Paris St Germain's Kylian Mbappe rejoicing after scoring their second goal against Juventus in their Champions League Group H clash at Parc des Princes, Paris, France on Tuesday — Reuters PARIS, Sept 07 (Reuters): Kylian Mbappe played chief tormentor as Paris St Germain started their Champions League campaign by beating Juventus 2-1 at home on Tuesday, their first victory against the Italian side.
Mbappe opened the scoring with a stunning goal and added a second in the opening half before substitute Weston McKennie reduced the arrears after the break as the French champions' level went down a notch.
Juve had chances to equalise but keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma made several good saves to make up for a blunder for the visitors' goal, ensuring PSG beat the Italian side for the first time in nine meetings, having lost the last six.
Christophe Galtier's team are level on three points in Group H with Benfica, who beat Maccabi Haifa 2-0.
"We had a great first half, with big moments. We scored two beautiful goals and played as a compact team," said Galtier, leaving his Juve counterpart Massimiliano Allegri with regrets.
"We were too timid in the first half and it's not easy to recover from such a start against such a top team," the Italian said.
The heavy smoke from the pre-game flares and firecrackers was still in the air when PSG took the lead in stunning fashion, as Mbappe volleyed home from Neymar's brilliant flick over the Juve defence after five minutes.
Vitinha and Marco Verratti bossed the midfield, snuffing out counter-attacks as the home side made a strong start. Juve struggled to handle PSG on the left flank but had a chance in the 18th minute when Donnarumma denied Arkadiusz Milik with a superb save.
PSG, however, doubled their advantage four minutes later, with Mbappe finishing from just inside the area after a quick one-two with Achraf Hakimi for his eighth goal in his last seven Champions League matches.
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