Champions League results: Matchday 2

Matchday 2 of the 2021/22 Champions League group stages took place this midweek, with supporters across the continent seeing a continuation of the drama that unfolded in the first round of games.

Real Madrid have suffered a huge shock, while Paris Saint-Germain made a statement with Lionel Messi getting his first goal for the club.

There were plenty of intriguing games to keep track of on Wednesday too, with Juventus beating Chelsea, Man Utd scoring a last minute winner against Villarreal - oh, and Barcelona losing 3-0 to Benfica.

Here are your results for all 16 encounters.

Tuesday 28 September

Ajax 2-0 Besiktas

Sebastien Haller - who netted four times on Matchday 1 - was on the scoresheet again as Ajax secured a 2-0 victory over Besiktas on Tuesday night.

Steven Berghuis got the hosts off to a perfect start in Amsterdam, finishing calmly from inside the box after a fine run from Dusan Tadic. Haller then doubled their advantage before the break, bundling home Berghuis' cross at the front post.

Ajax took their foot of the gas somewhat in the second half and their opponents had a goal ruled out when Kenan Karaman was adjudged to have committed a foul before he slid the ball home. 

In the end though, they held on to make it two wins from two in the Champions League this season.

Shakthtar Donetsk 0-0 Inter

Inter's poor Champions League group stage form continued on Tuesday night as they were held to a goalless draw in Ukraine.

This was no snore-fest, though, with Nicolo Barella hitting the bar and Edin Dzeko somehow missing from less than six yards out for the visitors in the first period, while Alan Patrick and Tete went close for the home side.

Pedrinho thought he had given Shakhtar the lead just after the break, but a goal-saving challenge from Milan Skriniar denied the Brazilian. The returning Joaquin Correa came close to winning it for Inter late on, but his curling effort was tipped behind as both sides were forced to settle for a draw.

You can read player ratings for Inter here.

RB Leipzig 1-2 Club Brugge

Club Brugge followed up on their well-earned draw with Paris Saint-Germain with a huge 2-1 win at RB Leipzig.

The in-form Christopher Nkunku put the hosts ahead early on, but Hans Vanaken and Mats Rits managed to turn the game around before half-time.

Leipzig pushed for an equaliser, but remain rooted to the foot of Group A after two defeats from two group games.

Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 Manchester City

Lionel Messi scored his first Paris Saint-Germain goal in a 2-0 win over Manchester City at Parc des Princes.

For all of the stars on the pitch, it was Idrissa Gueye who gave PSG the lead early on, rifling a loose ball into the roof of Ederson's net.

Bernardo Silva somehow hit the bar from two yards out as City's problems without a recognised striker go on.

And Messi stole the show and secured the three points with 15 minutes remaining, playing a neat one-two with Kylian Mbappe before finding the top corner.

You can read player ratings for both sides here.

AC Milan 1-2 Atletico Madrid

Ten-man AC Milan were denied a huge win late on by a resilient Atletico Madrid.

The home side came flying out of the traps at a raucous San Siro, and led through Rafael Leao's pinpoint strike.

But Franck Kessie received two yellow cards before the half hour mark, though Milan managed to keep Atleti at arm's length for much of the game.

Substitute Antoine Griezmann levelled it with minutes remaining, before Pierre Kalulu handled the ball in his own area deep into stoppage time. Luis Suarez held his nerve and netted the resulting penalty to earn all three points.

You can read player ratings for both sides here.

Porto 1-5 Liverpool

Liverpool returned to winning ways in emphatic fashion after a 5-1 victory at Porto.

The Reds strolled to the win thanks to three goalkeeping errors and a masterclass from Mohamed Salah, whose ridiculous goalscoring exploits continued.

Salah and Sadio Mane struck before half-time to give Jurgen Klopp's side a comfortable lead, before the Egyptian added a third after an hour.

Mehdi Taremi grabbed a consolation for Porto before Roberto Firmino netted a late brace.

You can read player ratings for Liverpool here.

Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Sporting CP

Donyell Malen scored his first Borussia Dortmund goal in a close-fought 1-0 win at home to Sporting.

Dortmund were without Erling Haaland, Gio Reyna, Emre Can and Dan-Axel Zagadou, but showed their resilience to win in their absence.

Netherlands international Malen scored the only goal on the night after being put through by Jude Bellingham, sprinting clear and finishing coolly.

