Okafor scores in Salzburg victory | Sports at home/abroad
Sevilla haven’t been on form at all this season. After seven match days, the Andalusians total just 5 points in the Spanish league. Coach Julen Lopetegui’s future has been uncertain for a few weeks. After another setback in the Champions League, the end of the 56-year-old Spanish national coach at the four-time Europa League winner has finally come. After the 1: 4, the club officials announced the separation from Lopetegui, who had taken over Sevilla in the summer of 2019, immediately after the end of the game.
At the break, Dortmund, where Gregor Kobel was back on the bench for the first time after tearing a muscle fiber, led 3-0. Jude Bellingham scored one goal before making it 2-0 himself, making the 19-year-old Englishman the first teenager to score in the first three legs of a Champions League campaign. The other was Erling Haaland, who achieved the feat with Salzburg in 2019, and the Norwegian, now chasing goals for Manchester City, showed his scoring instincts again on Wednesday. The 22-year-old scored two goals in the first half against FC Copenhagen. In the end, the Citizens, with Manuel Akanji on the bench for once, won 5-0. After 22 games in the premier class, Haaland has an incredible quota of 28 goals.
Record for Messi
Chelsea (without Denis Zakaria) and Juventus Turin, meanwhile, recorded their first wins of the season. There was also the premiere for Salzburg in the 1-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb. And Noah Okafor played a key role in that. The 22-year-old, who was absent from the national team when they last formed for the Nations League due to dental problems, converted a penalty with a well-aimed shot into the right corner of the goal in the 71st minute. For Okafor it is the third goal in the third group game for the Austrians, who still had to tremble for victory in added time. The supposed equalizer by Josip Drmic, the Swiss in the ranks of the Croatians, was denied due to a previous offside.
Paris St. Germain, meanwhile, were held to a 1-1 draw by Benfica. Lionel Messi set a new record with his goal in the 22nd minute. The 35-year-old Argentine has now scored at least one goal against 40 different teams in the Champions League. No one before him has managed to do that.
Shock for Leipzig
Leipzig had to pay dearly for the first win in the third group game. First-choice goalkeeper and captain Peter Gulacsi suffered a torn right anterior cruciate ligament in the 3-1 home win over Celtic Glasgow. He’s out for several months.
The 32-year-old Hungarian sustained the injury in the 10th minute. After a sloppy back pass from Timo Werner, Gulacsi got stuck in the grass during the rescue operation and had to be carried off the field on a stretcher.
Telegrams and rankings
Group E
Salzburg 1-0 Dinamo Zagreb (0-0). -SR Treimanis (LAT). – Goal: 71. Okafor (penalty kick) 1:0. – Comments: Salzburg with Okafor (until 79th) and Köhn, without Okoh (injured). Dinamo Zagreb from 76th with Drmic. 93′ Drmic’s goal disallowed for offside.
Chelsea – Milan 3-0 (1-0). -SR Makkelie (NED). – Goals: 24. Fofana 1-0. 56. Aubameyang 2-0. 62. James 3:0. – Notes: Chelsea without Zakaria (substitute).
Ranking list: 1. Salzburg 3/5 (3:2). 2. Chelsea 3/4 (4-2). 3. AC Milan 3/4 (4:5). 4. Dinamo Zagreb 3/3 (2-4).
Group F
Leipzig – Celtic Glasgow 3: 1 (1: 0). -SR Eskas (NOR). – Goals: 27. Nkunku 1-0. 47. Jotah 1:1. 64. Silvah 2:1. 77. Silvah 3:1. – Remarks: Celtic Glasgow without winning record (substitute).
Real Madrid – Shakhtar Donetsk 2:1 (2:1). -SR Krusliak (SVK). – Goals: 13. Rodrygo 1-0. 28. Vinicius Junior 2-0. 39. Zubkov 2:1.
Ranking: 1. Real Madrid 3/9 (7-1). 2. Shakhtar Donetsk 3/4 (6:4). 3. RB Leipzig 3/3 (4:7). 4.Celtic Glasgow 3/1 (2-7).
group g
FC Sevilla – Borussia Dortmund 1:4 (0:3). -SR Mariani (ITA). – Goals: 6. Guerreiro 0-1. 41. Bellingham 0-2. 43. Adeyemi 0-3. 51. En Nesyri 1:3. 75. Brandt 1:4. – Remark: Borussia Dortmund without Kobel (substitute).
Manchester City – FC Copenhagen 5:0 (3:0). – SR Rumsas (LTU). – Goals: 7. Haaland 1-0. 32. Haaland 2-0. 39. Chocholava (own goal) 3-0. 55. Mahrez (penalty kick) 4:0. 76. Alvarez 5-0. – Note: Manchester City without Akanji (substitute).
Ranking: 1. Manchester City 3/9 (11:1). 2.Borussia Dortmund 3/6 (8:3). 3. Sevilla 3/1 (1:8). 4. FC Copenhagen 3/1 (0:8).
group h
Juventus 3-1 Maccabi Haifa (1-0). -SR Schärer (SUI). – Goals: 35. Rabiot 1-0. 50.Vlahovic 2-0. 75. David 2:1. 83. Rabiot 3:1. – Comment: Vlahovic’s 64th goal disallowed for offside.
Benfica Lisbon – Paris Saint-Germain 1: 1 (1: 1). – SR Manzano (ESP). – Goals: 22. Messi 0-1. 41. Danilo (own goal) 1-1.
Ranking: 1. Paris Saint-Germain 3/7 (6-3). 2. Benfica Lisbon 3/7 (5:2). 3. Juventus 3/3 (5-5). 4. Maccabi Haifa 3/0 (2:8).