European football newspapers review: Champions League ‘magic’

On an evening when it rained goals in the Champions League, the most torrential downpour came on the eastern banks of the Rhine, where Paris St-Germain put seven past Bayer Leverkusen. 

L’Equipe hailed it as a “Magical night” for the holders, for whom returning duo Désiré Doué and Ousmane Dembélé were both on target. After Willian Pacho had opened the scoring with an early glancing header, Doué, featuring for only the second time since August following a calf injury, slammed in a quickfire double before the interval.

The France international’s brace bookended an emphatic strike from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, and PSG went on to make it a magnificent seven after the break, Nuno Mendes and Vitinha burnishing the scoreline either side of a sharp close-range finish from Dembélé, who looked sharp on his return from a hamstring injury.

European football newspapers review: L’Equipe hails ‘magical night’ for PSG

“The champions of Europe produced an attacking festival in Germany,” purred L’Equipe’s front page. And so they did, although the French publication acknowledged that a performance which “enlivened and delighted the Parisian fans” also “began to descend into madness” across the course of 12 first-half minutes in which Alejandro Grimaldo struck the post with a penalty before team-mate Robert Andrich and PSG’s Illia Zabarnyi were dismissed in quick succession. 

“Ten against ten, PSG humiliates Leverkusen,” blared Le Figaro, who awarded “full marks to the Parisian European champions”.

On a night that brought a total of 43 goals in the Champions League, the third highest tally on a single match day in the competition’s history, Luis Garcia’s side were not the only big winners. Barcelona made similarly light work of Greek Super League champions Olympiacos, with Mundo Deportivo hailing Fermín López – or “SuperLópez”, as the Catalan paper dubbed the Spain international – for his three-goal salvo in a 6-1 rout.

López was “the medicine Barça needed to revive their attack” ahead of this weekend’s trip to Real Madrid, said the paper, describing Hansi Flick’s team as having “rearmed” in preparation for El Clásico. That view was echoed by Sport, who hailed the result, to which Marcus Rashford contributed two late goals after a Lamine Yamal penalty, as a “high” before the clash of La Liga heavyweights. “The team is regaining its form ahead of the clash against Real Madrid,” declared Sport’s front page.

Spanish press salutes Arsenal’s ’13 minutes of terror’ against Atlético

Diario AS focused on the “thirteen minutes of terror” Arsenal inflicted on Atlético Madrid in a 4-0 victory at the Emirates Stadium, describing how Diego Simeone’s side “collapsed after almost an hour of resistance and after hitting the crossbar”.

“A free-kick from Gabriel unleashed the Gunners’ storm,” said AS, acknowledging the well-taken header with which the Arsenal defender opened the scoring in the 57th minute. Gabriel Martinelli capitalised on Myles Lewis-Skelly’s driving run with a curled finish seven minutes later, before Viktor Gyökeres converted twice in three minutes from close range to completed the clobbering.

“At the Emirates, cold showers aren’t just in the taps,” wrote AS reporter Patricia Cazón, alluding to the pre-match controversy about the lack of hot water in the Emirates’ dressing rooms on the eve of the match. “They’re also on the grass. And in the set pieces. 

“Arsenal wasted no time in grabbing Atlético Madrid by the bootstraps. The moment they heard the referee’s whistle, Cholo [Simeone]’s men suddenly faced a tsunami. A DANA [the Spanish acronym for a Depresión Aislada en Niveles Altos, a type of heavy rainstorm]. A deluge of water that kept raining down on [Jan] Oblak ‘s goal with the intensity of a hailstorm.”

It was a similar story elsewhere across Europe.

Italian newspapers coo over Inter’s ‘record-breaking party’ in Belgium

Inter Milan won 4-0 against Union Saint-Gilloise in Brussels to claim a seventh straight victory across all competitions. It marked the first time the Nerazzurri have won their opening three matches in Europe’s premier competition without conceding a goal, prompting Tuttosport to declare it a “record-breaking party” for Cristian Chivu’s men. The result also earned praise for Inter’s Romanian manager, with Corriere dello Sport proclaiming: “Chivu is on fire”.

It wasn’t all good news for Serie A clubs, however, with Italian champions Napoli suffering a 6-2 hammering against PSV Eindhoven despite opening the scoring through Scott McTominay. “Crollo Napoli” – Napoli collapse – was the verdict of La Gazzetta dello Sport and Tuttosport.

The Portuguese press offered a similarly downbeat assessment of Benfica’s 3-0 defeat at Newcastle. “Zero” declared Record, a nod to the failure of Jose Mourinho’s side to win a point in the competition so far, while O Jogo offered a variation on the same theme, branding the Lisbon club an “Eagle in the background”.