You can read player ratings for Dortmund here.

Real Madrid 1-2 Sheriff Tiraspol

Moldovan champions Sheriff Tiraspol pulled off one of the greatest Champions League upsets in history with a last-minute 2-1 win at Real Madrid.

The aptly named Cristiano was a menace for the visitors all evening, and was given the freedom of the Bernabeu pitch to pick out Djasur Yakhshibaev at the back post to give Sheriff a shock lead.

Carlo Ancelotti's side were trailing at the break and only got back into the match after being awarded a penalty for a foul by Fernando Costanza on Vinicius Junior, and Karim Benzema scored from the spot.

But Sheriff had the last laugh as Sebastien Thill's half-volley flew into top corner in the very last minute as the away side claimed a famous scalp.

You can read player ratings for Real Madrid here.

Wednesday 29 September

Atalanta 1-0 Young Boys

A goal from Euro 2020 winner Matteo Pessina was enough for Atalanta to beat Young Boys in Bergamo on Wednesday evening.

The home side wholly dominated the game - registering 13 shots and 65% possession on the night - and deservedly secured all three points in the 68th minute.

The result leaves Atalanta top of their group, with four points, ahead of both Man Utd and Villarreal.

Zenit St Petersburg 4-0 Malmo

Well, we know who the whipping boys of Group H are anyways...

Zenit put the ten-men of Malmo to the sword on Matchday 2, beating the them 4-0 in Russia.

Claudinho opened the scoring for the home side before a flurry of second half goals - from Daler Kuzyayev, Aleksei Sutormin and Wendel - sealed a very, very comfortable win for the Russian champions.

Benfica 3-0 Barcelona

Barcelona's recent bad fortunes in Lisbon continued on Wednesday as they slipped to an embarrassing 3-0 Champions League defeat to Benfica, 13 months after being humiliated 8-2 by Bayern Munich in the Portuguese capital.

The defeat means the Blaugrana are without a point from their first two European games of the season, with manager Ronald Koeman seemingly hanging by a thread.

The hosts came out of the blocks quickly and took the lead inside three minutes. Julian Weigl split the back three with an excellent through ball which found the in-form Darwin Nunez. He then skinned Eric Garcia and was allowed plenty of time to pick his spot at the front post and make it 1-0.

Roman Yaremchuk missed a good chance to double Benfica's advantage soon after with Barça eventually growing into the game. Frenkie de Jong and Pedri both had half chances but the visitors side always looked vulnerable at the back.

Koeman eventually made the decision to drag Gerard Pique off on the half hour mark. Pique endured a horrific start to the game, being at fault for the opener and only narrowly avoiding a second yellow card.

Minutes after the break Nunez came agonisingly close to a second goal, taking the ball round a stricken Marc-Andre ter Stegen - who mistimed a piece of sweeper-keeping - before firing an effort onto the post.

Barcelona created very little in the second half and Benfica eventually gave themselves some breathing space when Rafa Silva reacted quickest to convert inside the box following a goalmouth scramble.

Things got even worse for Barça before full time too, with Sergino Dest penalised for a handball in the box. Nunez made no mistake from the spot, rubbing salt into their opponents' wounds. With four minutes left Eric Garcia was then sent off for a second bookable offence, capping off another chastening night for Barça at the Estadio de Luz.

You can read player ratings for Barcelona here.

Bayern Munich 5-0 Dynamo Kyiv

Bayern Munich continued to score for fun on Wednesday night as Robert Lewandowski, Leroy Sane, Serge Gnabry and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting bagged the goals in a 5-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv on Wednesday evening.

As you can probably guess, Robert Lewandowski had a good evening in front of goal. It all started when Serhiy Sydorchuk handled the ball and gifted Bayern a penalty - a spot kick which he obviously converted with ease.

He then scored again about 14 minutes later. Because of course he did. This time he was fed the ball by Thomas Muller, before he rifled it into the bottom right corner of the net.

Bayern could have had even more before the end of the half, with a wonderful Leroy Sane strike from the edge of the box cannoning off the post, a Lewa header going over (yeah he actually missed for a change), and Dayot Upamecano also nodding too high from a corner kick.

The second half was much the same - Bayern dominating, and everyone feeling sorry for Dynamo Kyiv being so blatantly out of their depth against the German champions.

