Key events
FULL TIME: Chelsea 6-3 Leeds United
A ridiculous, wonderful football match. Going forward, Chelsea are electrocuting.
GOAL! Chelsea 6 -3 Leeds United (90+4)
Neto screeches down the right and cuts back to the edge, where Barco shanks horribly, only for Welbeck, always alert, to redirect into the net via header. What a ridiculous half (of football) this has been.
“Iraolaball has started rolling, slowly but steadily,” reckons Rupak Pramanik. “This Liverpool looked a lot like the Liverpool opponents feared during the Klopp era.”
Generous, I’d say – they were very vulnerable in the first half and the players just aren’t as good as those Klopp had, nor have they the physicality to play at the same tempo. But they played some decent stuff in parts.
Six additional minutes at Stamford Bridge, enough time for Chelsea to score and concede at least another couple. If they can get the defence and midfield right, in January and in the summer, they could be very nasty next season.
Oh Haitch! I’m afraid I’m chalking off all 73 goals for these offences against common decency.
Chelsea are going to be a lot of fun this season – not words said often, but their attack is a serious problem, likewise their defence.
FULL TIME: Sporting 3-1 Galatasaray
A big win for Sporting, who came from behind to beat a tricky Gala side.
FULL TIME: Napoli 0-1 Arsenal
A second statement-win in four days for Arsenal, who are a different side now the pressure of not winning the title has been lifted.
FULL TIME: Liverpool 2-1 Atletico Madrid
Atleti played well in the first half but Liverpool hung in there and were much the better side in the second. That’s a really important win for Andoni Iraoloa, his debut Champions League game and a difficult opponent sorted in uplifting manner.
GOAL! Chelsea 5-3 Leeds United (Barco 80)
Rogers has been filth since coming on and this, his third assist, sees him zoom down the left and cross low, the ball eluding all but Barco, on the far side of the box, and he lashes in a low finish. Surely the game is now over.
FULL TIME: PSG 6-1 Slovan Bratislava
Ominous from the holders. They weren’t playing a great team, but they were still steaming.
Five minutes of injury-time at Anfield and we’ve had three of them.
GOAL! Chelsea 4-3 Leeds United (Calvert-Lewin 75)
Okafor moves down the left, scooshes over a low cross, and Calvert Lewin snaps in a livenver.
GOAL! PSG 6-1 Slovan Bratislava (Fabian Ruiz 88)
A corner is half-cleared and, when the ball is tucked back across by Dro, it hits a defender and falls into the path of Ruiz, who donkey-kicks into the net.
Munoz, on as sub, breaks into the Atleti box and diddles his man by dipping infield, only to shoot too close to Oblak, who palms out Frimpong is there to ram home the rebound, but was offside when the intial shot was taken.
“Couple of Scottish Premier games tonight,” advises Simon McMahon – yes I’ve got them on my vidiprinter. “Rangers scoring in stoppage time to defeat St. Mirren by a goal to nil, while Celtic are leading by the same score at St. Johnstone with five minutes to go. The teams meet in the Scottish League Cup quarter=final on Sunday. Expect handshakes, pats on the back and general bonhomie all round fireworks.”
Grown-men action looks inevitable, even though away fans have been banned.
It’s been a quieter second half at Anfield – well, since the flurry at the start of it, when Liverpool scored their second goal. Atleti were really dangerous in the first, but have been largely shut down – and have, I think, missed Lee, who was hooked.
Incidentally, I love The Prestige, Christopher Nolan’s best film by a mile, in mine – it has blather and keks, which I don’t always find to be the case with him.
“There’s something uncanny about this PSG, as if they’re not fully synced up with reality,” says Kári Tulinius. “I can’t think of many teams that have had me entirely lose track of what’s going on, where the players and the ball just aren’t where they should be. At the risk of spoiling the movie The Prestige, while other sides are working within the parameters of the real, the Parisians seem to have found technology that allows them to break the bounds of physical space.”
They’re kind of the next version of Guardiola’s Barca, every player a technician but not, as you intimate, part of a system that tells them where to be and when; rather, they’re trusted to make sure that somebody is.
