PSG Beat Barcelona 4-2 as Liverpool and City Win on 40-Goal Night

Paris Saint-Germain beat Barcelona 4-2 at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday night, top of a Champions League evening that produced 40 goals in nine games. Liverpool fought back from 2-0 down to beat Villarreal 4-3 at Anfield, and Phil Foden scored a hat trick in Manchester City's 5-1 win over AEK Athens. PSG and Liverpool both have nine points from three games, with PSG top of the league phase standings on goal difference, Reuters reported.

PSG win the game of the night, then count the cost

Desire Doue curled PSG ahead in the 38th minute. Barcelona, who arrived in Paris with a perfect record this season, levelled shortly after halftime through Xavi Espart, on his first Champions League start. Lucas Hernandez headed PSG back in front from a Doue corner, Lamine Yamal made it 2-2, and then the game broke open late. Vitinha fired in from the edge of the box and Fabian Ruiz tapped in a cross from Achraf Hakimi in the 86th minute to settle it. It was Barcelona's first defeat of the season.

The win came at a price. Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembele came off in the 20th minute with an apparent hamstring problem. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and captain Marquinhos both went off injured in the 59th minute, with Kvaratskhelia helped from the field by medical staff, USA Today reported. All three are Ballon d'Or nominees this year. PSG play Lyon at home in Ligue 1 on Sunday, and Luis Enrique now waits on three fitness tests.

Liverpool turn 2-0 down into 4-3

Villarreal led 2-0 inside half an hour at Anfield. Liverpool scored twice before halftime to level, then Alexis Mac Allister, who finished with two goals, and Florian Wirtz pushed the home side 4-2 ahead in the second half. Tani Oluwaseyi pulled one back for Villarreal in the 87th minute, but Liverpool held on. Their last two Champions League games have now produced 16 goals.

Foden hat trick leads the City rout

Foden scored three times as City beat AEK Athens 5-1 at the Etihad Stadium, with Elliot Anderson and Rayan Cherki also on target. Erling Haaland was rested. The win keeps City unbeaten in the league phase and came four days after Foden scored twice at the weekend in his first goals of the calendar year.

The rest of the night

Napoli won their first points of the campaign in another seven goal game, beating Bodo/Glimt 4-3 in Naples. Napoli scored after 54 seconds, Scott McTominay struck twice, and Bodo/Glimt levelled twice before late goals settled it, Football Italia reported. Roma beat Slovan Bratislava 4-0 at the Stadio Olimpico, with Mario Hermoso, Nahuel Molina, Niccolo Pisilli and a Donyell Malen penalty on the scoresheet. PSV Eindhoven won 1-0 at Porto through a Guus Til goal in the 57th minute. Stuttgart and Atletico Madrid drew 1-1, Julian Alvarez equalising two minutes after halftime and Atletico finishing with ten men. In the early games, Serhou Guirassy scored both goals as Borussia Dortmund won 2-1 at Sabah in Baku, and Slavia Prague drew 2-2 at Fenerbahce after Pavel Kacor scored his first senior goal in the 90th minute.

What it means

Nine points from three games usually means a place in the knockout round play-offs at minimum, and PSG and Liverpool are setting the pace. Barcelona's perfect start is over, but they stay well placed. Matchday 3 finishes on Wednesday, Oct 21 with nine more games, Real Madrid against RB Leipzig and Inter Milan against Shakhtar Donetsk among them.