Julian Nagelsmann's side finally bagged their third goal of the evening in the 67th minute through (no, not Lewa) Serge Gnabry. The forward sped through on goal before thundering the ball into the top right corner.

Then the fourth came - because Bayern are brilliant. It was Sane's turn this time, as the forward's misplaced (we think...) cross from the left wrong-footed Heorhiy Bushchan in goal. Then, of course, they scored a fifth - Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting nodding home a Benjamin Pavard cross.

You can read player ratings for Bayern Munich here.

Manchester United 2-1 Villarreal

Cristiano Ronaldo struck at the death to earn Manchester United a valuable 2-1 win over Villarreal in the Champions League group stage.

The Yellow Submarine had several chances to put the game beyond doubt after taking a second-half lead, but were made to rue the day by a resilient United.

Former Bournemouth winger Arnaut Danjuma had two glorious opportunities to open the scoring for Villarreal in the first 10 minutes, but was denied by David De Gea on both occasions.

The Dutchman continued to cause trouble down United's right flank, with his driven cross being met by the head of Paco Alcacer, and De Gea had to react quickly to tip it over.

A lapse in concentration from Raphael Varane let Alcacer slip in behind, but the Spaniard couldn't keep his shot on target.

The closest United came to scoring in the first half was when ex-Liverpool man Alberto Moreno nearly poked the ball into his own net, but was fortunate to see it roll just beyond Geronimo Rulli's goal.

Villarreal finally took a deserved lead shortly after the break, with Alcacer poking home Danjuma's low cross after sneaking between Victor Lindelof and Alex Telles.

Telles made amends by firing in the equaliser on the hour mark, volleying home a clever free-kick from Bruno Fernandes. Jadon Sancho had a great chance to put United in front almost immediately, but slipped at the crucial moment when pulling the trigger.

Substitute Edinson Cavani then spurred the game's next big chance after meeting Mason Greenwood's cross, though his headed effort went narrowly wide.

United were let off the hook again with five minutes remaining as Boulaye Dia failed to scramble in a goal from inside the six-yard box, with Telles providing a crucial block on the line.

The hosts had one final chance to earn all three points deep into stoppage time when the ball ricocheted to Ronaldo at close range and he slotted it into the roof of the net, sending Old Trafford into delirium.

You can read player ratings for Man Utd here.

Red Bull Salzburg 2-1 Lille

Red Bull Salzburg shot to the top of Group G thanks to a brace of penalties from FM21 legend Karim Adeyemi on Wednesday.

The two penalties came in a 2-1 home win over French champions LOSC Lille (still weird, that), and leaves Salzburg on four points after two games played.

Wolfsburg 1-1 Sevilla

In Group G's other game VfL Wolfsburg and Sevilla played out an entertaining 1-1 draw in Germany.

Wolfsburg had taken a 48th minute lead thanks to Renato Steffan, before a 'challenge' from captain Joshua Guilavogui - which saw him handed a second yellow card - gave Ivan Rakitic a penalty which he duly converted in the 87th minute.

Juventus 1-0 Chelsea

Juventus ground out a deserved 1-0 win at home to a frustrated Chelsea side in the Champions League group stage on Wednesday evening.

In a cagey first half short on goalmouth action, Chelsea dominated possession for large swathes, yet scarcely threatened their stubborn hosts in open play.

Juventus - who came into the contest with just one clean sheet from their last 23 matches across all competitions - sat deep looking to strike in counterattacking scenarios Chelsea's uncharacteristically slack midfield provided on multiple occasions.

Adrien Rabiot's lead-footed pass squandered a two-on-one breakaway a quarter of an hour in, before Federico Chiesa fired wide having snaffled up a loose pass from Mateo Kovacic five minutes later.

Thomas Tuchel's half-time alterations have so often swung contests in Chelsea's favour this season. However, his substitute Ben Chilwell had barely made his way over to the far side of the pitch before Chiesa was wheeling away in celebration of his fizzing opener 11 seconds after the restart.

Juve bunkered down thereafter - though still had the best chance to score another with as Federico Bernardeschi missed a glorious opening shortly after the hour mark.

Restricted to a smattering of headed opportunities from dead balls, Chelsea suffered their second 1-0 loss within the space of five days.

You can read the Chelsea - Juventus ratings here.

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