Brilliant Benfica inflicts more misery on Juventus

TURIN, Italy－Benfica took its winning run to 12 matches with Wednesday's 2-1 triumph at Juventus which put it level with Champions League Group H leader Paris Saint-Germain.

Roger Schmidt's team has a perfect six points from its first two matches after coming back from Arkadiusz Milik's early opener thanks to a Joao Mario penalty and David Neres' strike nine minutes after halftime.

The Portuguese league leader has won every match it has played this season and is already six points ahead of Juve and Maccabi Haifa.

"I'm very proud of the team. Early on we weren't at 100 percent, we were feeling the pressure of a big game," Neres told Eleven Sports.

"But then we started to dominate the game and in the second half we were more like ourselves again...Scoring was very special. I'm very happy."

Boos and whistles rang out around the Allianz Stadium after another deeply disappointing display from Juve, whose coach Max Allegri will be under even more pressure from disgruntled supporters after a bad start in Serie A.

Juve, who has a host of big players out and started with Angel Di Maria on the bench, now has two matches with Maccabi while Benfica faces group favorite Paris Saint-Germain.

"They're right (to boo), there's not much else to say. We lost a match that we really needed not to lose so I think it's right that they whistle us," Leonardo Bonucci told Amazon Prime.

"Unfortunately we're in a period in which we struggle to do anything. I'm worried, we can't hide it, because we vanish from games too often, whether it's a mental or physical problem I don't know but that's what worries me."

Allegri, who insisted that his job was not at risk, had said that the two matches with Benfica would be the key to whether Juve made it to the knockout rounds and on the evidence of Wednesday night it has its work cut out.

The host got off to a flying start through Milik, whose perfectly placed header from Leandro Paredes' freekick opened the scoring.

Poland forward Milik's third goal of the season was eerily reminiscent of his last-minute winner against Salernitana at the weekend which was wrongly chalked for offside, and came after an opening flurry from Juve which turned out to be empty promise.

Benfica was unlucky not to be level in the 39th minute when Rafa Silva curled a long-range effort against a post.

But the visitor was all square two minutes before the break when Fabio Miretti was caught bringing down Goncalo Ramos following a VAR check and on-field review from referee Felix Zwayer.

MMN lifts PSG

In Israel, the superstar 'MMN' trio of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar all scored as PSG came from a goal down to win 3-1 at Maccabi Haifa on Wednesday and make it two wins from two in Group H.

Tjaronn Chery gave Haifa a surprise lead but Messi equalized before the break by scoring for an 18th consecutive season in the Champions League.

PSG finished off the host with an improved performance in the last half-hour as Mbappe and Neymar found the net.

"We have to improve. We have to work," Mbappe told Canal Plus.

"We are working, but we need the results to show in our play, because things are going to come around quickly with the (international) break and the World Cup."

The Qatari-backed club is now top of Group H on goals scored above Benfica.

Haifa threatened a shaky PSG defense throughout the game, but the Ligue 1 giant passed the test thanks to its front three.

"The fact that the three of us can make the difference in a game is an advantage for us," Mbappe added.

"I hope we all keep scoring as it means that we'll win matches."

PSG goes into home and away matches against Benfica knowing that two wins would secure a place in the knockout stage.

"We weren't well organized, quickly split in two, and that made the first half difficult," PSG coach Christophe Galtier told RMC Sport. "We needed to put things right, and after the break we were much more compact."

AFP