“The Old Lady” .. The mourning days in the “Heroes”!

Paris (AFP)

Real Madrid, the “title holder”, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, and Napoli continued their strong start in the group stage of the European Champions League in football, with each of them achieving their second victory in a row, while both Juventus and Chelsea continued their disappointments. With the loss of the first against its guest Benfica of Portugal 1-2, and the fall of the second in the trap of a draw against its guest Salzburg of Austria 1-1.
In the first match, Real Madrid suffered twice against Leipzig, and waited for the last ten minutes to score a double by Uruguayan international midfielder Federico Valverde, who opened the scoring in the 80th minute, and substitute Marco Asensio, who scored the second goal “91”.
Real Madrid, the record holder in the number of titles in the competition (14), led the sixth group with 6 points, two points ahead of Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk, who fell into the trap of a 1-1 draw against Celtic in Warsaw.
It is the eighth consecutive victory for Real Madrid this season, including 5 in the “La Liga”, two in the Champions League, and one in the European Super Cup against Eintracht Frankfurt, Germany.
The Italian coach of the Royal Club, Carlo Ancelotti, commented on his team’s victory, saying: “It is true that we suffered against Leipzig, which blocked all the ports, but we did not give up, and we managed to score two goals, although we did not provide a good level.”
In Group H, Paris Saint-Germain turned the table against its Israeli host Maccabi Haifa and beat it 3-1, which is the second win in a row for Paris Saint-Germain, after the first against its guest Juventus 2-1 in the first round, strengthening its lead in the group with six points, with a goal difference in front of Benfica returned with three valuable points from Turin by beating Juventus 2-1.
Juventus played the match in the absence of more than one key player, most notably Federico Chiesa, French Adrian Rabiot, compatriot Paul Pogba and Polish international goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
The “Old Lady” team is close to exiting the group stage for the first time since the 2013-2014 season, the first time that Juventus has lost its first two matches in the group stage in the history of its participation in the competition.
Norwegian Erling Halland gave his Manchester City team a difficult victory over his former team and his guest Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in the Group G competition, and City avoided a loss at home, after the Englishman Judd Bellingham opened the scoring for Dortmund in the 56th minute, before the England champion returned from afar With goals by John Stones (80) and Halland (84).
Haaland, who scored his thirteenth goal in various competitions this season, said: “It was a beautiful and special goal. I scored a similar goal when I was playing for Dortmund. I don’t think of myself and I will think about the next match against Wolverhampton. The focus is always on the important things.”
“In the end, we showed who we are, that’s what we are, and that’s how we have to play. I’m proud of the last 25 minutes. It was good to see everyone again (the Dortmund players), but they couldn’t stop me, because I scored.”
City remained at the top of Group G with a full score with 6 points, while Dortmund stayed on its three points in second place.
In the same group, Seville drew with its host Copenhagen negatively, to be in the last place of the group with an orphan point.
In turn, Napoli won its second successive victory when it defeated its host Glasgow Rangers 3-0 in the first group, and the southern team confirmed that its victory over its guest Liverpool 4-1 was not a coincidence, and that it would be a fierce competitor, at least for the two cards of the second round.
Napoli led the group with six points, three points ahead of Liverpool and Ajax Amsterdam, while Rangers suffered their second loss in a row after the first with a clean four against Ajax, and Liverpool beat Ajax Amsterdam 2-1.
In Group E, Milan completed the task of collecting the three points to the fullest by defeating its guest, Dinamo Zagreb, of Croatia 3-1.
This is the first win for the “Lombardy” club this season in the main continental competition, after it had fallen into the trap of a tie opening against its Austrian host Salzburg (1-1).
On the other hand, Chelsea at the beginning of the era of its new coach Graham Potter fell into the trap of a disappointing 1-1 draw with its guest Salzburg.
The London club had a Yemeni victory that erased its loss in the first round against Dinamo Zagreb itself, which overthrew its German coach Thomas Tuchel.