UEFA has opened disciplinary proceedings against Eintracht Frankfurt and Marseille after Tuesday's Champions League fixture was marred by crowd trouble.

Eintracht claimed their first Champions League victory at the Stade Velodrome, but their 1-0 win was overshadowed by off-pitch events, with social media footage appearing to show the two sets of fans aiming fireworks at one another in the stands.

Further footage appeared to show an Eintracht supporter giving a Nazi salute within the stadium, leading the Europa League holders to condemn the incident in a strongly worded statement.

Eintracht said: "The club dissociates itself completely and utterly from the one isolated incident that occurred during the run-up to the UEFA Champions League match between Olympique de Marseille and Eintracht Frankfurt, where a gesture resembling a Nazi salute was made. 

"Anti-Semitic ideas are totally opposed to the club's categoric and immutable values and roots."

Asked about the incident after the win, Eintracht coach Oliver Glasner said: "I focus on the sporting aspect, my role is sport. But I believe that these idiots do not belong to football, nor to the world."

UEFA has now taken the decision to charge both clubs with several offences, with Eintracht's fans accused of the throwing of objects, lighting of fireworks, acts of damage and racist behaviour.

Marseille, meanwhile, have been charged with the throwing of objects, lighting of fireworks, use of laser pointers, crowd disturbances and blocking of public passageways. 

"Disciplinary proceedings have been instigated in accordance with Article 55 of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations following the UEFA Champions League group stage match between Olympique de Marseille and Eintracht Frankfurt played on 13 September 2022 in France," read a statement from UEFA.

"The UEFA disciplinary bodies will decide on the matter in due course."

Eintracht are set to face Premier League side Tottenham in back-to-back Champions League games in October, when Marseille will meet Sporting CP home and away.

Rangers will play the national anthem ahead of the Champions League clash against Napoli, seemingly defying direction from UEFA.

The passing of Queen Elizabeth II last Thursday has impacted the football schedule, with the weekend's action being called off and a period of silence set to take place before this week's continental matches involving British sides – except in the game between Shakhtar Donetsk and Celtic.

Ahead of the match, Rangers confirmed they would pay respects with an additional tribute, with the national anthem to be played before kick-off in Glasgow.

"Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will be honoured this evening at Ibrox with a minute's silence, a display created by the Union Bears, and a rendition of the Nation Anthem," Rangers said on Twitter.

"If you are attending tonight's match, we encourage all supporters to be in their seat for 19:50."

In a statement issued to Stats Perform, UEFA declared that no anthems would be played in this week's fixtures, including the Champions League anthem.

UEFA's statement read: "There will be no anthems played – this also includes the UEFA Champions League anthem – on the basis of maintaining a consistent pre-match ceremony with a subdued atmosphere and without any celebratory activities across all UK venues to show respect as we did last Thursday."

Rangers were set to face Napoli on Tuesday, but the match was pushed back to Wednesday due to the difficulties of staging such an event in Glasgow while the Queen's procession moved through Scotland.

Bayern Munich and France defender Lucas Hernandez has been ruled out "for several weeks" with an adductor injury sustained against Barcelona.

Hernandez opened the scoring for Bayern in Tuesday's 2-0 Champions League victory and played a full part at the Allianz Arena.

However, the 2018 World Cup winner suffered an injury during the match and is now facing a spell on the sidelines.

No timeline has been given by Bayern for Hernandez's recovery, but widespread reports suggest he is facing four to six weeks out of action.

That will see Hernandez miss France's upcoming Nations League games against Austria and Denmark – Les Blues' final fixtures ahead of their World Cup title defence in nine weeks' time.

Didier Deschamps has been hit by a number of injury issues ahead of naming his squad on Thursday, with the likes of Paul Pogba and Karim Benzema also nursing fitness problems.

In more positive news for France and Bayern, Benjamin Pavard has confirmed the knock that forced him off early on against Barcelona is nothing serious.

