Rashford shines for Barcelona to beat Newcastle 2-1 in Champions League opener

Barcelona visited St James Park to face Newcastle United without Lamine Yamal, Alejandro Balde or Gavi, but it turned out they had nothing to worry about because Marcus Rashford scored two goals in the second half for the reigning La Liga champions to secure a 2-1 victory in the UEFA Champions League opener on Thursday.

When Rashford joined Barca on loan from Manchester United in late June, he was basically seen as a liability by the "Red Devils" and was not in his best form. He had made four appearances for Barca before the Champions League and only delivered one assist without netting once.

The first half in Newcastle ended scoreless and Rashford wasted a couple of chances. However, his moment came in the 58th minute when Jules Kounde's cross was headed into the opponents' goal to break the deadlock. Nine minutes later, the 27-year-old English striker intercepted a clearance in front of the hosts' box and fired into the top corner for his second goal of the night while doubling the advantage for the visitors.

"I'm not surprised, I'm not surprised," Barce coach Hansi Flick said after the match. "I said it yesterday that I think he's a fantastic player, a great talented player. His skills are unbelievable, his finishing is unbelievable and of course I said in the half-time, I said to him, 'please score two goals!'. No, it was not like that. But I think also in the first half, he tried to create chances. He had good dribblings but the finishing was at the end not right and the second half was different."

Newcastle didn't find the net until the 90th minute when Jacob Murphy set up a goal for Anthony Gordon, but they failed to score again and had to accept a loss at home.

Kevin De Bruyne's unpleasant return to Etihad Stadium

Kevin De Bruyne returned to the Etihad Stadium, where he played 10 seasons and lifted 19 trophies. However, he had to be substituted 27 minutes into the contest because of Napoli's defensive reorganization following Giovanni Di Lorenzo's red card for fouling Erling Haaland. Then the Belgian midfielder had to watch his side lose 2-0 in the road.

Phil Foden assisted Haaland to open the scoring for City with a header in the 56th minute. That's the 50th goal by the Norwegian striker in 49 Champions League matches, enabling him to reach that milestone quicker than any other player in the competition's history.

Nine minutes later, Jeremy Doku found the net again for the hosts to seal a 2-0 win.

In other matches on the night, Club Brugge cruised past Monaco 4-1 at home. Bayer Leverkusen held Kobenhavn 2-2 on the road. Sporting CP bagged a 4-1 win over Kairat at the Estadio Jose Alvalade. Eintracht Frankfurt walked over Galatasaray 5-1 at home.