Holders Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) made it three wins from three in this season’s Champions League (CL), beating Barcelona 4-2 thanks to late goals from Vitinha and Fabian Ruiz on Tuesday, while Liverpool clinched a dramatic comeback victory over Villarreal.
Phil Foden scored a hat-trick as Manchester City thrashed AEK Athens 5-1, while there were also much-needed wins for Roma and Napoli.
PSG kept their place at the top of the league-phase table, but could yet count the cost of injuries suffered by Ousmane Dembele, Marquinhos and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia at the Parc des Princes.
“We don’t feel superior to any team but we trust in ourselves, in everyone who starts and who comes off the bench,” Paris midfielder Ruiz told Movistar. “There’s still a long way to go.”
Barcelona twice levelled against the two-time defending champions, but were ultimately well beaten as they slipped to their first defeat of the season.
“We tried to play how we want to play, we pressed them very high.
There were a lot of fantastic things on show today,” said Flick, whose team had won their previous 11 games in all competitions this term.
Kvaratskhelia hit the post, Dembele hobbled off and Ferran Torres was denied by Barca goalkeeper Joan Garcia in a fast-paced opening.
PSG took a deserved lead in the 38th minute as Desire Doue collected the ball outside the area and thumped a shot into the bottom corner.
Garcia made another excellent save shortly after the break from Achraf Hakimi, before Xavi Espart burst through to level for Barca against the run of play.
Kvaratskhelia and Marquinhos both pulled up injured within seconds of each other and had to leave the field.
The home team continued to press, though, and Lucas Hernandez restored their advantage 18 minutes from time with a brilliant header.
Lamine Yamal powered past Warren Zaire-Emery to equalise again seven minutes later.
But Vitinha hammered home from outside the box in the 81st minute and Ruiz’s tap-in gave Luis Enrique’s team a second straight 4-2 Champions League win after seeing off Man City by the same scoreline last week.
Liverpool battled back from two goals down to also maintain their 100-percent record by edging out Villarreal 4-3 at Anfield.
Liverpool fell behind in the fourth minute when Georges Mikautadze pounced on a terrible error from Virgil van Dijk, before Villarreal defender Sergi Cardona strolled through their defence to make it two.
Alexis Mac Allister pulled one back for the hosts nine minutes before half-time by heading in Kostas Tsimikas’s corner.
Andoni Iraola’s men were level in first-half added time through Ronald Araujo’s back-post header after Cardona inexplicably left Rio Ngumoha’s cross.
Mac Allister completed the turnaround by firing in from Ngumoha’s square pass, and half-time substitute Florian Wirtz’s first goal of the season gave the Reds some breathing space.
Tani Oluwaseyi set up a nervy finish for Iraola, but Liverpool held on.
“We are facing very good teams. It’s good to come back but we’ve started losing too many goals this season,” Iraola told Amazon Prime.
At the Etihad, Elliot Anderson put Manchester City in front with his first goal for the club, before Phil Foden made it two goals in as many games after scoring against Ipswich at the weekend.
AEK halved the deficit early in the second half through Stavros Pilios, only for Rayan Cherki to sweep in City’s third in the 57th minute.
Foden later fired in his second and third goals in a comprehensive victory, despite Erling Haaland being rested after picking up a knock at the weekend.
“Slowly, but surely. Still got a long way to go, but I am going in the right direction,” Foden told TNT Sports of his gradual return to form.
Roma eased to their first Champions League win since 2019 as the capital club brushed aside pointless Slovan Bratislava 4-0 at the Stadio Olimpico.
All four Serie A clubs in the competition lost last week, but Napoli made it two wins from two on Tuesday for the Italian sides.
Massimiliano Allegri’s men were twice pegged back by Bodo/Glimt but eventually got the better of the Norwegians in a 4-3 thriller, as Scott McTominay scored a brace.
Atletico Madrid played out a 1-1 draw with Stuttgart in Germany, despite playing much of the second half with 10 men.
Borussia Dortmund ended a run of four straight away defeats in the Champions League with a 2-1 win over Sabah in Baku.