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Monaco 2-0 PSG. … but almost immediately from the restart, a lifeline for the champions! Wout Faes lets the ball roll under his foot. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia makes off with it down the right. He enters the box. Faes, trying to make up for his egregious error, extends a leg across Kvaratskhelia and brings him down. A no-brainer of a penalty in more ways than one. Oh Wout.
GOAL! Monaco 2-0 PSG (Balogun 18)
A second for Folarin Balogun, who is sent scampering free down the inside-left channel, and whistles a low drive into the bottom left. Matvei Safonov in the PSG goal had no chance! What a start for the hosts in the Principality! The holders in all sorts of bother already.
GOAL! Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Atalanta (Guirassy 2)
Julian Ryerson twists and turns down the right and dinks a cross into the centre. It’s a doozy from Ryerson. Serhou Guirassy rises high at the far stick and plants a downward header across Marco Carnesecchi and in!
Monaco 1-0 PSG. João Neves challenges for the ball and sends it goalwards in the same motion. It only just squeaks over the bar. A few inches lower and that was in the top-left corner.
Borussia Dortmund 0-0 Atalanta. We are go! Better late than never in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Benfica 0-0 Real Madrid. The first corner of the evening is sent in from the right by Benfica. Tomás Araújo wins a header at the far post, and powers it goalwards, albeit straight at Thibaut Courtois.
Benfica 0-0 Real Madrid. Vinícius Júnior turns the jets on down the left. He can’t get round Amar Dedić, and the duel looks lost, but then Dedić falls over. Vinícius Júnior prepares to make off with the ball along the byline, a very dangerous proposition, but the referee blows for a very generous free kick. Vinícius Júnior is fuming, and no wonder, he’s got a point, but should probably refrain from wagging his finger in the referee’s face. Fortunately for the striker, the referee simply tells him to pipe down. Others may have booked him.
Monaco 1-0 PSG. Achraf Hakimi makes good down the right but his low cross is easily smothered by Philipp Köhn in the Monaco goal.
Benfica 0-0 Real Madrid. Real take the first shot in anger, Kylian Mbappé lashing low and hard towards the bottom left. Anatoliy Trubin, last month’s hero, gathers without too much fuss.
Benfica 0-0 Real Madrid. The visitors get hold of the ball and stroke it around awhile. A loud soundtrack of irritated whistling that’ll be music to Real’s ears.
Monaco 1-0 PSG. The reigning champions look to hit back immediately, Vitinha thinking about shooting from the edge of the D. He hesitates momentarily and the chance is gone. Then Bradley Barcola breaks down the left and cuts back for Ousmane Dembélé, who aims for the bottom right only to have his shot blocked by Wout Faes. PSG have been the better team for most of the first six minutes. Problem was, they were very much second best for the first 55 seconds.
Benfica 0-0 Real Madrid. Back in Lisbon, it’s all Benfica during the opening exchanges.
GOAL! Monaco 1-0 PSG (Balogun 1)
There are just 55 seconds on the clock when Aleksandr Golovin makes good down the left and dinks infield for Folarin Balogun, who can’t miss from six yards. With the PSG defence all over the shop, it really was as simple as that!
Benfica 0-0 Real Madrid. The hosts are on the front foot immediately. Leandro Barreiro is clattered just to the right of the Real box. It’s sent into the mixer. Vangelis Pavlidis competes with Trent Alexander-Arnold, who half-clears. Gianluca Prestianni hoicks over from distance. Probably a bit early to send up Anatoliy Trubin, to be fair.
Borussia Dortmund v Atalanta. The kick-off at the Westfalenstadion has been delayed by 15 minutes. Non-stop action therefore guaranteed in this edition of Champions League Clockwatch.
Benfica v Real Madrid. Some good news for the hosts at the Estádio da Luz. The club mascot, Águia Vitória the bald eagle, has flown around the stadium and landed on the perch adorned by the club crest. That’s a sign of good things to come for Benfica, according to local lore. Let’s see. The curse of Béla Guttmann may or may not counter that particular stroke of luck.
FULL TIME: Galatasaray 5-2 Juventus. After the whistle goes, Victor Osimhen throws a petulant tanty, moaning at a couple of his own team-mates, presumably narked at not getting on the scoresheet. Kind of embarrassing, though not as embarrassing as Juventus’s second-half no-show. Astonishing levels of defensive ineptitude, though the tin lid was put on the performance by Juan Cabal, whose 21-minute circus-inspired appearance was a fiasco for the ages. Subbed on at the break, he was nutmegged and caught out of position for 2-2; gave away the free kick that led to 3-2; nearly got himself sent off for laying hands on the referee; and finally got his marching orders after misjudging the flight of the ball, allowing himself to be inelegantly turned, and hauling down his man. Juve up against it to say the least. Gala with one foot and four toes in the last 16.
