Monaco marked their return to the Champions League with a shock 2-1 win over Barcelona on Thursday night.

The Ligue 1 side have not played in the competition in five years, but they took the lead in front of their fans.

Maghnes Akilouche fired in for 1-0 after Barca were reduced to 10 men thanks to Eric Garcia’s red card.

And although Lamine Yamal equalized for the Catalans, George Ilenikhena found the winner for Monaco.

In Bergamo, Atalanta played out a 0-0 draw with Arsenal, with David Raya producing a remarkable double save from a penalty.

Atletico Madrid beat RB Leipzig 2-1 and Bayer Leverkusen thrashed Feyernood 4-0 in the Netherlands.

Paris Saint-Germain needed a late dose of luck to beat Girona 1-0 in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday night.

The Ligue 1 champions toiled against the debutants at home for 88 minutes without finding the back of the net.

However, Nuno Mendes’ low cross was fumbled into his own net by goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga.

England Under-21 winger Jamie Gittens’ double set last year’s Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund on their way to a 3-0 victory at Club Brugge. Serhou Guirassy scored the third from the penalty spot.

Manchester City and Inter Milan played out a goalless draw at the Etihad.

In Scotland, Celtic thrashed Slovan Bratislava 5-1 to record their biggest win in the competition ever.

Eleven year old high rising Nigerian football star Hadriel Chukwuziterem Opara who has been attracting the attention of football coaches and scouts has been selected as one of the 12 players across Canada that will represent Elite X1 Canada in the prestigious NIKE powered Norwich City Mna Cup UK taking place from October 10-14, 2024.

According to the letter of invitation from the organisers, the tournament will enable the players engage in top level competition with 16 academy teams from renowned clubs like Liverpool, Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Sporting Lisbon and Norwich City.

The invitation letter also noted that the players will be exposed to world class facilities at Norwich City FC’s State-of-the – art Lotus training centre featuring advanced training environments like the exclusive Soccer Bot 360 system.

The organisers while stating that the tournament will enable the players showcase their talents on an international stage, assured that all the matches will be filmed, providing a valuable footage that could open doors to future opportunities.

Meanwhile Hadriel a Pepsi Academy product who has not hidden his intention of playing for the National U-15 team noted that he’s humbled by the invitation expressing hope that the programme will help him further improve his football skill.