Hernandez, who can play at both left-back and centre-back, has started eight of Bayern's 10 matches this season.

After the year Karim Benzema has had, you could be forgiven for thinking he came straight from a computer game.

Appropriately, the Real Madrid and France striker has been awarded the highest rating in FIFA 23 ahead of its release later this month.

EA Sports has announced its ratings for the top 23 players for this year's edition of the popular football simulation, with Benzema the top-ranked on 91, while the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Kane have fallen.

Benzema scored 44 goals in 46 games in all competitions for Madrid last season as they went on to win both the LaLiga and Champions League titles, and has already notched four goals in six appearances this season.

Last year's top-ranked, Messi, has seen his rating fall from 93 to 91, and he now sits in fifth place behind Benzema, Robert Lewandowski, Kylian Mbappe and Kevin De Bruyne.

Ronaldo moves down five places to eighth as he is rated at 90, with Liverpool duo Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk placed between him and Messi in sixth and seventh, also on 90.

Harry Kane (89) has dropped nine places from last year's game to 17th, and now sits below Tottenham team-mate Son Heung-min, who is also rated 89 but is in 12th place on the list.

Manchester City hotshot Erling Haaland is up to 21st place on a rating of 88 after his electric start to life in England, where he has already scored 12 goals in eight games in all competitions.

FIFA 23 will be released on September 30, and will be the final iteration of the series after the licencing agreement between EA Sports and FIFA came to an end.

Top 10 FIFA 23 ratings

1. Karim Benzema - 91
2. Robert Lewandowski - 91
3. Kylian Mbappe - 91
4. Kevin De Bruyne - 91
5. Lionel Messi - 91
6. Mohamed Salah - 90
7. Virgil van Dijk - 90
8. Cristiano Ronaldo - 90
9. Thibaut Courtois - 90
10. Manuel Neuer - 90

Pep Guardiola does not like predicting the future.

Before a ball had been kicked this season, Manchester City's manager refused to solidify his team and Liverpool as favourites to push for the Premier League title again.

Based on Liverpool's underwhelming start to the campaign, perhaps Guardiola was right to hold off, and the City boss kept to the same tactic on Tuesday when asked if Erling Haaland – who has scored 12 goals in eight games in all competitions this season – could be the difference when it comes to the Citizens finally ending their wait for Champions League glory.

"I'm not able to know it," Guardiola said bluntly ahead of City's meeting with Haaland's former club Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday. "The team is playing well, so is he. But right now I don't know."

Where his manager had remained on the fence, Ilkay Gundogan – another former Dortmund star – was a little more forthcoming.

"We hope for it," City's captain told reporters when asked the same question. "Obviously having a proper number nine, proper striker, physically strong, determined is going to help us a lot, but we will see.

"Winning the Champions League is something incredible to achieve, a very tough competition; it's never easy and little details can decide the outcome. We'll try as hard as we can to go as far as possible."

Haaland's start to life in the Premier League has been nothing short of outrageous. He has netted 10 goals in six appearances, the joint-fastest player in the history of the competition to reach that tally, alongside Micky Quinn back in 1992. 

The 22-year-old wasted little time in transferring his domestic form to the European stage, too, scoring a double in City's 4-0 victory over Sevilla last week, and it is in the Champions League, not the Premier League, where City really need him to make the difference.

Only 36 players in Champions League history have scored more goals in the competition than Haaland, who has 25 from his 20 appearances in UEFA's flagship club tournament.

He is the first City player to score on both his Premier League and Champions League debuts for the club and the fourth player in the competition's history to score in his first appearance for three different teams (Salzburg, Dortmund and City), after Fernando Morientes, Javier Saviola and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Haaland's tally is the most by any player from their first 20 Champions League games, and should he score against Dortmund, he will be the second player to net in the competition both for and against the Bundesliga giants, after Ciro Immobile.

It was this kind of form that attracted City, who missed out on signing Harry Kane in 2021. 

