Julian Alvarez shone as Manchester City came from behind to begin their Champions League defence with a comfortable 3-1 win over Red Star Belgrade.

Julian Alvarez shone as Manchester City came from behind to begin their Champions League defence with a comfortable 3-1 win over Red Star Belgrade.
The treble winners were stunned when the Serbian champions claimed a shock lead against the run of play through Osman Bukari just before half-time in Tuesday's Group G clash at the Etihad Stadium.
Alvarez levelled quickly after the break and was then responsible for City taking the lead as his free-kick was punched into goal by the otherwise excellent Red Star goalkeeper Omri Glazer.
Rodri, matchwinner against Inter Milan in last season's final, then wrapped up a thoroughly deserved victory with a typically composed finish 17 minutes from time.
Prior to taking the lead, City had completely dominated the game, with Glazer producing a series of fine saves to thwart the hosts and Erling Haaland hitting the crossbar.
The hosts finally started to take their chances in the second period but could have scored plenty more with Kyle Walker having an effort disallowed, Haaland again hitting the woodwork and Alvarez finding the side-netting.
Red Star boast plenty of European pedigree as winners of the competition in 1991 but, facing the continent's present pre-eminent force, they were completely outplayed.
City had their first chance after nine minutes when Phil Foden had an effort deflected over and Rodri then jinked into the area before testing Glazer.
It was the start of a busy half for the Israeli keeper, who also denied Alvarez twice and kept out a point-blank header from Foden.
He could do little about City's best chance of the opening period as Haaland met a floated Foden cross with a firm header but the bar came to his aid.
Haaland had another good chance to put City ahead but turned over from in front of goal.
City were made to rue their wasted chances as Red Star, who had looked to counter-attack when possible, grabbed a shock lead on the stroke of half-time.
The hosts were punished for playing a high line as Bukari was played through by Mirko Ivanic and slotted coolly past Ederson.
It initially looked like an offside flag might spare City but the goal was awarded following a VAR review.
City, who brought on Jeremy Doku for Bernardo Silva in the closing moments of the first half, quickly regrouped and equalised two minutes after the interval.
Alvarez finished superbly after being played in by Haaland, cleverly dinking over Glazer.
Walker thought he had put City ahead moments later only to be ruled offside.
City claimed the lead just before the hour as Alvarez curled a free-kick from the left into the box. Glazer came out to punch but failed to make clean contact and the ball flew in after skimming the back his hand.
Haaland went close again when he headed against a post before Alvarez lashed just wide.
City finally gave the scoreline a more realistic look when Rodri claimed their third.
The Spaniard turned Vladimir Lucic outside the area after good work by Foden and strode forward to pass the ball into the far bottom corner.

Julian Alvarez shines as Man City start Champions League title defence with victory

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Vodacom Soccer | News | Julian Alvarez shines as Man City start Champions League title defence with victory

Mauricio Pochettino says Chelsea's owners must look past their disappointment and back him to implement the plan he was hired to draw up.

Mauricio Pochettino says Chelsea's owners must look past their disappointment and back him to implement the plan he was hired to draw up in order to lift the club out of their slump.
Defeat to Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge on Sunday means the team have taken an average of 0.85 points per game over the last 35 matches, three short of a full league season.
Over a single campaign they would have won 32 points, a tally that would have seen them relegated in every Premier League season since the league became 38 games in 1995, and would have left them bottom of the table in five of them.
That run goes back to October 19 last year when the team, then managed by Graham Potter, drew 0-0 away at Brentford.
Pochettino is the fourth manager to have led the side in that period, with Potter having been removed on April 2 and Frank Lampard taking over until the end of the campaign, with a single game in charge for caretaker boss Bruno Saltor.
Despite the turnover of coaches, the Blues have won only six times in the league in the 11 months since, drawing 12, giving them a return of 30 points from 35 games.
The squad assembled by co-owner Todd Boehly's Clearlake Capital consortium at a cost of more than £1billion over the last 16 months are currently 14th in the table after six games and have not scored in 285 minutes of play.
Pochettino encouraged supporters to keep faith and focus on the quality of recent performances rather than the club's relegation form over the last year.
"It's about learning, it's about the process," he said after Ollie Watkins' second-half goal for Villa condemned his side to their third loss of the season.
"We are a young team (in) a process that they need to learn all together. It's difficult to talk about positives because when you lose it's difficult, but we need to talk about positive things.
"No doubt that with time the team is going to perform, but of course now we cannot hide the situation. It's a situation that disappoints all the fans, the club, us and the players.
"They (the owners) are disappointed, they arrive to the club and (were) so excited to build some project. Of course they feel disappointed, but at the same time they need to support the plan."
If there was a bright spot for Chelsea it was the return of striker Armando Broja after nine months out with an ACL injury.
The Albania international came off the bench in the second half and headed wide in the closing minutes as the team sought an equaliser.
"It was good to see Broja after nine, 10 months," said Pochettino. "Again I think to have the possibility to have different options is good for the team. But he needs to build his confidence also."
Watkins' goal was his first in the league this season and the striker admitted it was a weight off his shoulders.
"The first one is always hard to get," Watkins told VillaTV.
"I'm delighted to get off the mark now.
"It's a bit of a relief, really, because the more the games go by, there's a lot of talk and pressure.
"But I just try and block that out and I back myself in front of goal no matter what anyone says.
"I'm looking forward to the games coming up now and plenty more goals for the season."

Mauricio Pochettino urges Chelsea owners to support his revival plan

Liverpool defender Kostas Tsimikas has signed a new long-term contract with the club.

Liverpool defender Kostas Tsimikas has signed a new long-term contract with the club.
Tsimikas joined Liverpool from Olympiacos on a five-year contract in 2020 and the terms of the 27-year-old's new deal have not been disclosed.
The Greece left-back told Liverpool's official website: "I feel very glad to be here to extend my contract. I feel like all the sacrifices I did and other things, the work I put in, everything pays off.
"But this keeps me fully motivated for the rest. As I've said in many, many interviews, this team has many, many things to achieve all together and I wanted to be from the first minute a part of it."
Tsimikas has made 63 appearances and provided 12 assists since joining Liverpool for a fee of around £11.7million.
He has made one Premier League appearance this season, off the bench against Bournemouth in August, and started in last week's Europa League win against LASK in Austria.

Kostas Tsimikas signs contract extension with Liverpool

Ange Postecoglou hailed Tottenham's bravery at Arsenal, but expressed his bemusement at the handball rule in the 2-2 draw.

Ange Postecoglou hailed Tottenham's bravery at Arsenal, but expressed his bemusement at the handball rule and joked "armless defenders" will be required after Cristian Romero gave away a penalty in the 2-2 draw.
Spurs grabbed a share of the north London derby spoils after captain Son Heung-min struck either side of half-time.
An own-goal from Romero in the 26th minute broke the deadlock at the Emirates, with the Argentina defender deflecting Bukayo Saka's shot beyond team-mate Guglielmo Vicario.
Son fired home before half-time from James Maddison's cross, but Arsenal made the perfect start following the restart when Romero was penalised for handball after he blocked Ben White's shot from close proximity.
Saka rolled home the 54th-minute spot-kick but 108 seconds later Tottenham were level when Maddison won possession from Jorginho and played in Son, who netted his 150th Spurs goal.
"It's not about being happy with the result, for me it was about the performance," Postecoglou said.
"You can get a result here, a draw, and like I said before you can walk away knowing that ‘you know what, we escaped', but I don't have that feeling now.
"I think we went toe-to-toe with a top team and at times I thought we really asserted our dominance on the game. At times they did but that's what happens when you face top sides.
"Even if we had lost today, and I don't like losing, but for me to keep pushing these guys, they need to feel that out there that what we talk about and work on, they can see it come to fruition and when it does against a top team, being brave with our approach, that's the key thing. For me I'm pleased."
Postecoglou was less enthusiastic about the decision to award a penalty for Romero's close-range block on White and likened it to the handball given against Wolves' Joao Gomes at Luton on Saturday.
He added: "I've got no idea about the handball rule. I really don't. I saw the one yesterday at Wolves and it just seems if it hits your hand it's a penalty and then other times if it hits your hand, it isn't a penalty.
"I've got no idea. It is the one rule in the game I just don't understand.
"Unless we start developing armless defenders I don't know how you are supposed to block things and be in a natural position.
"It is what it is. You kind of hope these things even themselves out over the course of a year but I don't understand the handball rule.
"I think any clarity would be good because I have got no idea."
Opposite number Mikel Arteta was disappointed Arsenal failed to make it three wins in a row over their rivals.
A key moment occurred after Romero's own-goal when Gabriel Jesus won back possession from Maddison inside the area, but his 14-yard effort was blazed over the crossbar.
Arteta said: "We are very disappointed not to earn the three points, that's for sure, and especially when you go in front twice in the game and have the opportunity to win it.
"We had control of the game, could have made it 2-0 with Gabi and then you concede the goal and you have to bounce back. We did and scored the goal but it's a shame that within a minute you concede the other one.
"I think that affected the team emotionally quite a lot and we lacked some composure to make more passes in the final third."
Arteta also leapt to the defence of Jorginho, who was introduced at half-time in place of the injured Declan Rice, after the ex-Chelsea midfielder was robbed of possession by Maddison for Tottenham's second goal.
"What happened is I love him and we love him," the Arsenal boss insisted.
"Errors are part of football. They're allowed to make errors because they play and we don't play. We are all with him."

Ange Postecoglou praises Tottenham's bravery, questions handball rule

Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp hailed the "massive steps" Darwin Nunez has made this season after his key contribution in the 3-1 win over West Ham.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp hailed the "massive steps" striker Darwin Nunez has made already this season after his key contribution in the 3-1 win over West Ham.
The Uruguay international's fourth goal of the season – which keeps him level with Mohamed Salah, who netted the opening penalty – was pivotal in turning the match the hosts' way after Jarrod Bowen's diving header had restored parity.
Substitute Diogo Jota's late goal made sure of a fifth successive Premier League victory to move the Reds into second place in the table, but it was Nunez's all-round display that particularly caught the eye, his brilliant volley the game's standout moment.
"He has made massive steps in the last few weeks. He is a threat. You all saw the goal, that was probably pretty good, right? That was really strong," Klopp said.
"Incredible. Everybody is looking at me when I talk about the goals but these eyes – I saw it only once – can't wait to see it properly back.
"He was always available. It's super-important for us now that we have a ball player: chip the ball (into him), get it on the chest and play from there.
"That's how we scored the third goal at Wolves, super-important for us. The defensive work he puts in is probably the main difference.
"He always wanted (to do it) but it was less coordinated. Now that looks much better.
"We have found a way to do it around him, Curtis (Jones) and Dom (Dominik Szoboszlai) help a lot, how flexible they are in that way. It's really good, absolutely."
In the end the result was comfortable but for long periods that was not the case as a resilient West Ham always posed a threat and were good at breaking up Liverpool's momentum.
"It was expected. A difficult game; some very good moments in the first half but we were not enough in control to deny them completely.
"I really thought we played good in different phases, lost some balls we shouldn't have lost, but we scored our goal which was a super counter-attack.
"When they scored, I was not completely surprised. We should have defended it better, that's clear. The most important is you stay in the game and that's what we did in the second half.
"We controlled much better and gave them a proper challenge. We really caused them some problems and we scored some super goals."
West Ham manager David Moyes, who has yet to win in 20 career visits to Anfield, was frustrated his side could not hold on for longer at 1-1.
"We did a pretty good job in first half. We created a few chances in the first half," he said.
"We were probably trying to offer them problems and until the penalty I thought we had a really good grasp of the game.
"I thought Liverpool counter-attacked us more than we did to them because we had really good control of the game.
"You might come here and only get three chances and they will get 10 and have to hope they will miss nine and we take two.
"I was disappointed with the second goal. Lots of positives to take but more disappointed with the second and third goal, probably more the third."
Moyes has also dismissed the chances of re-signing former midfielder Jesse Lingard, who trained with the club after leaving Nottingham Forest as a free agent in the summer, with the player now seemingly destined for Saudi Arabia.
"I am quite comfortable, more than relaxed with it," he added. "We like Jesse a lot, I just don't know if we need another player in the position."