• Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring the second goal in the 2-1 Champions League win against Juventus at Parc des Princes on September 6, 2022. AFP
    Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring the second goal in the 2-1 Champions League win against Juventus at Parc des Princes on September 6, 2022. AFP
  • Kylian Mbappe celebrates with Vitinha and Neymar after scoring the first goal. EPA
    Kylian Mbappe celebrates with Vitinha and Neymar after scoring the first goal. EPA
  • Kylian Mbappe celebrates his first. EPA
    Kylian Mbappe celebrates his first. EPA
  • Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring his second. EPA
    Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring his second. EPA
  • Kylian Mbappe with teammate Nuno Mendes. EPA
    Kylian Mbappe with teammate Nuno Mendes. EPA
  • PSG's Lionel Messi in action with Juventus' Leandro Paredes. Reuters
    PSG's Lionel Messi in action with Juventus' Leandro Paredes. Reuters
  • PSG's Neymar during the Champions League match against Juventus at the Parc des Princes. AP
    PSG's Neymar during the Champions League match against Juventus at the Parc des Princes. AP
  • Juventus midfielder Weston McKennie celebrates after pulling a goal back. AFP
    Juventus midfielder Weston McKennie celebrates after pulling a goal back. AFP
  • McKennie scores at the Parc des Princes. AP
    McKennie scores at the Parc des Princes. AP

Kylian Mbappe sparkles as PSG open Champions League campaign with win over Juventus


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Kylian Mbappe struck twice as Paris St Germain launched their latest quest for Champions League glory with victory over Juventus at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday.

Mbappe's two goals were stunning, the first coming after an outrageous scooped assist by Neymar inside five minutes and the second at the end of a superb move midway through the first half.

PSG were cruising at half-time before being given a wake-up call early in the second half as substitute Weston McKennie headed Juventus back into the game.

Yet Juve are a faded force compared to just a few years ago and came to the French capital without several key players, including former PSG star Angel di Maria.

They could not find an equaliser and the Parisians claimed their first three points in Group H, leaving them level with Benfica, who beat Maccabi Haifa 2-0.

Mbappe, along with his coach Christophe Galtier, had come in for stiff criticism in France in the 24 hours leading up to this game for laughing when a question was put to him in the pre-match press conference about his club's decision to travel for last weekend's league visit to Nantes by private jet rather than take a more environmentally-friendly train.

The World Cup winner's performance here suggested none of the negative headlines had remotely bothered him, as Mbappe confirmed exactly why PSG were so desperate to keep him at the end of last season when he seemed set to depart for Real Madrid.

Mbappe signed a new deal in Paris to 2025 with the aim of leading his hometown team to a first Champions League title after a decade of disappointing defeats and occasional humiliations at the business end of the competition.

He needed just five minutes to open the scoring on a balmy evening at the Parc des Princes after linking up brilliantly with Neymar, one of his rivals for the limelight in PSG's squad of superstars.

Mbappe, coming in from the left, supplied Neymar before continuing into the box to meet the Brazilian's delightful return pass with a volley across goalkeeper Mattia Perin and into the far corner.

Juve, with two ex-PSG players in their side in Leandro Paredes and Adrien Rabiot, nearly equalised in the 19th minute when Arkadiusz Milik's header from a Juan Cuadrado cross was parried out by Gianluigi Donnarumma.

It was 2-0 just three minutes later, as Mbappe played an electrifying exchange with Achraf Hakimi this time before sending another first-time strike past Perin.

With Marco Verratti and summer signing Vitinha constantly robbing balls in midfield, Lionel Messi slipping in between the Juve defence and midfield to play intelligent passes, and Mbappe seeking to deploy his electrifying pace, PSG were cruising.

But Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri sent on McKennie for the ineffective Fabio Miretti at half-time, and the United States international reduced the deficit in the 53rd minute.

Paredes played a short corner on the left to Filip Kostic, and his cross was headed home by McKennie with Donnarumma caught in no-man's land.

The home side then had Donnarumma to thank for a fine save to keep out a Dusan Vlahovic header, although in truth a bigger margin of victory for PSG would not have been undeserved, with Perin keeping out a late Neymar volley.

Mbappe now has nine goals in six games for his club this season, and has scored eight in his last seven Champions League appearances.

The specs

Engine: 6.2-litre supercharged V8

Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm

Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 19.6 l/100km

Price: Dh380,000

On sale: now 

The%20specs
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Company%20Profile
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Profile

Name: Carzaty

Founders: Marwan Chaar and Hassan Jaffar

Launched: 2017

Employees: 22

Based: Dubai and Muscat

Sector: Automobile retail

Funding to date: $5.5 million

La Mer lowdown

La Mer beach is open from 10am until midnight, daily, and is located in Jumeirah 1, well after Kite Beach. Some restaurants, like Cupagahwa, are open from 8am for breakfast; most others start at noon. At the time of writing, we noticed that signs for Vicolo, an Italian eatery, and Kaftan, a Turkish restaurant, indicated that these two restaurants will be open soon, most likely this month. Parking is available, as well as a Dh100 all-day valet option or a Dh50 valet service if you’re just stopping by for a few hours.
 

Our legal advisor

Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.

Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation. 

Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.

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Updated: September 06, 2022, 9:58 PM