UEFA Champions League
Champions League: Man United travels to Bayern; Real Madrid without Carvajal against Berlin
A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Wednesday:
Bayern Munich vs. Manchester United (Group A)
Manchester United will be without injured defenders Harry Maguire and Aaron Wan-Bissaka as they face the daunting trip to Munich.
The season has not started as planned for Erik ten Hag’s team after opening the Premier League with three losses in their first five games.
Bayern, which have won the last 11 Bundesliga titles in a row, will measure their success this season on how far they progresses in the Champions League.
The Bavarian powerhouse are as yet unbeaten this season, though did drop their first points in a 2-2 draw at home to Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
Galatasaray host Copenhagen in the other group game.
Arsenal vs. PSV Eindhoven (Group B)
After qualifying for the Champions League for 19 straight years under Arsene Wenger, Arsenal have had to wait six years to get back into the competition.
And it’s clear the team have been looking forward to this moment. The Champions League theme tune was blaring from the speakers in the gym at the club’s training center this week, striker Gabriel Jesus said.
Jesus could make his first start of the season following a knee injury, while manager Mikel Arteta will have to decide how many other players to rotate ahead of a crucial north London derby against Tottenham on Sunday.
PSV have won all four of their league games so far and cannot be taken lightly, having scored 13 goals while conceding just one in that stretch.
Sevilla host Lens in the other group game.
Real Madrid vs. Union Berlin (Group C)
Real Madrid will be without right back Dani Carvajal against newcomer Union Berlin at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Carvajal was injured in training on Tuesday.
Coach Carlo Ancelotti said Lucas Vazquez will be Carvajal’s replacement. Forward Vinicius Junior had already been ruled out because of an injury.
The record 14-time European champions are making their 27th consecutive appearance in the competition’s group stage, while Union Berlin are making their tournament debut.
Madrid started the season with five straight wins in the Spanish league.
Braga vs. Napoli (Group C)
Napoli blew their opponents apart in last year’s group stage – winning five of their six matches and scoring 20 goals.
That was part of a fantastic season for the Italian club, which saw they end a 33-year wait for the Serie A title.
However, they changed coach in the offseason with Rudi Garcia coming in for Luciano Spalletti – who left the club saying he needed a break before replacing Roberto Mancini as Italy coach following the latter’s sudden resignation.
Napoli won their first two matches under Garcia before losing to Lazio and having to fight back from two goals down to rescue a 2-2 draw at Genoa last weekend.
Braga lost at the weekend but had opened the Portuguese season with a draw and a win.
Their last Champions League appearance was in 2012 when they won just one of their group stage matches.
Real Sociedad vs. Inter Milan (Group D)
Last season’s runner-up Inter Milan head into their Champions League opener at Real Sociedad coming off a 5-1 win over city rival AC Milan in the derby on Saturday to maintain their perfect start to the season – the only team in Serie A to have won all their four matches.
That goal was the only one Inter have conceded so far this campaign. New signing Marcus Thuram has particularly impressed.
Inter will be without one of their key players, however, as midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu has been ruled out of the trip to Spain with a thigh strain.
Sociedad lost at Real Madrid at the weekend.
They drew their first three matches before beating Granada in the previous round. This is Sociedad’s first season in the Champions League in 10 years. The last time it made it out of the group stage was in the 2003-04 season.
Benfica vs. Salzburg (Group D)
The Portuguese champion host the Austrian champion in a meeting between two teams with an eye on getting out of the group at Sociedad or Inter’s expense.
Benfica was a Champions League quarterfinalist in each of the last two seasons and Salzburg reached the last 16 in 2021-22.
-AP
UEFA Champions League
Osimhen and Aubameyang: Africa’s First Men of the Match in 2025/26 Champions League
The Champions League has barely started and already African fans have something to be proud of.
Two of the continent’s biggest names, Victor Osimhen from Nigeria and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Gabon, have become the first African players this season to be named Man of the Match.
For Osimhen, it was a night to remember in Istanbul. Galatasaray were up against Liverpool, a team with a European pedigree and needed someone to step up. Osimhen did just that.
His goal gave Galatasaray a 1-0 win but it was more than just the goal. His energy and how he kept Liverpool’s defenders on their toes all night made him the best player on the pitch.
So his winning of the UEFA Man of the Match award. Galatasaray fans had proof they have a striker who can change games at the highest level.
Meanwhile, on the same night in Marseille, Aubameyang was showing why he has been Africa’s most reliable goal scorer for over a decade.
At 36, some wondered if he still had it on nights like this. His answer was a thunderous “YES.”
Marseille tore Ajax apart in a 4–0 demolition that saw Aubameyang seal his stature as the orchestrator and heartbeat of the French club’s attack.
His movement, his composure and his leadership stood out. So much so that he too was rightfully awarded the Man of the Match.
The fact that these two happened on the same night made it even more special for African football fans.
Osimhen represents the new generation: quick, hungry and with still a few years ahead to make history.
Aubameyang is the veteran still out there to prove – even though he really has nothing to prove anymore – that experience and class don’t fade easily.
Together, they gave African football fans a double reason to smile.
