European roundup: Mbappé scores twice in PSG win, Milan thrash Torino

  • 8/26/2023
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Paris St Germain’s Kylian Mbappé scored twice and Marco Asensio added his first goal for the club to guide the Ligue 1 champions to a comprehensive 3-1 victory over Lens at Parc des Princes. Asensio fired PSG ahead moments before half-time from outside the box after a quick break, opening his account for his new club following his transfer from Real Madrid. PSG were not at their best but never looked troubled and Mbappe doubled their advantage in the second half when he rocketed a shot into the back of the net. The France forward scored again late on for his third goal in two Ligue 1 games – an impressive start to the campaign despite being frozen out of the squad in pre-season amid an ongoing contract standoff. Lens grabbed a consolation goal when Morgan Guilavogui scored with virtually the last kick of the game. PSG move up to fourth in the table with five points from three games, while Lens, who finished second last season, one point behind PSG, have started the new campaign with only a draw from their opening three games. The Milan forward Christian Pulisic sent Stefano Pioli’s side on their way to a 4-1 thrashing of Torino in their opening home game of the season in Serie A. The USA international put Milan ahead in the 33rd minute, firing home from close range for his second goal in two games. The Torino defender Perr Schuurs levelled three minutes later but Olivier Giroud restored Milan’s lead with a penalty before Theo Hernández chipped the goalkeeper, Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, to add a third and Giroud converted another spot-kick. José Mourinho’s Roma fell short at Verona, who scored in the fourth minute through Ondrej Duda before the forward Cyril Ngonge doubled their lead in first-half stoppage time. The Algeria midfielder Houssem Aouar pulled one back for Roma but the visitors were unable to rescue a draw despite Verona finishing with 10 men after an 84th-minute red card for Isak Hien for a foul on Andrea Belotti. Borussia Dortmund stumbled to a 1-1 draw at Bochum in their mini-Ruhr valley derby, with the forward Donyell Malen’s second-half equaliser rescuing a point for last season’s Bundesliga runners-up. Dortmund, who needed an 88th-minute goal by the Dutch forward Malen to beat Cologne 1-0 in their league opener last week, were sluggish in attack for long stretches. “It was absolutely not a good game from us,” said Dortmund’s captain, Emre Can. “There was a lot missing and that is not how we want to play football. We want to play better, win and dominate. “We were not surprised [by Bochum’s game] but maybe they were hungrier. I cannot explain it either. We know how we want to play but we don’t push this through the entire game.” Dortmund did have a couple of early chances but it was the hosts who struck first with Kevin Stöger’s unstoppable drive in the 13th minute taking the goalkeeper, Gregor Kobel, by surprise. Dortmund have now played a Bundesliga record 129 consecutive games without registering a goalless draw. Bochum grew bolder and kept taking stabs at the Dortmund goal, with Philipp Hofmann almost adding a second with his glancing header in the 32nd minute bouncing off the bar. Terzic’s team were running out of ideas when Malen took matters into his own hands and threaded a shot past two defenders and into the bottom corner for the equaliser. They briefly upped the tempo as they went in search of a winner and hit a post with Felix Nmecha’s effort just past the hour. Bochum, who bounced back from last week’s 5-0 loss at Stuttgart, responded with Patrick Osterhage’s shot on to the post in the 87th, but in the end neither side could find a winner. Union Berlin made it two wins from two matches with a 4-1 demolition of Darmstadt on the road, having scored eight goals in their two games. Freiburg maintained their 100% record with a late victory over Werder Bremen. It appeared the spoils would be shared until a 96th-minute winner from Maximilian Philipp gave Christian Streich’s side all three points. Wolfsburg made it two wins from two after a double in the space of 10 second-half minutes from the Danish striker Jonas Wind gave Niko Kovac’s side victory, consigning Köln to their second defeat of the season. Leading 2-0 with less than 15 minutes left, Heidenheim looked set for their first league win of the season, but Hoffenheim had other ideas as Andrej Kramaric’s injury-time penalty, coupled with goals from the substitute Maximilian Beier and Pavel Kaderabek, gave Pellegrino Matarazzo’s side victory. Borussia Mönchengladbach uccumbed to their second defeat of the season after they were beaten 3-0 at home by Bayer Leverkusen. A double from the striker Victor Boniface along with a goal from the defender Jonathan Tah kept Xabi Alonso’s side 100% record intact. The champions, Bayern Munich, will look to make it two wins out of two when they host Augsburg on Sunday and could go top if they win by two or more goals.

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