With Sergio Aguero's availability becoming more limited as his time at City drew to a close, Guardiola enjoyed success without having to rely on a traditional striker. 

Although he enthused about Gabriel Jesus, who has made a blistering start at Arsenal, the Brazil international was often used out wide in the previous two campaigns, with Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, Raheem Sterling (now at Chelsea) and even Jack Grealish all filling in, at times, as a 'false nine' in Guardiola's fluid attack.

City won the league last season and the one before that. Indeed, four of the last five English titles have gone the way of Guardiola's side, and with or without Haaland, you'd have been brave to bet against them retaining the trophy this season.

Yet they have repeatedly fallen short in Europe. Having lost 1-0 to Chelsea – a team also utilising a false nine system – in the 2020-21 final, City last season had a plethora of chances to put their semi-final tie with Real Madrid to bed, only to lose after a remarkable comeback from Los Blancos in the second leg.

In Haaland, they have a player who should right those wrongs.

With De Bruyne, Silva, Foden and Co. providing the opportunities, Haaland was always bound to score, but his finishing has already exceeded expectations.

His 12 goals have come from shots with a cumulative expected goals (xG) value of 9.4. Essentially, he has scored close to three more goals than he would have been expected to, given the quality of chances he has been presented with.

Not that those opportunities have been particularly difficult ones, of course.

All of Haaland's 12 goals have come from 'big chances' – defined by Opta as an opportunity from which a player would be expected to score. 

No other player in Europe's top five leagues has had as many 'big chances' as Haaland, who has had 20 come his way including the Community Shield match against Liverpool in July. Neymar, who is flying high at Paris Saint-Germain, ranks second with 14. More evidence, perhaps, that he is the final piece of the puzzle in this incredibly creative City side. The player to see them over the line when push comes to shove.

City's top scorer in Europe last season was Gabriel Jesus, with four goals from six appearances. Haaland managed three in three, with injury limiting his minutes. Since he made his Champions League debut, for Salzburg in September 2019, only Robert Lewandowski (33) and Karim Benzema (26) have scored more goals in the competition. Both of those players have won the trophy in that time.

Guardiola might rightly refuse to predict the future, but one thing is for certain – with Haaland, City's chances of finally ending their wait for European glory look better than ever.

That is just what they bought him for.

Leon Goretzka says he is "annoyed" by reports about unrest within the Bayern Munich squad which he claims are not true.

Bayern and head coach Julian Nagelsmann have come under pressure following three straight Bundesliga draws, but they maintained their winning start in the Champions League with a 2-0 victory over Barcelona on Tuesday.

There have been reports of friction within the Bayern squad towards Nagelsmann, with issues including rotation and game time.

Goretzka came off the bench at half-time and played a key role in Bayern's win over Barcelona, with both goals coming in the second half. The appearance was only the 27-year-old midfielder's fifth of the season in all competitions after missing six weeks late in pre-season following knee surgery.

Bild claimed this week that the Germany international, along with new Dutch addition Ryan Gravenberch, were unhappy with their playing time this season, with the former specifically irritated when he learned he was not starting against the Blaugrana.

The report claimed that Goretzka felt his training performances warranted a starting position but Nagelsmann preferred Marcel Sabitzer in midfield to offer defensive stability to allow Joshua Kimmich to be more offensive minded.

"I promised myself that I'd not say anything about it because my words might be interpreted in a different way," Goretzka told reporters after Tuesday's win. "I have no problem with the coach not starting me today.

"I was out for six weeks and it was clear that I wouldn't play from the start. Sabi did a great job.

"These alleged problems in the dressing room are conveyed in a way that really annoys me. We get along really well in the team."

Leroy Sane, who netted Bayern's second goal in the 54th minute, threw a bottle in frustration after being substituted off in the 80th minute.

Sane embraced Nagelsmann along with teammates on the bench before throwing the bottle and going down the tunnel.

"I wasn't angry about my substitution," Sane explained.