For Nigeria and Gabon, these awards are more than individual trophies. They are ultimately a reminder of how much African players contribute to the Champions League season in, season out.
And the tournament is still in its early stages. So there’s every chance more players from the continent will follow in their footsteps before the Budapest finale in 2026. Only good omens for the 2025 AFCON that starts in a few months.
-Morocco World News
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
In his glory days, Jose Mourinho celebrated dramatic goals from his teams by sprinting down the touchline, sometimes sliding on his knees for extra euphoric effect.
On Tuesday, back at his former club Chelsea as the new coach of Benfica, Mourinho’s most eye-catching intervention was down the touchline again, but this time his run was to urge his team’s fans to stop hurling objects onto the pitch.
Benfica under Mourinho, in his fourth game in charge, were defeated 1-0 by an under-strength Chelsea side in the Champions League after a fist-half Richard Rios own goal.
The self-declared “Special One” was lauded by the home fans with a few choruses of “Jose Mou-rin-ho” in recognition of his successes – three Premier League titles and four other trophies – which no other Chelsea manager has come close to matching.
Mourinho, 62, acknowledged the chants with a gentle wave, got a cheer when he ventured onto the pitch to clear a spare ball and quickly vanished down the tunnel at the final whistle after shaking the hand of Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca.
It was all a far cry from the fervour of 20 years ago when Mourinho – having led Porto to an unlikely Champions League triumph – turned Chelsea into English champions for the first time in 50 years in 2005 and won the title again a year later.
After a collapse of form, Mourinho departed in 2007 but he won the Champions League again, this time with Inter Milan in 2010, knocking out the Londoners on the way to the final.
He went on to manage Real Madrid before returning to Chelsea where he claimed a third English title and then had spells at Manchester United, London side Tottenham Hotspur – an unforgivable move for many Chelsea fans at the time – and Roma.
As the big offers dried up, Mourinho went on to coach Fenerbahce in Turkey where he lasted little more than a year before his return to Portuguese football with Benfica.
Asked after Tuesday’s defeat by Chelsea if he still had the drive of the early days of his career, Mourinho insisted he felt more motivated.
“If I am in a job it’s because I like to put myself on the line every day,” he told reporters. “I am desperate to win the next match.”
Mourinho said he thought Benfica had deserved more from the game. “We started well, we controlled well. I don’t know if I can say big chances but we had chances for sure.”
Chelsea’s Maresca said he was relieved to secure a win – albeit a scrappy one – after two consecutive defeats in the Premier League and a 3-1 loss at Bayern Munich in the his side’s Champions League opener.
“Sometimes you need to learn to win in another way,” he said of Chelsea’s improved defensive performance. “At least we learned how to win a game with a red card.”
Striker Joao Pedro was dismissed for a second yellow card after coming on as a substitute, the third time in four matches that Chelsea have finished with 10 men
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Hosts Eintracht Frankfurt scored four times in 29 minutes to bounce back from a goal down and hammer Galatasaray 5-1 in their Champions League opener on Thursday.
The Turkish sides are without their talismanic striker, Victor Osimhen who was injured while on international duty with Nigeria.
The Turks had hit Frankfurt on the break with Yunus Akgun completing the move from a Leroy Sane assist in the eighth minute. Germany international Sane, who joined from Bayern Munich this season, became the only player in Champions League history to play for four or more clubs and score or assist on his debut for each of them.
Frankfurt, competing for only the second time in the Champions League main round, struggled to break through Galatasaray’s defence until a defensive error from Akgun in the 37th. Ritsu Doan pounced, charged into the box and Davinson Sanchez deflected the Japanese winger’s shot in for an own goal.
The hosts took the lead in first-half stoppage time when 19-year-old Turkey international Can Uzun scored a superb goal on his Champions League debut after fine control and a quick turn in the box. The hosts netted again before halftime with Jonathan Burkardt’s well-timed glancing header putting them 3-1 up.
With the visitors forced to take more risks after the break, Frankfurt found space and Burkardt completed his dream Champions League debut with another header in the 66th for his second goal of the evening. Ansgar Knauff completed the rout in the 75th.
Frankfurt next travel to Atletico Madrid on September 30 when Galatasaray host Liverpool.
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
- World Cup1 week ago
BREAKING: At last FIFA’s Axe falls on South Africa!
- World Cup1 week ago
South Africa to Appeal FIFA Ruling Over Mokoena Eligibility Case
- Nigerian Football1 week ago
Super Eagles Set for Double Friendly Showdown with Venezuela and Colombia in USA
- World Cup1 week ago
Sport Minister Orders Probe into SAFA over Bafana’s Costly Points Deduction
- World Cup6 days ago
FIFA Sanction on South Africa Offers Super Eagles a Lifeline — But a Lesson from History Looms
- CAF Confederation Cup1 week ago
Asante Kotoko End Kwara United’s Confederation Cup Campaign in Abeokuta
- U-20 FOOTBALL1 week ago
Two penalty appeal lost as Flying Eagles stumble at first hurdle
- World Cup4 days ago
Super Eagles Walk Tightrope as Nine Key Players Risk Suspension in World Cup Qualifiers