PSG’s young core hint at bright future after win at Barca
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PARIS: Paris St Germain’s 2-1 victory at Barcelona on Wednesday bore all the hallmarks of a statement win as the Champions League holders leaned on a blend of academy graduates, fringe players and established names to show their depth.
The French champions travelled to Spain shorn of several key players, with Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue, Marquinhos, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Joao Neves all sidelined.
The hosts led from Ferran Torres at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys but PSG were the better team, levelled from teenager Senny Mayulu, and Goncalo Ramos gave them full points in the 90th minute against one of the favourites to lift the trophy in May.
“I want to feel our DNA as a team and as a club,” coach Luis Enrique said “It doesn’t matter which of our players are in the team. When they are wearing our shirt, carrying our badge on their shirt, then the amount of attitude and effort is non-negotiable.”
Erling Haaland’s brace in his 50th Champions League match for a competition tally of 52 was not enough as Manchester City had to swallow a last-gasp 2-2 draw at Monaco.
Haaland scored twice before the break but Monaco stole a point in the 90th minute from a penalty by England defender Eric Dier.
The other English sides did better as Arsenal beat Greek side Olympiakos 2-0 from Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka to keep their perfect start, and Newcastle United triumphed 4-0 in Belgium at Union Saint-Gilloise, with Anthony Gordon converting two penalties and Nick Woltemade getting his first Champions League goal.
Elsewhere, Juventus had to swallow a last minute 2-2 equaliser at Villarreal from their former player Renato Veiga, who spent the second half of last season on loan from Chelsea. Rasmus Hojlund scored twice as Serie A champions Napoli beat Lisbon side Sporting 2-1.
Borussia Dortmund trounced Athletic Bilbao 4-1 while Bundesliga rivals Bayer Leverkusen were held 1-1 by PSV Eindhoven.
Qarabag got their second win, 2-0 over FC Copenhagen, to join Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, PSG and Arsenal on a maximum six points after two of eight matchdays. Abdellah Zoubir and Emmanuel Addai were on target for the Azerbaijani team.
PSG’s trip to Barca was always seen as the standout clash of matchday two. Both teams are expected to go far, with PSG aiming to join Real Madrid as the only other club to successfully defend the trophy in the Champions League era. Barcelona, semi-finalists last campaign, are intent on turning last season’s domestic dominance into European triumph.
Barca went ahead in the 19th minute as a well-worked move ended with Marcus Rashford setting up Torres to score.
PSG’s response came from unlikely sources, Mayulu a 19-year-old midfielder pressed into service as a centre forward grabbing the equaliser before the break.
Ibrahim Mbaye, 17 and making his first start in the competition, helped set up the move with sharp link-up with Nuno Mendes.
Quentin Ndjantou, 18, was introduced for only his second professional appearance and showed enough energy and daring in a late cameo to underline why Luis Enrique trusted him in such a setting.
Substitute Lee Kang-in came close to a winner by hitting the post late on but there was was still more drama to come when Achraf Hakimi squared the ball beyond Barca’s defense and Ramos slid in the winner.
The victory not only strengthened PSGs position in the table after two wins in as many games, but also vindicated the clubs restrained approach in the transfer window.
With fewer big-name arrivals than in previous summers, Luis Enrique has leaned heavily on homegrown talent, accelerating the development of Mayulu, Mbaye and Ndjantou.
“We lost today, and I don’t like that. We have to accept this defeat and admit that Paris are so good,” Barca coach Hansi Flick said. “We are disappointed, the fans are disappointed. We have to accept that we were beaten, but work on getting better.”
HAALAND BRACE NOT ENOUGH
Haaland did what Haaland does with two more goals in the Champions League, but it wasn’t enough to seal victory in Monaco.
Having become the quickest player to reach 50 goals in the competition last month, the Norwegian looks certain to become the quickest to reach 60. Lionel Messi managed it in 80 appearances.
But that will be of little comfort to Pep Guardiola, who watched his team squander two points.
Haaland opened the scoring in the 15th when he took up a long ball from Josko Gvardiol and chipped home over goalkeeper Philipp Kohn.
Monaco were level three minutes later when Jordan Teze fired into the top left corner, but, after Phil Foden was denied by the crossbar, Haaland restored the lead with a 44th minute header.
City had chances for a third but then had to swallow a surprise late equalizer when Dier was kicked in the face by Nico Gonzalez.
“I don’t feel good — we didn’t win. We did something unnecessarily in the second half. We didn’t play good enough, we didn’t deserve to win. We need more energy. We needed to get at them more like in the first half,” Haaland said.
ARSENAL STAY PERFECT
Another win for Arsenal and another clean sheet; the victory over Olympiakos being their sixth shutout in nine games this season.
“Winning in the Champions League is always very complicated. It is yet another clean sheet for the boys in the competition, which is remarkable,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said.
Martinelli headed inches wide at the Emirates Stadium, before tapping the opener in the 13th on the rebound of Viktor Gyökeres’ effort against the post.
But Arsenal failed to add to their tally, were lucky that an Olympiakos equaliser from Chiquinho was nullified for offside. Martin Odegaard missed twice before substitute Saka finally wrapped up matters at the death with a shot that squirmed under Greek goalkeeper Kostas Tzolakis.
“We want to win every single game of the season if possible and we want to win every trophy that we can,” Martinelli said.
NEWCASTLE, DORTMUND SCORE FOUR
Earlier Newcastle got their campaign up and running by cruising to victory in Brussels.
Woltemade diverted a Sandro Tonali shot into the net for the opener, his third goal in four starts for the club since arriving in summer for an estimated $93 million from VfB Stuttgart, and a first in the elite event in his maiden start.
Gordon then scored two penalties, either side of half-time, before substitute Harvey Barnes wrapped up the success late on as coach Eddie Howe spoke of ‘a mental boost for us”.
Dortmund were also impressive winners, as the beaten 2024 finalists tore into Bilbao.
Daniel Svensson put them ahead in the first half and Carney Chukwuemeka made it two soon after the interval. Gorka Guruzeta got one back for Athletic, but Serhou Guirassy and Julian Brandt sealed a fine win for the German club.
HOT SHOT HOJLUND
Discarded by Manchester United, Hojlund is showing the type of form that earned him an $82 million move to Old Trafford in the first place.
He bagged a brace as Napoli claimed their maiden European victory this season. That’s three goals in five appearances — after having scored two in his last 13 games for United.
It certainly helps when he can feed off the kind of service Kevin de Bruyne can deliver and the former City playmaker was provider of both of Hojlund’s goals.
Luis Suarez had equalised for the Portuguese champions at one point in the second half with a penalty.
MORE THRILLS FOR JUVE
Last time out, Juve were involved in an eight-goal thriller against Dortmund that ended in a 4-4 draw with all the goals coming in the second half.
By those standards, the stalemate at Villarreal was relatively mild. But there was still a late twist in Spain.
Georges Mikautadze gave the hosts the lead, only for Federico Gatti to equalise with a superb overhead kick before Chico Conceicao gave the Italians the advantage. But Veiga headed in to earn Villarreal a draw.
In Germany, Christian Kofane gave hosts Leverkusen the lead only for Ismael Saibari to equalise for Dutch side PSV.
Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2025