"The bottle had to suffer a bit because I didn't play a good game. The goal was nice, but I wasn't entirely happy with my performance today."

Eintracht Frankfurt have condemned an alleged Nazi salute from a supporter during their 1-0 win at Marseille, with the club's first Champions League win overshadowed by crowd trouble.

Jesper Lindstrom's first-half goal guided Eintracht to their first Champions League victory, extending their unbeaten away run in Europe to seven matches.

However, what should have been a momentous night for Oliver Glasner's team was marred by off-pitch events, with social media footage seemingly showing the two sets of fans aiming fireworks at one another in the stands.

Further footage appeared to show a supporter making a Nazi salute within the stadium, leading the club to respond in the aftermath of their victory.

An Eintracht statement read: "The club dissociates itself completely and utterly from the one isolated incident that occurred during the run-up to the UEFA Champions League match between Olympique de Marseille and Eintracht Frankfurt, where a gesture resembling a Nazi salute was made. 

"Anti-Semitic ideas are totally opposed to the club's categoric and immutable values and roots.

"The person who can be seen on the video and who has yet to be identified reported of their own accord to the Eintracht Frankfurt fan representatives during the first half of the match and emphatically denies the accusation of anti-Semitic motives. 

"Eintracht Frankfurt will be conducting a detailed investigation of the events and the behaviour of the person involved."

Asked about the unsavoury scenes after the match, Eintracht coach Glasner said: "I focus on the sporting aspect, my role is sport. But I believe that these idiots do not belong to football, nor to the world.

"We all agree that they should not be given too much importance. I prefer to talk about football. This aggressiveness is not just a football problem, it is a general problem today."

Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer believes his side were "lucky" not to concede to Robert Lewandowski on his return to Bavaria.

The Poland international has been in sensational form since joining Barcelona, scoring a hat-trick on his Champions League debut for the Blaugrana against Viktoria Plzen last week, but he was unable to add to his tally at the Allianz Arena.

Lewandowski was thwarted by former team-mate Neuer from a close-range header after he had squandered an opportunity on the volley, blazing his attempt over the crossbar.

Both chances could have easily been taken by Lewandowski, and Neuer admitted that Bayern had benefitted from good fortune in their 2-0 victory.

"I think it was an emotional game for Lewy because he was very successful here in Munich. But we also know him as an opponent. Luck was not on his side in crucial moments," he told reporters.

"We're lucky that he sent that volley over the bar and I was there in the second chance. We showed a good defensive performance today."

Julian Nagelsmann also thought Lewandowski performed well despite failing to find the back of the net, acknowledging the majority of the pre-match talk centred on Bayern's reunion with the striker.

"I think he played a good game, I'm happy from our perspective that he didn't score. We saw that he was dangerous, we were able to defend him very well," he said.

"I saw him after the game and hugged him but he plays for a different club now, I have a lot of players I have to look out for.

"This week, I probably had 60 questions on Lewandowski, you can pose those questions to Xavi because he's not my player anymore."

Barcelona head coach Xavi, meanwhile, believes Lewandowski did not get overwhelmed by the occasion, stating: "I don't think he could have been pressured, with his maturity and experience. 

"It is a lack of effectiveness. It's football and this happens. And it happens in the stadium where it couldn't happen."

Virgil van Dijk took a swipe at Liverpool's critics after a vital Champions League win over Ajax lifted spirits at Anfield.

Captaining Jurgen Klopp's team on Tuesday, Van Dijk saw his fellow centre-back Joel Matip head home from a corner in the 89th minute to earn three priceless points for last season's runners-up.

Mohamed Salah had earlier broken his seven-game barren streak in the competition by firing Liverpool ahead, before a fine goal from Mohammed Kudus brought Ajax level.

The atmosphere inside the stadium was electric as Matip's goal was awarded, after Dusan Tadic's attempted clearance came from behind the line.

