelsea as Milan only managed 4 attempts overall and only one of those being on target despite their persistent attacking pressure in the primary stages of the match. With that win Chelsea were able to overtake Milan on the Group E standings and moved to 2nd, only a point behind unlikely leaders Salzburg, who won in their game against Dinamo Zagreb by 1-0.
Elsewhere, Lionel Messi was able to start and finish a lovely PSG move, scoring a beautiful edge of the box curler), the opening goal of their Group H clash against Benfica, that was before it was cancelled by a Danilo Pereira unfortunate own goal. The defending champions Real Madrid were able to win 2-1 vs Shaktar, courtesy of goals from Rodygo (13′) and Vinicius Jr. (31′). Erling Haaland added to his tally, scoring twice in Manchester City’s 5-0 win against Copenhagen, he’s now scored in all but one games he’s played so far this season. Julian Lopetegui was relieved of his duties as Sevilla after they completely dismantled by Dortmund in their Group G, sitting 3rd on the group’s standing with only a single point.
