UCL 2022/23: Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland shine, Chelsea suffer shock loss

Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland took their highflying scoring acts into Europe as the Champions League returned while last seasons standout star Karim Benzema limped off with an injury after less than 30 minutesMbappe and Haaland both netted two goals as their respective clubs Paris Saint Germain and Manchester City began their European campaigns with victories underlining just why those two teams are again among the favorites for the titleReal Madrids chances of defending its crown probably depend largely on having a fully fit Benzema but the France forward had to come off with an apparent knee injury in the 30th minute against Celtic Secondhalf goals from Vinicius Junior Luka Modric and Eden Hazard still secured a 30 win for the Spanish giant in GlasgowBenzema was in a league of his own in the competition last season netting 15 goals in 12 games to lead Madrid to the title But Mbappe and Haaland look ready to challenge the Frenchman for the status of Europes top striker as they try to lead their clubs to an elusive first Champions League titleThe 23yearold Mbappe who has seven goals in five league games so far scored his double in the first 22 minutes of a 21 home win over Juventus to become the youngest player to reach 35 goals in the competition beating the mark held by teammate Lionel MessiThe 22yearold Haaland has 25 goals in 20 Champions League games also a record after scoring once in each half of Man Citys 40 win at Sevilla The Norway striker who has 10 goals in six Premier League games this season has now netted on his Champions League debut for three clubs Salzburg Borussia Dortmund and CityAlso Dinamo Zagreb upset Chelsea 10 at home while Serie A champion AC Milan was held to a 11 draw at SalzburgMbappe Sinks JuveMbappes opening goal for PSG came after just five minutes following some audacious linkup play from NeymarMbappe played a short pass to the Brazilian before making a run into the area with Neymar holding onto the ball just long enough before chipping it over a defender and into the path of the France striker who volleyed it firsttime past goalkeeper Mattia PerinThe second came after he exchanged passes with Achraf Hakimi and beat Perin with another firsttime finish United States midfielder Weston McKennie pulled one back for Juventus in the 53rd creating a tense finale in Paris In the other Group H match Benfica defeated Maccabi Haifa 20Chelsea StrugglesPierreEmerick Aubameyang couldnt give Chelseas stuttering attack any kind of instant spark as the Blues failed to impress once again following an inconsistent start to the seasonAubameyang made his Chelsea debut after his move from Barcelona playing with a face mask to protect his injured jaw and had one goal ruled out for offside while his teammates repeatedly failed to beat goalkeeper Dominik LivakovicAlso Read Inter Milan are a difficult opponent Matthijs de Ligt ahead of epic UCL clashInstead it was Mislav Oric who continued his scoring streak against English teams racing away from Wesley Fofana another of Chelseas marquee signings to score on a breakaway in the 13th minuteIts an underperformance from us said Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel whose team has lost twice in the Premier League already We are clearly not there where we need to be At the moment everything is missingNoah Okafor put Salzburg ahead against Milan near the halfhour mark by shooting through the legs of goalkeeper Mike Maignan but Alexis Saelemaekers equalized before the breakRafael Leao then nearly won it for Milan in stoppage time when he had a shot deflected off the postUS international Sergintildeo Dest came on in the 57th minute for his Milan debut following his transfer last week from Barcelona one of six Americans in action on the nightCity rolls in SpainHaaland could well be the piece that Man City has been missing as it repeatedly came up short in Europe under Pep GuardiolaThe Norwegian again showed his uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time as he was on hand to steer in a cross from Kevin De Bruyne in the 21st minute and then tapped in a rebound for the third goal in the 67th Phil Foden and Ruben Dias scored the other goals for City in a dominant performance at Estadio Ramon SanchezPizjuanAlso in Group G Marco Reus took his tally to 22 goals in 57 Champions League matches by opening the scoring in Borussia Dortmunds 30 win over Copenhagen US international Gio Reyna set up the other two goals for Dortmund exchanging passes with English teenager Jude Bellingham in a slick move for the thirdHazard steps upIf Benzema has to miss significant time for Madrid Hazard signaled that he may be ready to pick up some of the slackThe Belgium playmaker who was on the bench before replacing Benzema set up the first two goals before scoring the third himself against Celtic It was his first Champions League goal in 651 days and first in any competition since JanuaryCallum McGregor had nearly put Celtic ahead in the first half when he struck a fierce shot against the post in the 21st minuteIn the other Group F game Maryan Shved scored twice as Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk beat RB Leipzig 41 Shakhtars domestic season only recently started after a lengthy break because of Russias invasion but the team got some help from Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi for the first goalGulacsi made the blunder of the evening by giving the ball away to Shved as he stood well outside his own area giving the midfielder a simple finish into an empty netLeipzig leveled with a goal by French defender Mohamed Simakan in the 57th but Shved restored the lead one minute lateraccepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoeverThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever