Manchester United aren’t in the Champions League this season, but Thursday still stung. Their homegrown forward, Marcus Rashford, now on loan at Barcelona, scored twice at St. James’ Park — his first goals for the club — to sink Newcastle 2-1 and deliver Barça’s opening win of the 2025-26 campaign.
Across Manchester, City welcomed back Kevin De Bruyne in Napoli colors. The reunion didn’t last long. When Giovanni Di Lorenzo was sent off in the 21st minute, Napoli manager Antonio Conte sacrificed de Bruyne for a defender, cutting short his return to the Etihad.
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Erling Haaland struck in the second half to notch his 50th Champions League goal, reaching the milestone faster than anyone before him — just 49 matches. Jeremy Doku added to the tally with a goal in the 65th minute and Man City would hold on for the 2-0 win.
Sporting CP took care of business against Kairat Almaty. Francisco Trincão opened the scoring in the 44th minute, and from there the Portuguese side never looked back on their way to a comfortable 4-1 win.
In Germany, Eintracht Frankfurt and Galatasaray traded blows before the match turned chaotic. Galatasaray could have gone two up when Barış Alper Yılmaz had a golden chance in the 24th minute, but he bumbled his set piece. Instead, Frankfurt clawed back, capitalizing on two own goals before Can Uzun struck in first-half stoppage time to put them ahead. Two more goals for the German side made for an incredible finish, just not for the Turkish team.
In the early Thursday matches, Club Brugge scored three times in the first half en route to a convincing 4-1 victory over Monaco. Copenhagen held a 1-0 lead until the final 10 minutes and then the goals kept coming against Bayer Leverkusen. Alejandro Grimaldo leveled for Bayer in the 82nd minute, but that was followed by Robert’s goal to put Copenhagen ahead. Finally, Pantelis Hatzidiakos’ own goal helped rescue a point for the German side in the 91st minute.
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Champions League Matchday 1 scores for Sept. 18, 2025
FT: Club Brugge 4, AS Monaco 1
FT: Copenhagen 2, Bayer Leverkusen 2
HT: Eintracht Frankfurt 5, Galatasaray 1
HT: Manchester City 2, Napoli 0
HT: Newcastle United 1, Barcelona 2
HT: Sporting CP 4, Kairat Almaty 1
Here’s how Thursday’s matches unfolded live:
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