• Saturday, July 27, 2024
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UCL: Barcelona whitewash Royal Antwerp 5-0, Man City escape Crvena Zvezda scare

Spain’s football association raided in Barcelona bribery probe

Barcelona on Tuesday continued from last weekend’s 5-0 thrashing of Real Betis in the LaLiga to beat Royal Antwerp 5-0 in their UEFA Champions League Group H match day one.

Joao Felix grabbed a brace while Robert Lewandowski netted his 100th goal in European club competition as Barcelona overran the Royals.

The Catalan scored three goals inside the opening 22 minutes to leave the Belgian outfit faraway from their royal apparel.

Joao Felix opened scoring on 11 minutes when he jinked in from the left side of the area to rifle home a low strike to mark his Barca debut in style.

The Portuguese forward then provided an assist eight minutes later when he beat his marker and crossed for Lewandowski to notch a century of goals across UEFA club competitions.

Barcelona now top Group H on goal difference ahead of FC Porto who won Shakhtar Donetsk 3-1.

Barcelona will now turn their attention back to La Liga before travelling to FC Porto on Matchday 2 while Antwerp host Shakhtar Donetsk.

Read also: Meet 10 most expensive transfers in 2023/24 Premier League

In England reigning Champions League holders survived an early scared in their title defense coming from behind to beat Crvena Zvezda 3-1 at the Etihad.

The visitors took the lead before the interval through Osman Bukari in the 45th minutes with assist by Ivanic.

City manager Pep Guardiola made changes to bring in some fringe players, and the home side struggled to play at their usual pace.

Phil Foden and Erling Haaland missed great chances in the first half and were made to pay when Bukari sprung the offside trap at the end of the half to score after a VAR review.

However, Julian Alvarez levelled after just two minutes with a clever link-up play with Erling Haaland, and on the hour mark a howler from Omri Glazer, who had been superb in the first half in keeping City out, gave Alvarez his second from a free-kick.

From that point City pushed for more goals and last season’s Champions League hero Rodri provided the third on the night.

Man City were complacent in the first half, but their second half dominance saved the reigning champions from Crvena Zvezda scare.

In Italy, AC Milan and Newcastle lay out a goalless draw, while Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0 to top Group F with goals from Mbappe and Hakimi