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Erling Haaland (left) has 19 goals in twelve competitive games this season
Photo:
Nick Potts/AP
There were some unequal pairings on the third day of the Champions League.
The favorite team almost always won, with the exception of Paris Saint-Germain, who only drew against Benfica.
Chelsea clinched their first win in the premier class against Milan, Erling Haaland scored twice in Manchester City's clear win over FC Copenhagen.
Real Madrid also remained unbeaten against Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus prevailed against Maccabi Haifa.
Coach Pep Guardiola rested some stars, including Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden, who were initially on Manchester City's bench.
Nevertheless, striker Erling Haaland got enough food, for the first time through a precise cross from João Cancelo, which he used to make it 1-0 (7th).
Haaland scored his second goal rather unexpectedly because Copenhagen goalkeeper Kamil Grabara deflected a shot directly to the Norwegian, who only had to stretch out his foot (32nd).
For Haaland it was the 19th goal in the twelfth competitive game for City.
An own goal by Davit Khocholava increased City's lead to three goals before the break (39').
Riyad Mahrez (55th) increased his penalty himself and set up Julián Álvarez to make it 5-0 (76th).
In Group G, the English champions remain top with three wins from three games.
They are followed by BVB (six points), which also won 4-1 (3-0) against FC Sevilla.
Copenhagen and Sevilla have only a weak chance of progressing with one point each.
In the duel between the undefeated teams, it was clear early on which was superior: defending champions Real Madrid.
When Rodrygo scored the opening goal, Shakhtar keeper Anatolii Trubin could only get the ball with his fingertips (13th), the Brazilian prepared the 2-0 with a pass to his compatriot Vinícius Júnior (28th).
Despite Madrid's clear dominance, the guests from Ukraine scored a goal - and it was worth seeing: Bogdan Mykhaylichenko crossed from the left and Oleksandr Zubkov shortened the penalty area with an acrobatic side kick (39').
Donetsk did not succeed in such a spectacular action.
Real have won every game so far and lead Group F with nine points.
Second is Donetsk (4) ahead of RB Leipzig (3), who won 3-1 (1-0) against Celtic (1) in the early evening.
The appearance of the star ensemble was not convincing in the first round.
Early on, PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma had to prevent a deficit with a foot defense against Gonçalo Ramos (9th).
Then the three Parisian superstars showed their skills: A combination led from Kylian Mbappé via Neymar and ended up with Lionel Messi, who finished with a great flick in the left corner (22nd).
Donnarumma saved again just before the break (38'), but a little later he was powerless when his team-mate Danilo deflected a cross slightly to make it 1-1 (41').
PSG still had a few chances in the second half but couldn't beat Benfica.
Juve started dominantly against Maccabi Haifa, Serbian striker Dušan Vlahović had two good chances early on but couldn't take them (11', 13').
The opening goal came from a one-two from Adrien Rabiot with Ángel Di María, after which Rabiot fired powerfully into the short angle.
Di María prepared the 2-0 lead with a remarkable through ball behind the defense, in which Vlahović prevailed in a duel with Haifa goalkeeper Josh Cohen (50').
In the same combination, Di María on Vlahović, Juventus scored a third time.
Because the striker was offside, the supposed 3-0 didn't count (64').
Instead, Haifa scored a goal through Dean David (75'), but Rabiot restored the two-goal gap (83').
Chelsea clinched their first win of this Champions League season against Milan, with the Londoners having little trouble.
Chelsea took the lead through central defender Wesley Fofana, who was right in the crowd after a corner (24th minute).
In the second half, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang pushed a Reece James cross over the line (56') before the right-back made the preliminary decision with a shot from a tight angle (61').
Group E is balanced.
At the top is RB Salzburg (5 points), who remain unbeaten after beating bottom-placed Dinamo Zagreb (3).
Chelsea (4) tied for second with Milan.
It was a game with few chances in Group E, which was only decided by a penalty kick in the 71st minute.
Noah Okafor slid safely into the right corner from the penalty spot for his sixth goal in the premier class.
Earlier, Sadegh Moharrami knocked his opponent down with a high ball to Salzburg's captain Andreas Ulmer.
Goalkeeper Köhn saved the narrow victory with a strong one-on-one save against ex-Bundesliga player Josip Drmić (81').
In injury time, the Swiss still celebrated, but his header was annulled for being offside (90+4).
With the 1-0 Salzburg remains undefeated.