98th-min penalty chaos as PSG steal draw; Manchester City’s epic comeback

PARIS (Agencies): Manchester City fought back brilliantly to win 3-2 at home after conceding two first-half goals to RB Leipzig in a thrilling Champions League battle for top spot in Group G. The victory keeps City’s perfect start to the group stage alive with 15 points from five games, assuring them of progressing to the knockouts in top position, while Leipzig are also guaranteed to progress. Meanwhile, there was shocking penalty drama as PSG secured a controversial late draw with Newcastle thanks to a 98th-minute Kylian Mbappe penalty.

Haaland makes history in City comeback:

Erling Haaland became the fastest player to score 40 Champions League goals as he kickstarted City’s epic comeback from two goals down. Leipzig’s goals both came from Lois Openda and in similar fashion ––– catching out City’s high defensive line (and errors from Manuel Akanji and Ruben Dias) with rapid counter-attacks before finishing clinically. After the second goal, Sky Sports’ Ben Ransom said: “Another horror show from a Manchester City centre back. This time Ruben Dias is embarrassed by Openda as he doesn’t deal with the through-ball. The RB Leipzig striker still has plenty to do and he manages to put Josko Gvardiol onto his backside before finishing. Not many here expected this.” Manchester City spurned a host of big chances in the first half, before Dias was substituted at halftime by a clearly frustrated Pep Guardiola. Two more changes ignited the comeback, with Jeremy Doku and Julian Alvarez entering the contest – and the latter then had an immediate impact, playing the ball to Phil Foden who teed up Haaland for a 40th Champions League goal in 35 appearances. Foden turned from provider to scorer with a brilliant goal of his own in the 70th minute after controlling a pass from Josko Gvardiol with an excellent first touch before finishing through the goalkeeper’s legs. Leipzig nearly retook the lead six minutes later when Liverpool loanee Fabio Carvalho raced away and put the ball in the back of the net, but he was called back for off-side. City poured forward and completed a brilliant comeback in the 87th minute when substitute Julian Alvarez blasted home from close range. Substitute Jeremy Doku fed it from the left side of the box to Foden, who again showed excellent control in the box to find Alvarez, who paused before thundering it home. It was Alvarez’s fourth Champions League goal in as many appearances this season.

PSG strike controversial late pen in thrilling draw:

Elsewhere, a controversial late penalty for PSG earned them a draw against Newcastle in a blockbuster Group F encounter. Alexander Isak opened the scoring for Newcastle with simple finish when PSG keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma parried a Miguel Almiron shot straight into the path of the attacker. Newcastle keeper Nick Pope then made a stunning save in the second half to deny 21-year-old Bradley Barcola from close range, before there was penalty drama as Anthony Gordon collided with PSG’s Achraf Hakimi – but the referee did not award the French side a penalty, and VAR agreed. Barcola – a 45 million euro signing – then blazed over the bar with a volley from close range in stoppage time, one of four big misses from the young gun as PSG simply couldn’t find the back of the net despite their dominance. Newcastle defended desperately, but deep into stoppage time their hopes of a famous win were cruelled when the referee awarded a hugely controversial PSG penalty for a Tino Livramento handball. The ball was deflected off the 21-year-old’s chest into his elbow – with his arm outstretched. Mbappe finished from the 12-yard dot for PSG in the 98th minute. While the penalty was controversial, PSG dominated proceedings, with 31 shots and over 70 per cent of possession.

Eddie Howe’s Newcastle side would have been eliminated with a defeat here, so at least they remain in contention, while avoiding a third defeat in five group games allows PSG to hold off the threat of a first elimination from the Champions League before the last 16 in the Qatar era. They have regularly struggled to impress in the Champions League in the last decade, but never as much as this season, and Mbappe’s late goal — his 17th of the season — got them out of jail here. Also in the same group, Olivier Giroud missed an early penalty for AC Milan before Borussia Dortmund scored through a penalty of their own. Milan equalised later in the first half through Samuel Chukwueze, before Dortmund struck twice in the second half to run away with the game. 19-year-old English gun Jamie Bynoe-Gittens made it 2-1 in the 59th minute before Karim Adeyemi sealed the win – and progression from the group. Dortmund have been criticised for their domestic form but are top of Group F on 10 points thanks to their third straight win in the competition, which came against a Milan team off-form and riddled with injuries. Milan reached the semi-finals last season but sit bottom of the group on five points and have a job on their hands to progress. Dortmund now lead the group with 10 points ahead of PSG (7), Newcastle (5), and AC Milan (5). PSG play Dortmund in the final group game, while Newcastle face Milan.

Barcelona end knockout drought: Barcelona came from behind to beat Porto 2-1 as Portuguese duo Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix both netted to turn the game on its head after Brazilian winger Pepe opened for Porto. The former Benfica pair pounced against their old club’s rivals to ensure Xavi Hernandez’s team would not face a humiliating group stage exit as they did in both of the last two seasons. Defeat by Shakhtar Donetsk in Hamburg in their previous European match made Barca nervous, with poor performances domestically adding to their jitters. However, despite conceding first, Cancelo quickly levelled and he set up Felix in the second half for the winner. Xavi shook up his side with Cancelo switching to left-back and Oriol Romeu dropped for Ilkay Gundogan after Barcelona’s 1-1 draw at Rayo Vallecano on Saturday, the latest in a string of sub-par displays.

Celtic dumped out by late brace: Ciro Immobile shot Lazio to the verge of qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League with a late brace in Tuesday’s 2-0 win over eliminated Celtic. Italy forward Immobile struck twice in the final 10 minutes at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome to move Lazio top of Group E, two points ahead of Atletico Madrid who are at third-placed Feyenoord later on Tuesday. Lazio will be through to the next round if Feyenoord fail to beat their Spanish opposition as the Dutch outfit are four points behind the new group leaders. Immobile’s double, which took his all-competitions tally for the season to seven, confirmed Celtic’s exit from Europe’s top club competition. Brendan Rodgers’ side will finish bottom of Group E following the defeat which left the Scottish champions with a single point from their five group matches.