Online
\nPARIS
\nParis Saint-Germain launched their latest quest for Champions League success with a statement win over Real Madrid on Wednesday, while a late Atletico Madrid comeback foiled Juventus as Manchester City eased to victory in Ukraine.
\nFrench giants PSG have failed to make their mark in Europe, crashing out of the Champions League in the last 16 each of the past three years despite the huge sums of money spent by their Qatari owners.
\nWith Neymar suspended and Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani sidelined by injury, Angel Di Maria stepped up in their absence by grabbing two first-half goals in a 3-0 triumph at the Parc des Princes.
\nThomas Meunier added the third late on as Madrid, who beat PSG on the way to lifting the trophy in 2016 and 2018, were soundly beaten in their Group A opener with Eden Hazard kept quiet on his full debut.
\n\u201cThere\u00b4s no message sent, but we dominated this game very well,\u201d PSG captain Thiago Silva told RMC Sport.
\n\u201cWe have to play like this all the time, in the league as well, with character and hunger.\u201d
\nReal, the 13-time European champions, are still favourites to advance from a section that includes Club Brugge and Galatasaray, who drew 0-0 in Belgium, but the nature of the loss underscored the work that lies ahead for coach Zinedine Zidane.
\n\u201cThey were superior to us in everything they did, and in intensity, which annoys me the most,\u201d said the Frenchman.
\nDiego Simeone\u00b4s Atletico clawed their way back from two goals down in the final 20 minutes to rescue a 2-2 draw at home to Juventus in Group D.
\nStrong response from Man City
\nBoth sides trail Lokomotiv Moscow following the Russians\u00b4 2-1 win at Bayer Leverkusen. Grzegorz Krychowiak and Dmitri Barinov scored for Lokomotiv either side of an own goal by former Germany defender Benedikt Hoewedes.
\nPremier League champions City bounced back from defeat by Norwich at the weekend with a comfortable 3-0 victory against Shakhtar Donetsk in Kharkiv.
\nRiyad Mahrez slammed home a rebound after Ilkay Gundogan hit the post, and the German international smacked in a second before Gabriel Jesus sealed the points on 76 minutes.
\n\u201cWhen you win the manager makes the right decisions, when you lose the wrong decisions. We lost one game in eight months and we will not doubt who these players are. It is a joy to be their manager,\u201d coach Pep Guardiola told BT Sport.
\nCity are second to Dinamo Zagreb in Group C after the Croatian champions made it a night to forget for competition debutants Atalanta with a 4-0 rout.
\nDinamo failed to score a single goal as they lost all six matches on their last group stage appearance in 2016-17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Online PARIS Paris Saint-Germain launched their latest quest for Champions League success with a statement win over Real Madrid on Wednesday, while a late Atletico Madrid comeback foiled Juventus as Manchester City eased to victory in Ukraine. French giants PSG have failed to make their mark in Europe, crashing out of the Champions League in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83800,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n