European football: Atlético Madrid lose at Espanyol, while Vitinha wins opener for PSG

The Guardian

3 days ago

Atlético Madrid started with a 2-1 defeat at Espanyol in La Liga on Sunday as the hosts overturned Julián Alvarez's opener with late goals from substitutes Miguel Rubio and Pere Milla.
Alvarez showed his quality in the 37th minute, curling a superb free-kick into the top corner to give Atlético the lead after Espanyol's Leandro Cabrera had pushed Conor Gallagher.
The Argentinian came close again in the second half when he collected the ball inside the box, skipped past two defenders and fired a shot against the crossbar.
But the hosts levelled in the 73rd minute when a long set-piece dropped into the box behind the defence, allowing Rubio to race on to the ball and slide it past goalkeeper Jan Oblak. Six minutes from time, Milla scored a spectacular winner, meeting a cross with a diving header that arched over Oblak and nestled inside the far post to complete the turnaround.
Athletic Bilbao's Robert Navarro snatched a 3-2 victory over Sevilla after his side had squandered a two-goal lead. Nico Williams' penalty and Maroan Sannadi's strike had the hosts 2-0 ahead at the break, but Dodi Lukébakio and Lucien Agoumé levelled it up, only for Navarro to win it nine minutes from time.
In Ligue 1, Paris St Germain began their title defence with a hard-fought 1-0 win at Nantes thanks to a second-half goal from their Portugal midfielder Vitinha. Fresh from their Super Cup triumph over Tottenham Hotspur in a shootout on Wednesday, PSG lacked their usual urgency in front of goal, going in at half-time without having carved out any real chances against a disciplined Nantes defence.
PSG eventually broke the deadlock when Vitinha's strike from distance in the 67th minute took a deflection off Nantes defender Chidozie Awaziem and curled into the far corner. Nantes then began to concede more space and PSG thought they had doubled their lead minutes later through Gonçalo Ramos but the striker's effort was ruled out for offside.
Paris FC's first top-flight game in 46 years ended in a 1-0 defeat at Angers, who took an early lead through Esteban Lepaul and held on despite being reduced to 10 men. Lepaul sprinted ahead of defender Timothée Kolodziejczak to reach Jordan Lefort's long ball just outside the box and scored with a calm right-foot finish after nine minutes.
Angers midfielder Louis Mouton was sent off for a late challenge on Kolodziejczak in the 57th minute and Paris FC, who dominated possession and had more than twice as many shots as their opponents, pressed hard for an equaliser.
The hosts survived when Alimami Gory failed to meet Ilan Kebbal's cross in front of goal, while a free-kick from just outside the box was sent wide by forward Mathieu Cafaro in the 90th minute, ending the visitors' hopes of salvaging a draw.
Fellow promoted side Metz also lost 1-0 away at Strasbourg as Joaquín Panichelli scored late, Auxerre secured a 1-0 home win over Lorient thanks to Lassine Sinayoko's strike and Lille lost a two-goal lead in a 3-3 draw at Brest.
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Lille's Olivier Giroud scored 11 minutes into his first Ligue 1 game since 2012 and Hákon Arnar Haraldsson made it 2-0 but Kamory Doumbia then scored twice to level. Ngal'ayel Mukau got Lille's third but Julien Le Cardinal equalised.
In Germany, a first-round German Cup match between Schalke and hosts Lokomotiv Leipzig was suspended on Sunday after visiting winger Christopher Antwi-Adjei alleged racial abuse from home fans.
The match, which finished 1-0 to Schalke, was suspended for almost five minutes after Antwi-Adjei informed the referee he was racially abused by spectators. An announcement on the stadium PA was made condemning racist abuse. After the match resumed, the winger was booed repeatedly by the home fans.
Speaking after the match, Antwi-Adjei said: 'I don't want to name the words that were spoken. I'm not the type of person who goes home and cries, but I find it disappointing you still hear this on the pitch these days. I signalled to the linesman that something had happened. It's the least I could do. I'm a normal person. This is not appropriate.'
Antwi-Adjei was born in Germany but has represented Ghana three times at international level. A spokesperson from Lokomotiv Leipzig said the insults could not be verified. 'We have a member of staff sitting exactly where the player was standing. He didn't hear anything. The linesman probably didn't hear anything either,' the spokesperson told Sky Germany.
Lokomotiv Leipzig have previously come under fire for supporter groups with right-wing ideological links. In 2018, the club sacked two youth coaches for taking a picture of a group of young players performing a Nazi salute.