It meant Liverpool cast aside the misery of last week's 4-1 defeat to Napoli, and Dutchman Van Dijk said it should serve to remind players-turned-pundits of the team's great strengths.

Van Dijk told BT Sport: "Coming back from the horror show in Naples, it was very important for us to show a positive reaction, and it's not easy to turn it around, but this is a step to the right direction.

"It was very important to win today and get the good feeling going into the international break."

Asked about the key to turning around the team's fortunes, Van Dijk said: "Not listening to the outside world, that's the most important thing.

"It's funny sometimes, because there's a lot of ex-football players and they know exactly what we go through. They say a lot of things to try to get us down.

"We know that last week was unacceptable, it was very bad, and we tried to make it right. This is a step to the right direction. Don't get carried away of course, because we play so many games."

Van Dijk had a team-high four goal attempts and said: "I should have scored. We felt like we were dangerous at every set-piece, especially the corners, so it was our responsibility to at least convert one, and luckily the one and only Joel Matip did it."

Matip now has 10 goals across all competitions for Liverpool, and the team have nine wins and a draw from the 10 games in which he has found the net.

"I had a few opportunities before and I was happy that I could score," said former Schalke defender Matip. "I wasn't sure [it would be awarded], to be honest, but when I saw the referee then my emotions came out.

"It was a long and tough game, we tried over 90 minutes to create chances and were pushing forward, the whole team."

Manager Jurgen Klopp enjoyed the moment, with Liverpool playing between blank weekends, their latest Premier League games having been called off amid national mourning over the death of Queen Elizabeth II and a subsequent squeeze on police resources.

"I think everyone could see we understood we had to put a completely different shift into the game," Klopp said.

"We played a lot of good stuff against a really hard-fighting and good opponent. We should have scored more goals from set-pieces especially, I don't know how these balls didn't go in."

He was more than happy for it to be Matip, rather than a striker, coming up with the late heroics.

"I'm not picky in that sense," Klopp said. "It was a nice celebration and showed everything the boys thought today. Nothing is over, negative or positive, it is a first step and a very important step for us."

Club Brugge forward Kamal Sowah warned Champions League rivals to "watch out for us" after an impressive 4-0 away thrashing of Porto.

It was the Belgian side's joint-biggest away win in the competition, with Sowah getting on the scoresheet with a 47th-minute goal, his first for the club since signing in 2021 from Leicester City.

Also in the goals was 17-year-old substitute Antonio Nusa, whose 89th-minute finish made him the youngest player to score on a Champions League debut, as well as the second-youngest player in history behind Ansu Fati to net in the competition.

Brugge's victory means they top Group B and have won consecutive Champions League games for only the second time, and Sowah says the team must be taken seriously.

"It was a great moment to score my first goal for the club and in the Champions League no less," Sowah said, quoted by UEFA.

"I think I have been working so hard for this opportunity and everything just went our way in this game.

"It's not finished yet. It doesn't stop here, we have the next game coming. And suddenly everyone needs to watch out for us."

Bayern Munich head coach Julian Nagelsmann praised the second-half turnaround of his side in their 2-0 Champions League victory over Barcelona.

Manuel Neuer was called into action twice in the opening 45 minutes on Tuesday to deny former teammate Robert Lewandowski, with Barcelona having 10 attempts on goal in the first period – the highest first-half tally of any visiting side to the Allianz Arena in the competition since Fiorentina's 11 in October 2008.

Bayern improved after the break, though, taking the sort of opportunities Barcelona had squandered with Lucas Hernandez scoring from a corner and Leroy Sane quickly doubling the scoreline.

Nagelsmann was encouraged by the response of his side and their ruthless nature in the final third, having struggled in that regard in recent Bundesliga draws with Stuttgart and Borussia Monchengladbach.

"In the first half, we left the centre open a little bit too much," Nagelsmann said. "We didn't really have the best opportunities, but we had three or four great wins of the ball where Jamal [Musiala] didn't realise how open he was.

