Paris St Germain’s stuttering start to the season continued last night when they were held to a 1-1 home draw by Arsenal in their Champions League Group A opener.
The hosts enjoyed a dream start when Edinson Cavani put them ahead in the first minute but PSG wasted a handful of chances before Alexis Sanchez equalised in the second half.
Cavani headed home after just 44 seconds but gradually let Arsenal fight their way back into the game until Sanchez fired home from just inside the box in the 78th minute.
Both sides ended with 10 men after Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud tangled with PSG’s Marco Verratti and both were shown red cards.
French champions PSG, who took only one point from their last two Ligue 1 games, next travel to Ludogorets while Arsenal will host Basel on Sept. 28.
Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar combined to devastating effect as Barcelona swatted Celtic aside 7-0 at the Nou Camp to lay down a marker in Group C.
Messi produced a stunning display, hitting a record sixth hat-trick in the competition.
He smashed home a pass from Neymar in the third minute and the Argentine maestro struck again in the 27th after Celtic’s Moussa Dembele had a penalty saved by goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Neymar curled in a free-kick to stretch Barca’s lead in the 50th minute before crossing for Andres Iniesta to volley the fourth.
Messi then grabbed his third goal, overtaking Real Madrid greats Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas to reach six European Cup trebles.
Neymar laid on the sixth for Suarez and the Uruguayan completed the rout with his second strike in stoppage time.
Manchester City and Borussia M’gladbach will have to return to the Etihad Stadium this evening as their match was postponed because of safety concerns after torrential rain.
A downpour at 17.30 was followed by persistently heavy rain, leading referee Bjorn Kuipers and UEFA officials to carry out an inspection of the pitch 50 minutes before the scheduled 20.45 kickoff at the Etihad Stadium.
The pitch appeared to drain well when the rain relented soon afterwards but the game was called off about 20 minutes before it was due to start.
Last night, UEFA announced the match will be played this evening, with kick-off set at 20.45.
Milik double
Polish striker Arkadiusz Milik scored twice in the first half as Napoli came from behind to snatch a 2-1 away win over 10-man Dynamo Kiev.
Dynamo Kiev fought tenaciously from the start and put the technically-gifted Italian side under pressure with a 26th-minute opener from Denys Garmash before Milik headed in twice to take advantage of shoddy defending in the air.
The 18-year-old Viktor Tsygankov, a surprise Dynamo Kiev debutant, headed the ball into Garmash’s path to set up the opening goal before Milik volleyed over stranded keeper Olexandr Shovkovskiy to equalise.
On the stroke of half-time Milik scored the winner, nodding the ball into an empty net after centre back Evhen Khacheridi had weakly cleared the ball from under the crossbar.
Kiev were reduced to 10 men on 68 minutes following a second yellow card for Serhiy Sydorchuk for simulation.
Midfielder Joshua Kimmich continued his goal rush as he claimed a double in Bayern Munich’s 5-0 demolition of FC Rostov.
The 21-year-old took his tally for club and country to four goals in three games, having only scored his first for his club against Schalke on Friday, as Carlo Ancelotti’s men romped to a record 13th successive home victory in the competition.
Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring from the penalty spot and Thomas Muller extended the lead in injury-time at the end of the first half, but it was Kimmich who wrapped up the first three points of his side’s Group D campaign with a brace inside seven second-half minutes before substitute Juan Bernat added a fifth.
Saul Niguez scored as Atletico Madrid rode their luck to secure a 1-0 victory at PSV Eindhoven.
PSV had a goal disallowed, missed a penalty and had two further strong shouts for a spot-kick waved away by the officials as Atletico got their campaign off to a fortuitous start.