SINSHEIM, Germany — David Silva scored late for Manchester City to end its four-game losing streak in the Champions League with a 2-1 win at Hoffenheim on Tuesday.
The Spanish forward struck from a narrow angle with three minutes remaining after pouncing on a loose ball ahead of 21-year-old defender Stefan Posch.
City bounced back from its opening 2-1 home loss to Lyon in the competition despite falling behind inside the first minute, when Ishak Belfodil shot past Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson after Kerem Demirbay played the ball through the visitors’ defence.
Sergio Aguero equalized minutes later with a simple finish after Germany winger Leroy Sane capped a good team move to set the Argentine up.
City had Pep Guardiola back on the sidelines after the Spanish coach served his one-match ban for improper conduct, and his side dominated much of the match after recovering from the early deficit.
Sane, Aguero and Raheem Sterling tormented the Hoffenheim defence for much of the first half, when Oliver Baumann rescued his side with some impressive saves.
City defender Kyle Walker was fortunate to escape with just a yellow card for a bad challenge on Pavel Kaderabek in the second half, while the visitors thought they should have had a penalty when Baumann appeared to bring down Sane after missing the ball. Referee Damir Skomina did not award the spot kick.
Later in Group F, Lyon was hosting Shakhtar Donetsk.
Dybala’s hat trick helps Juventus beat Young Boys
TURIN, Italy — No Cristiano Ronaldo, no problem for Juventus.
Paulo Dybala filled in for the suspended star by scoring his first Champions League hat trick to give the Italian team a 3-0 victory over Young Boys on Tuesday.
With Ronaldo watching from the stands after getting his first ever red card in the competition in the previous round, Dybala rediscovered the scoring form that saw him score 22 Serie A goals last season.
It took Dybala less than five minutes to give Juventus the lead with a delightful chipped volley after a long ball over the top from Leonardo Bonucci.
Juventus almost doubled its lead 10 minutes later as Young Boys goalkeeper David von Ballmoos could only parry Bernardeschi’s effort but it was cleared for a corner.
However, Von Ballmoos was punished for a similar mistake in the 33rd minute when he pushed away Blaise Matuidi’s fierce shot and Dybala was on hand to tuck the rebound into the bottom left corner.
Dybala came close to completing his hat trick three minutes into the second half when he dispatched an angled effort past the reach of Von Ballmoos but it bounced off the inside of the left post.
Moments later he could have had a penalty after he was tripped by Young Boys defender Steve von Bergen but the referee waved play on.
Dybala did get his hat trick in the 69th, finishing off a long passing move by Juventus after being unselfishly teed up by Juan Cuadrado.
Dybala had struggled to find the net since Ronaldo joined the club this summer, having scored just once while playing in a deeper-lying role behind the Portuguese star and Mario Mandzukic in a three-pronged attack.
Young Boys’ evening was made even worse in the 78th when defender Mohamed Ali Camara was sent off following two bookings in quick succession.
No comments:
Write comments