GOAL! Chelsea 4-2 Leeds United (Welbeck 65)
It’s a kicking! Rogers flies down the right and cut back along the carpet, Welbeck feinting to leave it for Palmer before taking it back the way it came and lashing low into the net. This is a seriously engaging football tea.
GOAL! Napoli 0-1 Arsenal (Odegaard 75)
Arsenal pop it about on the edge, Guimaraes into Tzolis, right of the box, and he plays back out to Odegaard, who laces a belting finish low into the far corner. You wondered if he was taking a step when he started crashing the box at the start of this season, and by the looks of things, that’s exactly what he’s doing.
GOAL! Chelsea 3-2 Leeds United (Neto 60)
It’s three goal in seven minutes! Palmer feeds Rogers in the middle, and he slides in to poke Neto, at inside-left. But there’s still a lot of work to do, the body opened and the finish passed low into the far corner. Chelsea aren’t great at the back, but goodness me, they’ve got some useful attackers.
The true heir to Jesus Navas.
epa02237461 Spanish National Team player Jesus Navas smiles as he goes to press center on 05 July 2010 a Photograph: Juan Carlos C rdenas/EPA
I wonder what Enzo Maresca and Thomas Tuchel are making of Palmer so far this season. Every serious squad needs a maverick or two, and misunderstanding them says more about the managers than the players.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-2 Leeds United (Palmer 55)
A throw goes towards Rogers, who kind of shrugs it off to Palmer, on the edge, and, using the defender as a screen to block the keeper’s view, he curves a low finish into the far bottom corner, the goal not unlike the one he scored for England in the Euro final.
Alonso, by the way, brought on Palmer, Neto, James and Rogers at half-time.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-2 Leeds United (Palmer pen 53)
Palmer sweeps into the right side-netting; any less accurate and the keeper might’ve got to it.
PENALTY TO CHELSEA!
I didn’t quite see what happened, but it looked an off-the-ball foul by Dan James.
GOAL! Chelsea 0-2 Leeds United (Aaronson 48)
This is beautifully crafted, Ampadu marauding down the right and just about keeping the ball in play, though there looks to be no danger … until he clips a cut-back towards the near post that Nmecha flicks behind him superbly, hitting the path of Aaronson, who finishes crisply.
GOAL! Sporting 2-1 Galatasaray (Luis Suarez pen 57)
Drilled into the left side-netting.
At Anfield, Barcola has hurt himself, a left hamstring I think. It doesn’t look awful, but it is enough to end his evening, Frimpong replacing him.
WHAT A GOAL! PSG 5-1 Slovan Bratislava (Camara 58)
Camara gets the ball on the left touchline, no apparent danger. But then he slows up, before stepping on the gas to ooze on the outside of Zabarnyi, breaking into the box near the by-line before creating an angle to bend a luscious finish into the far side-netting.
GOAL! PSG 5-0 Slovan Bratislava (Ferran Torres 57)
The summer of Ferran continues with a hat-trick. An outswinging corner finds Ferran unmarked and he swings at it, knee high, to cunningly guide it inside the near post with his shin. That’s a terrific piece of improv, and in the time it takes me to type that, Akliouche almost makes it six, sliding past the post when in. On the plus side, though, his eyes are glorious.
Are Paris already an all-time great team? It’s tricky because there are no top-level domestic opponents, so not loads of vintage big-game performances that take up residence in the soul. But if they played in any other league, you’d be backing them to win it because they’re so well balanced, yet so unpredictable.
Phew, what starts to our halves.
GOAL! Liverpool 2-1 Atletico Madrid (Mac Allister 50)
Where that contract now, eh? Good work from Ngumoha down the left and, when the ball into the box ends up 20 yards out, left of centre, he makes a gorgeous connection, one I doubt he even felt on his laces, the timing of it so perfect, if perfection could be qualified, and it zips into the near-post corner. Liverpool are feeling themselves.
WHAT A MISS! Lovely touch from Barcola,taking a pass from Wirtz and flicking it back before setting off through the middle. Wirttz then slides him in, he draws Oblak, slips it past him … and just past the post!
