Dortmund Scores 7 while Barcelona, Man City and Arsenal All Win in Champions League

Fans display flares during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Borussia Dortmund and Celtic Glasgow at the BVB Stadion in Dortmund, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024.  (Bernd Thissen/dpa via AP)
Fans display flares during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Borussia Dortmund and Celtic Glasgow at the BVB Stadion in Dortmund, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (Bernd Thissen/dpa via AP)
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Dortmund Scores 7 while Barcelona, Man City and Arsenal All Win in Champions League

Fans display flares during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Borussia Dortmund and Celtic Glasgow at the BVB Stadion in Dortmund, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024.  (Bernd Thissen/dpa via AP)
Fans display flares during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Borussia Dortmund and Celtic Glasgow at the BVB Stadion in Dortmund, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (Bernd Thissen/dpa via AP)

Karim Adeyemi starred as Borussia Dortmund ran riot against Celtic while Barcelona and Manchester City claimed their first wins in the restructured Champions League on Tuesday.
Adeyemi scored a first-half hat trick as Dortmund routed Celtic 7-1 at home. It was the second big win from a German team in the competition after Bayern Munich's 9-2 bashing of Dinamo Zagreb in the first matchday.
Robert Lewandowski got Barcelona off the mark as the Spanish giant eased to a 5-0 home win over Swiss team Young Boys, while his former teammate İlkay Gündoğan got City off to a 4-0 win at Slovan Bratislava. Erling Haaland scored his 42nd goal in his 41st Champions League game.
City was held 0-0 by Inter Milan in their opening game, while Barca responded to its 2-1 loss at Monaco, the team’s first defeat under new coach Hansi Flick.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal outclassed his former team Paris Saint-Germain in a 2-0 win with Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka scoring in the first half for the Gunners. PSG coach Luis Enrique's gamble on leaving Ousmane Dembélé out did not pay off.
Arteta enjoyed a successful 18-month loan spell at PSG while still he was still a teenager at Barcelona.
Dortmund fans cry foul Though the Dortmund team appears to have adapted to the new competition format very well — last season's beaten finalist has 10 goals from two games after starting with a 3-0 win over Club Brugge — its fans made their opposition to the reforms clear with a huge tifo slamming UEFA.
This season UEFA changed the structure of Europe’s premier competition to add four more teams. The group stage was scrapped for a league system with each of the now 36 participating teams playing eight opponents once in a first phase of the competition.
UEFA claimed the changes would ensure more evenly matched games, but Tuesday's results — the big wins for Barca, City and Dortmund — appear to belie that claim.
There were more big wins Tuesday with Inter Milan defeating Red Star Belgrade 4-0, and tournament debutant Brest routing Salzburg 4-0 away for its second win in as many games in Europe’s premier competition, The Associated Press reported.
Iran forward Mehdi Taremi struck a penalty past Israel and Red Star goalkeeper Omri Glazer and set up two more goals for Inter hours after his country launched a barrage of missiles at Israel.
Senegalese forward Abdallah Sima netted twice for Brest to take his tally to three goals in two games after he scored in the French team’s tournament-opening 2-1 win over Austrian champion Sturm Graz.
Also Tuesday, Bayer Leverkusen defeated AC Milan 1-0 in Germany thanks a well-worked move finished by Victor Boniface.
Daniel Bragança scored late to earn Sporting Lisbon a 1-1 draw at PSV Eindhoven.
Kaan Kairinen’s brilliant free kick was enough for Prague to draw 1-1 at Stuttgart.
Stuttgart fans displayed a huge choreography saying “Back in Europe” behind one of the goals. It was the German team’s first Champions League match at home since a 1-1 draw with Barcelona in February 2010.



Girona Piles on Misery for Lowly Valladolid with Easy Victory

Girona's Arnaut Danjuma poses after scoring the 3-0 goal during the Spanish LaLiga soccer match between Girona FC and Real Valladolid CF, in Girona, Spain, 20 December 2024.  EPA/DAVID BORRAT
Girona's Arnaut Danjuma poses after scoring the 3-0 goal during the Spanish LaLiga soccer match between Girona FC and Real Valladolid CF, in Girona, Spain, 20 December 2024. EPA/DAVID BORRAT
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Girona Piles on Misery for Lowly Valladolid with Easy Victory

Girona's Arnaut Danjuma poses after scoring the 3-0 goal during the Spanish LaLiga soccer match between Girona FC and Real Valladolid CF, in Girona, Spain, 20 December 2024.  EPA/DAVID BORRAT
Girona's Arnaut Danjuma poses after scoring the 3-0 goal during the Spanish LaLiga soccer match between Girona FC and Real Valladolid CF, in Girona, Spain, 20 December 2024. EPA/DAVID BORRAT

Girona beat Valladolid 3-0 and snapped an unhappy run of six games without a win in La Liga on Friday.
The result lifted Girona two places to eighth while Valladolid stayed second from bottom with just three wins in 18 games.
Valladolid has conceded more goals than any other team but it could do nothing about the opener after 31 minutes. David López’s shot from outside the box took a deflection and wrongfooted goalkeeper Karl Hein.
Hein’s misery continued eight minutes later when he got a hand on Abel Ruiz’s header but could not stop him from doubling Girona’s lead.
Danjuma made it 3-0 for Girona after 80 minutes with a close-range snapshot.
The result came at the end of a turbulent week for Valladolid. The club’s Brazilian owner Ronaldo Nazário said he would sell the club and run for president of the Brazilian Football Confederation.
Valladolid’s former mayor criticized Ronaldo and said he “had made promises he didn’t keep.”
Fans have protested the Brazilian’s stewardship of the club.