Arsenal, Real Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur win Champions League openers
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Arsenal's Gabriel Martinelli celebrates scoring their first goal with teammates.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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- Arsenal beat Athletic Bilbao 2-0 with late goals from Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard, as they aim to impress in the Champions League.
- Real Madrid edged Marseille 2-1, thanks to two Kylian Mbappe penalties, despite playing with 10 men after Dani Carvajal's red card.
- Tottenham Hotspur secured a 1-0 victory against Villarreal, while Union Saint-Gilloise and Qarabag recorded historic first Champions League wins.
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BILBAO – Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta praised the “impact” of his substitutes, after the Gunners clinched a 2-0 win at Athletic Bilbao as the league phase of this season’s Champions League kicked off on Sept 16.
Elsewhere, two Kylian Mbappe penalties gave Real Madrid a narrow win over Marseille, while Juventus and Borussia Dortmund drew an eight-goal thriller.
Tottenham Hotspur also won on the tournament’s opening night.
Arsenal got off to an ideal start in the Basque Country, with Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard scoring late goals to settle the game.
Martinelli had only just come on when he ran through to open the scoring in the 72nd minute. Arsenal then went on to seal the victory late on as Trossard – another substitute – scored with the aid of a deflection.
“We knew that the first 20 to 25 minutes were going to be really tough, especially the way they play, so intense,” Arteta said.
“The second half we were much more dominant and looked much more of a threat. Something we always discuss is the finishers have to impact the game, and Gabi and Leo came on to make the difference.”
Real came from behind to beat Marseille 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu, despite playing the closing stages of the game with 10 men after Dani Carvajal was sent off.
Marseille stunned the home crowd by taking the lead through Timothy Weah midway through the first half.
The record 15-time European champions grabbed an equaliser before the interval when Mbappe converted from the spot for the first time after Rodrygo was fouled in the area.
Another Mbappe penalty late on snatched all three points for Real.
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring his team’s second goal, his 50th for the club.
PHOTO: EPA
Thomas Frank’s Spurs, who qualified for the Champions League after winning last season’s Europa League, edged out Villarreal 1-0
The match was decided by a farcical early own goal from Villarreal goalkeeper Luiz Junior.
“It was a very even game that we just edged,” Frank told broadcaster Amazon Prime.
Juventus against Dortmund in Turin was a repeat of the 1997 final won by the German side, and the fixture more than lived up to its billing, finishing in a spectacular 4-4 draw.
Remarkably, the first half ended goal-less, with the breakthrough coming seven minutes into the second half, when Karim Adeyemi put the visitors ahead.
Kenan Yildiz equalised for Juve just after the hour mark, only for Felix Nmecha to put Dortmund back in front.
Dusan Vlahovic made it 2-2, but Yan Couto restored the Bundesliga side’s advantage and they appeared to have sewn up the points when Ramy Bensebaini converted a penalty in the 86th minute.
However, Vlahovic pulled one back in the 94th minute and then crossed for Lloyd Kelly to head home in the sixth minute of stoppage time, rounding off an extraordinary evening.
Benfica let slip an early two-goal lead to lose 3-2 at home to Qarabag, with Oleksiy Kashchuk netting the Azerbaijani side’s winner four minutes from time.
Reports on Sept 17 said Benfica are set to name Jose Mourinho as their new coach