WHAT A GOAL! PSG 4-0 Slovan Bratislava (Ferran Torres 47)
Akliouche takes the ball inside hos own half and veers past two challenges, so natural on the ball, the ball an extension of his toe. He then squares for Ferran, who takes a touch and feints a shot, creating a lane for the one he actually plans to take, bending a lush finish inside the near post.
We’re away again in Paris.
…but it comes to nothing.
We’re off again at Anfield and immediately, Liverpool win a corner…
HALF-TIME: Chelsea 0-1 Leeds United
Alonso need s to make changes, I think, because a defeat here would be bad news.
I said at the top that I don’t love Barcola’s finishing, and I don’t think one miss proves I’m right not to, but it was a poor effort, drilled at the keeper’s feet without much craft or cunning. What shouldn’t get lost as a consequence is the role of Kerkez, at fault for the Atleti goal but who played a defence-splitting pass to play him in. he’s not been good at Liverool so far, but perhaps Iraola, his manager at Bournemouth, can get the best out of him.
At Stamford Bridge, Leeds still lead Chelsea 1-0. I’ve not seen much of the action because there’s been so much going on elsewhere, but Leeds look comfortable.
HALF-TIME: PSG 3-0 Slovan Bratislava
With the holders declare or make a statement?
HALF-TIME: Sporting 1-1 Galatasaray
Gala scored early, Sporting pegged them back.
HALF-TIME: Napoli 0-0 Arsenal
Arsenal ought to be ahead, I believe; Scott Murray has more.
HALF-TIME: Liverpool 1-1 Atletico Madrid
A belter of a first half at Anfield, both sides looking to get after it and rancour developing.
This is a terrific game, and consternation is building, Isak fouled then forced to go off. We might, if we’re dreadfully unlucky, get scenes that NO ONE wants to see and, as I type, Szoboszlai volleys Lee as if to prove the point.
Barrios gets down the right and cuts back to the edge, but Baena can only shank wide of the far post.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 Atletico Madrid (Szoboszlai 40)
Kerkez wins it high and slips in Barcola! Is this his moment! No! He shoots low and Oblak saves with feet, but when the ball comes back out, Wirtz feeds Szoboszlai once more, he bundles through a challenge, and when the ball squirts out to Araujo, he flicks brilliantly back into the path of yerman, who casually sweeps into the far corner. What a player he’s become, not just an influence but a talisman.
GOAL! Chelsea 0-1 Leeds United (Muharemovic 23)
A corner to the back post, a decent jump, a header into the far side-netting. I get that Alonso wanted to give his squad players a match and a chance, but with no Europe, it’s a very sparse first-half of the season if you lose first round of the Milk, and Leeds are not a side against whom you can take liberties.
I really like Ngumoha in tight spaces – there’s a purpose to everything he does, and I think he might be a better weapon against Atleti than Barcola, more of a big-space player. He jinks past a couple of men looks to play into the box and follows his pass; he’s crowded out, but he’s got the right idea.
At Stamford Bridge, it’s still 0-0, likewise at the Diego Maradona.
GOAL! PSG 3-0 Slovan Bratislava (Ferran Torres 31)
Out on the right, Dembele curves over a delectable pass and, at the front post, Torres gets a tootsie on it to poke home. Paris are pretty good, it’s fair to say.
Better from Liverpool, Ngumoha bursting past his man at inside-left and finding Isak nearby,. He floats a cross to the far post, and Wirtz is there … but though he makes decent connection, he shoots straight at Oblak … then the flag goes up.
GOAL! Sporting 1-1 Galatasaray (Catamo 27)
Sporting get themselves down the left and, when the cross comes in, there’s minor bobbling, then the ball drops, and Catamo swings laces, making decent connection to hit the near-post corner.
GOAL! PSG 2-0 Slovan Bratislava (Dembele 23)
Dro wins it high on the left, finds Dembele, takes it back, and finds Akliouche down the right. he then takes the ball back, crosses, and Dembele heads into the empty net. This could get silly.
