LONDON: Erling Haaland scored an acrobatic late winner against his old club as Manchester City beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in the Champions League on Wednesday, while there were hard-earned victories for Real Madrid and Paris St Germain.

PSG were initially shocked by Maccabi Haifa but superstars Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar all scored in a 3-1 comeback win against the Israeli side 3-1, while champions Real secured a late 2-0 win against RB Leipzig.

Meanwhile Chelsea were held by Red Bull Salzburg in their first match under new head coach Graham Potter, as Rangers lost heavily again and Celtic drew with Shakhtar Donetsk.

In Manchester, Haaland took on the club he left in the close season for 60 million euros ($60m, 52m) after two and a half prolific years in the Bundesliga.

Yet it looked like Dortmund might spring a surprise as they went ahead just before the hour mark at the Etihad Stadium when England midfielder Jude Bellingham headed in.

City’s equaliser did not come until Kevin De Bruyne set up John Stones to smash in with 10 minutes left, setting the stage for Haaland to seal victory in a fascinating quick reunion for the prolific Norway prodigy.

Haaland rose to his challenge in the 84th when he met Joao Cancelo’s magnificent cross with a twisting leap and acrobatic volley to send goalward a ball that seemed to have passed him.

Haaland now has 13 goals in nine games for City, who have two wins from two in Group ‘G’.

“In the end we showed what we are,” Haaland told BT Sport. “Dortmund were really good today [but] three points is what matters.”

City’s next two games will be against FC Copenhagen, who drew 0-0 with Sevilla in Denmark; with their late win restoring some order on an evening when more upset results beckoned in a competition that has been more unpredictable this season.

Midway through the second half across Europe, City and Juventus were losing at home, Real were being held goalless at home and PSG was level in Israel after trailing.

Suriname international Tjaronn Chery’s classy volley caused an explosion of joy at the Sammy Ofer stadium as Maccabi were leading PSG in the 24th minute.

But the home crowd was soon silenced by Messi, who equalised before the break. Messi then set up Mbappe to make it 2-1 midway through the second half, and Neymar sealed a second win in as many Group ‘H’ games for PSG in the 88th.

Juventus, however, did not find the goals they needed against Benfica and fell to a second straight 2-1 loss, after defeat in Paris last week.

Arkadiusz Milik’s header gave Juventus a fourth-minute lead against Benfica, but the Portuguese team rallied with a Joao Mario penalty for before halftime and a David Neres strike in the 55th to leave Turin with the three points.

Real needed two late goals from Federico Valverde and Marco Asensio to beat Leipzig at the Santiago Bernabeu and maintain their perfect start in Group ‘F’.

Valverde opened the scoring 10 minutes from time with a beautiful finish after being set up by Vinicius Junior, and substitute Asensio sealed the victory with a tremendous first-time finish in injury time.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side are clear at the top of the section from Shakhtar, who rode their luck to claim a 1-1 draw with Celtic.

The Scottish champions went ahead early on when Reo Hatate’s ball into the six-yard box went into the net off Artem Bondarenko.

But Shakhtar, playing European home games in Warsaw due to the war in Ukraine, equalised before the half-hour mark via an emphatic finish by Mykhailo Mudryk.

Celtic had chances to win the game, none better than a late strike by Giorgos Giakoumakis that flashed agonisingly wide.

“We’ll get our rewards if we keep playing that kind of football and showing that kind of commitment,” said Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou.

A tough night for Scottish clubs saw Rangers lose 3-0 at home to Napoli in Group ‘A’ despite 40-year-old goalkeeper Allan McGregor saving two penalty kicks early in the second half.

Napoli were awarded three spot-kicks, through the second was a re-take after an encroachment offence when Matteo Politano followed up McGregor’s first save to score from the rebound.

On his second attempt, Piotr Zielinski fired his penalty in the same place and McGregor saved again.

When Napoli got another penalty for handball 10 minutes later, Politano stepped up and scored though McGregor got a hand to the ball on its way into the net. Napoli made it two wins out of two games with late goals from substitutes Giacomo Raspadori and Tanguy Ndombele.

Rangers were down to 10 men after James Sands, the United States international on loan from New York City FC, was sent off when the first penalty was awarded.

The game had been postponed by 24 hours due to policing issues related to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and Rangers ignored a decision by UEFA to reject their request to play the British national anthem before kick-off.

After admitting that he had never attended a Champions League game — not even as spectator — coach Graham Potter has started his job at Chelsea with a 1-1 draw against Salzburg.

“It has not been easy for the boys, they have responded to us really well over the last few days and it’s a point we will have to take and get better,” Potter told BT Sport.

Raheem Sterling hit the net shortly after the break to give the Blues the lead, but Noah Okafor equalised from close range. Swiss international Okafor also scored in a draw last week with AC Milan, who lead Group ‘E’.

Chelsea remain winless in the competition, following a defeat to Dinamo Zagreb last week. The Croatian side were defeated 3-1 by Milan earlier on Wednesday.

Olivier Giroud gave Milan the lead from the spot after Rafael Leao was fouled in the box just before the break. Following the restart, Alexis Saelemaekers met Leao’s cross with a firm header to make it 2-0.

The game was back on in the 56th minute as Mislav Orsic scored for Zagreb, but Tomasso Pobega slammed it home to settle the contest for the Italians.

The Champions League now pauses for three weeks during the international break for national teams.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2022