Marquinhos grabs late equaliser for Ligue 1 champions
Bayern overwhelm Stuttgart 5-1 at Allianz Arena
Paris Saint-Germain defender Marquinhos scored deep into stoppage time to snatch a scarcely deserved 2-2 draw at Lille on Friday as the Ligue 1 champions continued to struggle after being held by Rennes on the opening weekend.
After the poor 2-2 draw against Rennes, things went from bad to worse for PSG when Lille took the lead in the 21st minute as Icelandic playmaker Hákon Haraldsson latched on to a brilliant reverse pass from Olivier Giroud and curled an unstoppable shot past Matvei Safonov.
Despite all their attacking riches, the Parisians struggled to get shots on target as Lille packed their defence and forced the champions to attack from wide areas, and Lille appeared to have secured the three points when Dilane Bakwa scored in the 84th minute.
PSG midfielder Vitinha threw his side a lifeline in the first minute of stoppage time with a superb strike curled into the top-left corner, and the Portuguese international then crossed for Marquinhos to head home the equaliser four minutes later to complete an improbable comeback.
In the Bundesliga Bayern Munich kickstarted their title defence with a resounding 5-1 victory over Stuttgart thanks to a sparkling second-half display at the Allianz Arena that showed they have lost none of their potency from last season.
Goals from Dayot Upamecano, Michael Olise, Aleksandar Pavlovic and Luis Díaz capped a superb performance from the hosts during which they also missed several other opportunities.
It was a mixed night for Stuttgart’s Josha Vagnoman, who scored at both ends having briefly equalised early in the second half, as Bayern extended their unbeaten run to 15 matches with victory in their first match of the new campaign.
Bayern won the Bundesliga title by 16 points last season, scoring a record 122 goals in the process, and there are signs they could be as dominant again as they created chance after chance against the side who finished fourth last term.
In Serie A Gonçalo Ramos scored with a flashing drive from a tight angle for his first Serie A goal as Milan beat Venezia 2-0 at San Siro. Milan spent €74m to acquire Ramos from PSG and the Portugal forward delivered a goal to treasure on 69 minutes before a late own goal from Redouane Halhal settled the game.
“The most important thing isn’t my goal, it’s the win,” Ramos said. “I should have scored more than one goal tonight.” Milan opened the season with a 2-1 win at Torino making Friday’s encounter their first home game since the death of Franco Baresi and they paid tribute to their former captain before kick-off.
In La Liga, Racing Santander beat Elche 3-2 for their first win since returning to the Spanish top flight, while Alavés beat Villarreal 1-0.
