Barca, Man City and PSG start Champions League with wins

BERLIN: Barcelona’s João Felix, Manchester City’s Julian Alvarez and Paris Saint Germain’s Kylian Mbappe all scored Tuesday as their teams made winning starts in the Champions League.

But the wildest celebrations of the night came in Rome, where Lazio goalkeeper Ivan Provedel headed in the team’s equalizer in the fifth minute of injury time to earn a 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid. It was the last action of the game.

As the group stage began without either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo for the first time since 2002-03, a 16-year-old almost scored on his competition debut for Barcelona.

Lamine Yamal struck the side netting, then saw an effort saved by Antwerp goalkeeper Jean Butez after coming on as a substitute in Barcelona’s 5-0 win over the Belgian team.

Celtic finished with nine players in a 2-0 loss at Feyenoord that stretched the Scottish champion’s winless streak in the group stages to 11 games.

Here’s a closer look at Tuesday’s games:

CITY HAVE TO COME FROM BEHIND

Manchester City started their title defense by coming from behind to beat Red Star Belgrade 3-1 at home.

City had 22 shots on goal in the first half yet found itself 1-0 down at the break after Mirko Ivanić played Ghana winger Osman Bukari through to score in first-half injury time.

The linesman raised his flag, but a VAR check confirmed Bukari was onside, setting off celebrations among the 3,000 traveling supporters.

Alvarez equalized right after the break, finishing from a narrow angle after going past the goalkeeper, and it seemed only a matter of time before the second goal arrived as the home team pushed for more.

The otherwise outstanding goalkeeper Omri Glazer was at fault when it came on the hour mark, missing the ball as he went