FULL TIME: Galatasaray 5-2 Juventus
A scintillating second-half performance by Gala. By contrast, Juve, leading at the break, capitulated in embarrassing fashion.
Galatasaray 5-2 Juventus. This Juve implosion has been a debacle of monumental proportions. It could get even worse, too, as Victor Osimhen and then Sacha Boey take wild swipes from the edge of the box. But neither connect properly.
GOAL! Galatasaray 5-2 Juventus (Boey 86)
This one might be the best of the lot! Leroy Sané plays a ball into the Juve box down the right channel. Lloyd Kelly intercepts, but dilly-dallies, allowing Victor Osimhen to overpower him, steal the ball and nick it to the in-rushing Sacha Boey, who romps into the box, takes one touch, and launches a fierce drive across Michele Di Gregorio, off the left-hand post, and in. Lovely goal from an attacking point of view; more dismal Juve defending, though.
Galatasaray 4-2 Juventus. Wilfried Singo tries his luck from the best part of 30 yards. Inches wide of the bottom-left corner. Michele Di Gregorio probably had it covered, but it was a mighty close-run thing.
Galatasaray 4-2 Juventus. Gala smell blood. They’re clearly not of a mind to settle for this. Mauro Icardi, formerly of Inter and with eight career goals against the Bianconeri in 14 appearances, comes on for Barış Alper Yılmaz, who is finally done with causing damage for the evening.
GOAL! Galatasaray 4-2 Juventus (Lang 75)
Juve have fallen apart. Khephren Thuram gives Lloyd Kelly a hospital pass in his own penalty area. Victor Osimhen takes it off the startled Kelly’s toe, poking it to Noa Lang, who is one on one with Michele Di Gregorio. The keeper spreads himself at Lang’s feet; Lang simply lifts the ball gently over him and into the net. This is an astonishing capitulation! Credit to Gala, though, for pressing and pressing and pressing.
Galatasaray 3-2 Juventus. Luciano Spalletti may as well have kept on Andrea Cambiaso, who might have been treading the disciplinary tightrope himself, but was at least playing well. That 21-minute farce-tinged show from Cabal will go down as one of the great Champions League nightmares.
RED CARD: Cabal (Juventus)
The half-time substitute Juan Cabal has lasted just 21 minutes. He misjudges the flight of a long pass down the Gala right, allowing Barış Alper Yılmaz to spin him. He wrestles Yılmaz to the ground, and that’s a clear second yellow. So in the lead-up to Noa Lang’s equaliser, he was nutmegged then caught out of position as Yılmaz crossed; gave away the free kick that led to Sanchez’s goal; nearly got himself sent off for laying hands on the ref; and now this. One of the great fiasco-infused cameos.
Galatasaray 3-2 Juventus. This is absolutely top-notch entertainment in Istanbul. Juve come back at their hosts, Lloyd Kelly meeting a corner coming in long from the right by heading wide. A real sense of more goals in this game.
GOAL! Galatasaray 3-2 Juventus (Sanchez 60)
The free kick is just to the right of the Juve box. Gabriel Sara whips it in viciously. All Davinson Sánchez has to do is tickle the ball with his eyebrow to send it across Michele Di Gregorio and into the top left. He couldn’t miss! Sara put that on a plate, a world-class delivery. And the hosts respond to Juve’s turnaround with one of their own. What a match this is!
Galatasaray 2-2 Juventus. Juan Cabal brings down Barış Alper Yılmaz, flying down the right, just to the side of the box. Cabal goes into the book, and nearly earns a second booking by pawing at the referee’s arm, Danny Makkelie telling him to get his hands off in angry fashion. And from the resulting free kick …
Galatasaray 2-2 Juventus. That was Noa Lang’s first goal for his new club, since joining Galatasaray on loan from Napoli, where the 26-year-old Dutch winger suffered an underwhelming few months since joining the Italian champions from PSV in the summer.
The 8pm teamsheets
Benfica: Trubin, Dedic, Tomas Araujo, Otamendi, Dahl, Barreiro, Aursnes, Prestianni, Rafa Silva, Schjelderup, Pavlidis.
Subs: Ferreira, Antonio Silva, Barrenechea, Bah, Bruma, Ivanovic, Sudakov, Lukebakio, Cabral, Manu, Rios, Anisio Cabral.
Real Madrid: Courtois, Alexander-Arnold, Rudiger, Huijsen, Carreras, Guler, Valverde, Tchouameni, Camavinga, Mbappe, Vinicius Junior.
Subs: Lunin, Carvajal, Alaba, Gonzalo Garcia, Ceballos, Francisco Garcia, Diaz, Mendy, Mastantuono, Cestero, Martinez, Pitarch.
