Soccer
Mixed fortunes for Mbappe brothers while English pair open with wins
Jose Mourinho made a winning return to the Champions League with Real Madrid as they beat Inter Milan 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Madrid endured a frustrating weekend as they fell to a defeat against Real Betis but Kylian Mbappe’s 14th-minute strike put the 15-time winners of the competition 1-0 to the good.
The home side doubled their lead when Federico Valverde capitalised on a mistake from Josep Martinez and Carlos Augusto’s strike in the 77th minute was nothing more than a consolation for the Italian side.
Erling Haaland struck twice as Manchester City began their Champions League campaign with a 2-0 win at Porto.
After tensions boiled over between the two sides heading into the half-time break, Haaland nodded the visitors in front two minutes after the break before he prodded home his second in stoppage time following a period of sustained pressure from the home side in the rain.
Aston Villa put their goalscoring woes aside as they scored three first-half goals to start their Champions League campaign with a 3-2 victory over Club Brugge.
Unai Emery’s side failed to score in their opening three Premier League matches of the season but wasted no time in opening their European account, striking three times courtesy of goals from John McGinn, Emi Buendia and Nicolas Jackson’s first goal for the club.
Hugo Vetlesen’s equaliser cancelled out McGinn’s earlier strike and Nicolo Tresoldi’s penalty made for a nervy finish but Villa hung on for their first win of the season from all competitions.
Serhou Guirassy scored twice in the final 10 minutes but also set up a nervy finish with an own goal in stoppage time as Borussia Dortmund earned a narrow 3-2 victory over Villarreal.
Troy Parrott scored on his Champions League debut as Real Betis came from behind to win 3-2 against Lille, for whom Mbappe’s younger brother Ethan was sent off, while AEK Athens ran out 1-0 winners ove LASK.
