UCL: Super Stuttgart Earn Stoppage-Time Win At Juventus After Milan Victory, PSG Held By PSV

Stuttgart super-sub El Bilal Toure scored a stoppage-time winner to earn the Germans a famous and deserved UEFA Champions League win away to Juventus, who had captain Danilo sent off late on.

Juve had goalkeeper Mattia Perin to thank for keeping the score level early on when he palmed a powerful Ermedin Demirovic effort off the post before tipping over a Deniz Undav header.

Undav had the ball in the net early in the second half, but his effort was disallowed for a handball in the build-up as Stuttgart continued to look the likelier to make the breakthrough in Turin.

Perin continued to be decisive with more crucial stops as the hosts hung on, but their resistance looked like it would finally be broken with five minutes to go when Danilo conceded a penalty and earned a second yellow card in the process.

However, Perin came to the rescue yet again by leaping to his right to tip Enzo Millot’s spot kick wide of the post and seemingly send the Bianconeri on course for a hard-fought draw.

But Toure burst through the Juve backline and fired home a finish in the 92nd minute to earn the Bundesliga side a huge victory that sparked euphoric celebrations in the away end.

PSG frustrated by PSV

Paris Saint-Germain were left frustrated as they were held to a 1-1 draw by PSV in the French capital.

The hosts made the stronger start but couldn’t take their chances, and they were punished in the 34th minute when Noa Lang drilled a shot past Gianluigi Donnarumma to give the Dutch visitors a shock lead.

They managed to maintain their advantage up to half-time, but the Parisians struck 10 minutes into the second half when Achraf Hakimi’s shot squirmed through the legs of Walter Benitez in the PSV goal.

It was a moment to forget for the shot-stopper, but he otherwise held strong as PSV soaked up 25 shots to their seven, and eight on target to their two, to leave Paris with a point.

Luis Enrique’s side have got off to a sluggish start to the league phase, with an opening 1-0 win over Girona followed by a 2-0 defeat at Arsenal before their PSV stalemate.

Reijnders inspires Milan’s first three points

AC Milan notched their first UEFA Champions League win of the season as a Tijjani Reijnders double helped down 10-man Club Brugge 3-1, while Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain were held to surprise draws at home to Stuttgart and PSV respectively.

The seven-time champions were under pressure to deliver a result in front of an expectant San Siro crowd after back-to-back defeats to Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen.

But it was the Belgians who came roaring out of the blocks as winger Christos Tzolis forced Mike Maignan into two sharp saves before Joel Ordonez smashed a shot off the bar inside the opening eight minutes.

A disastrous five-minute spell for the visitors towards the end of the first half cost them dearly, though.

First, Christian Pulisic’s inswinging corner eluded everyone, including goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, as it flew into the back of the net, then a rash challenge from Raphael Onyedika resulted in a straight red card for the Nigerian following a VAR intervention.

But San Siro was silenced five minutes after the restart when Kyriani Sabbe finished a flowing move by arrowing a shot into the bottom corner to draw the depleted visitors level.

Milan coach Paulo Fonseca looked to his bench for inspiration, and that was exactly what he got, as substitutes Noah Okafor and Samuel Chukwueze both provided sublime assists for Reijnders.

Okafor made a run to the byline and put a cut-back on the Dutch midfielder’s toes within a minute of coming on, and Chukwueze’s barnstorming charge down the right set up Reijnders for his second in the 71st minute to put the game beyond the visitors.

Milan thought they had enjoyed the sweetest of finishes when 16-year-old Francesco Camarda came on for his Champions League debut and nodded home Milan’s fourth, but a VAR review overturned the goal for offside to deny the youngster a goal that would have made him the competition’s youngest-ever scorer.

Goalkeeper Mattia Perin was the hero for Juventus as he saved a late penalty and made a string of impressive stops in

Girona make history as Monaco and Sporting cruise

Girona earned their first-ever Champions League victory, beating Slovan Bratislava 2-0 to mark a historic night for the Spanish club.

Miguel Gutierrez put the hosts in front in the first half before a curling free-kick from Juanpe doubled Girona’s lead after the break.

Cristhian Stuani had the chance to make it three from the penalty spot, but his effort was well saved by Dominik Takac.

Sporting CP claimed a comfortable win in Austria, beating Sturm Graz 2-0 to continue their unbeaten start.

The Lisbon club dominated as goals from Nuno Santos and Viktor Gyokeres in either half sealed three points that rarely looked in doubt.

Impressive Sporting have picked up seven points from their opening three games, while Sturm Graz are yet to get on the board.

Monaco romped to a 5-1 win over Crvena Zvezda as former Liverpool winger Takumi Minamino scored twice to continue the French side’s impressive start to the league phase.

The hosts, who stunned Barcelona with a 2-1 win in their opening game, went in at the break leading by the same scoreline thanks to Minamino and Breel Embolo strikes either side of a Cherif Ndiaye penalty.

But Singo’s thunderous effort from distance was the highlight of the evening for the Ligue 1 joint-leaders, as the wing-back unleashed a piledriver that flew into the top corner.

Embolo thought he had a brace of his own, only for the goal to be disallowed for handball, before Minamino made it four with 20 minutes to go with another composed finish, and Maghnes Akliouche completed the rout late on.

The result lifts Monaco up to seven points from their first three games, while the Serbians’ winless run in the Champions League now stands at 13 games after losing all three of their league phase matches so far.

Source: Eurosport

By Wontumi1