Borussia Dortmund: Kobel, Reggiani, Anton, Bensebaini, Ryerson, Bellingham, Nmecha, Svensson, Beier, Brandt, Guirassy.
Subs: Ostrzinski, Meyer, Yan Couto, Ozcan, Chukwuemeka, Sabitzer, Silva, Adeyemi, Inacio, Kabar, Krevsun, Benkara.
Atalanta: Carnesecchi, Kossounou, Djimsiti, Kolasinac, Zappacosta, de Roon, Ederson Silva, Bernasconi, Pasalic, Zalewski, Scamacca.
Subs: Rossi, Sportiello, Hien, Bakker, Musah, Sulemana, Samardzic, Bellanova, Scalvini, Ahanor, Krstovic, Vavassori.
Monaco: Kohn, Vanderson, Teze, Faes, Henrique, Camara, Zakaria, Akliouche, Golovin, Adingra, Balogun.
Subs: Stawiecki , Lienard, Biereth, Idumbo-Muzambo, Bamba, Diatta, Coulibaly, Toure, Nibombe.
PSG: Safonov, Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Nuno Mendes, Zaire Emery, Vitinha, Neves, Kvaratskhelia, Dembele, Barcola.
Subs: Chevalier, Marin, Lucas Beraldo, Zabarnyi, Goncalo Ramos, Doue, Lee, Hernandez, Fernandez, Mbaye.
GOAL! Galatasaray 2-2 Juventus (Lang 49)
Galatasaray haul themselves level early in the second half! Barış Alper Yılmaz hits a lively low shot-cum-cross from a tight angle on the right. Michele Di Gregorio parries, but can only tee up Noa Lang, who can’t miss from a couple of yards. Bedlam!
Galatasaray 1-2 Juventus. The second half starts in Istanbul. Juve have made a second sub, Juan Cabal replacing Andrea Cambiaso. That’s the last we’ll see of Cambiaso in this tie, as he was booked in the first half and misses the second leg as a result.
For the completist, here are the teamsheets from the Ali Sami Yen. Federico Gatti came on for Bremer just after the half-hour mark, the Brazilian defender limping off with a hamstring issue.
Galatasaray: Cakir, Sallai, Sanchez, Bardakci, Jakobs, Torreira, Gabriel Sara, Baris Yilmaz, Yunus Akgun, Lang, Osimhen.
Subs: Sen, Guvenc, Icardi, Sane, Elmali, Gundogan, Kutucu, Asprilla, Ayhan, Singo, Boey.
Juventus: Di Gregorio, Kalulu Kyatengwa, Bremer, Kelly, Cambiaso, Thuram, Locatelli, Koopmeiners, Francisco Conceicao, Yildiz, McKennie.
Subs: Perin, Pinsoglio, Gatti, Zhegrova, Boga, Adzic, Kostic, Openda, Miretti, Cabal.
HALF TIME: Galatasaray 1-2 Juventus
The early kick-off at the Ali Sami Yen in Istanbul has reached the halfway mark. Gabriel Sara gave the hosts the lead on 15 minutes, slotting into the bottom left from the edge of the box. But Juve hit back immediately, Teun Koopmeiners slotting from close range after Uğurcan Çakır parried Pierre Kalulu’s header. Koopmeiners then completed the turnaround on 32 minutes with an absolute pearler, one-twoing into space down the middle with Weston McKennie, before roofing from distance into the top-left corner. Roland Sallai missed a good chance to equalise for Gala just before the break. So that’s been eventful.
The big game of the evening is undoubtedly Benfica v Real Madrid. The absurd Keith Houchen-channeling antics of Anatoliy Trubin have seen to that …
… though it’s low-level astonishing that these two famous old clubs, steeped in golden-age European Cup history having won the first seven stagings between them, had only ever met twice before last month’s match. Benfica won the 1962 final 5-3, then put Real out 6-3 on aggregate (5-1, 1-2) in the 1964-65 quarters. Eusébio helped himself to five goals over those three matches. All totted up, Benfica have won three and lost one, to the aggregate tune of 15-8. Not sure Real Madrid have had their trousers more frequently handed to them, freshly pressed and laundered, by any other club on the European scene. It’s not quite Dundee United’s genuinely side-splitting competitive hex on Barcelona (P4 W4) but it’s still something.
Preamble
It’s the first night of the first legs of the Champions League play-off round … and it promises to be a humdinger. We’ve got three kick-offs at 8pm …
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Benfica v Real Madrid
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Borussia Dortmund v Atalanta
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Monaco v PSG
… plus one early match that’s already got going and is just about to reach half time …
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Galatasaray v Juventus
… so more of that in a minute. No point hanging around. Let’s dive straight in. It’s on!