"Barca had the better chances because we were missing the final chance. Still, we can rely on Manuel Neuer who could save some great shots.

"In the second half, we were able to defend a lot better because we looked at a couple of things during the break; I was very happy with that.

"We were able to score that first goal from the corner, then we were able to score the second quickly after – we were able to open up Barcelona.

"It wasn't always easy to defend. We were strong in the second half, they were strong in the first half; we had those situations that we were able to show that we didn't show against Stuttgart or Gladbach, and in the end we won."

Although Bayern were able to secure what may prove to be a valuable victory, having already beaten Inter in this group stage, Sadio Mane had a quiet night, failing to attempt a shot or create a chance for a team-mate.

But Nagelsmann said: "He played a new position today that he didn't play as much in the last year at Liverpool. It's just normal with a new player who we still have to integrate, who is in a different team.

"I said last week: I'm hoping he pulls a couple of things to him and gets a little bit more confidence. We're very happy to have him, and we're trying to get him into our game."

Bayern Munich supporters protested against football fans being impacted by the death of Queen Elizabeth II during their Champions League fixture against Barcelona, unfurling a banner that called for authorities to "respect fans".

The Premier League postponed a full fixture programme last weekend following the passing of the UK's longest-reigning monarch, with the English Football League doing likewise.

While English top-flight football will resume on Friday, Manchester United's match against Leeds United, as well as Liverpool's trip to Chelsea, will not take place due to policing concerns on the weekend of the Queen's funeral.

The situation has also impacted European football; Arsenal's Europa League clash with PSV has been called off, while Rangers' Champions League meeting with Napoli was pushed back by one day.

Policing issues also mean Napoli are unable to take any supporters to Scotland for that match, which coach Luciano Spalletti described as a "real penalty" on Tuesday.

Against this backdrop, Bayern's fans displayed a message in the 26th minute of their match against Barcelona, which read: "Last-minute match delays and bans because of a royal's death? Respect fans!"  

Second-half goals from Lucas Hernandez and Leroy Sane helped Bayern to a 2-0 win over the Blaugrana, maintaining their perfect start to the Champions League campaign.

Xavi felt Barcelona's progress took "a step backwards" with their 2-0 defeat to Bayern Munich, even if he felt his side deserved to win the match.

Barca enjoyed the better of the first half in Tuesday's Champions League group game at the Allianz Arena without managing to put away any of their chances.

Former Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski had five shots alone in the first half, equating to an expected goals return of 0.54, compared to 0.3 for the home side combined.

But two goals in the space of four minutes early in the second half from Lucas Hernandez and Leroy Sane proved the difference as Bayern beat Barca for a fifth game running.

Barca's nine Champions League losses against Bayern are more than double the number they have suffered against any other side (four versus Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea).
 
The defeat in Bavaria was Barca's first of the season in what was their seventh game in all competitions, but Xavi did not believe the scoreline told the full story.

"We were better than Bayern today," he told Movistar+. "We forgave them too much, whereas they do not forgive – that is the difference.

"We had six or seven very clear chances. Their first goal came from an error in marking a corner; the second is also an error on our behalf.

"The first half today was totally ours and the result does not reflect what happened, but the Champions League is like that. If you forgive then you end up paying for it."

Bayern attempted just four shots in the first half, compared to nine in the second, with only 231 seconds separating Hernandez and Sane's goals.

Barca have dropped to second in Group C after two rounds of matches, three points behind Bayern and level with Inter, whom they now face home and away.

"We have to focus on the positives from this game and keep working as we look forward," Xavi added. "This is a step backwards, but we leave here with an undeserved defeat."

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

So that proved in Tuesday's Champions League clash at the Allianz Arena, a match billed as Robert Lewandowski's reunion with Bayern Munich, the club he left for Barcelona in a €50million deal just two months ago.

Yet in the end, the Poland international failed to make the impact many had predicted on his return to Bavaria, on a night of disappointment for Barca against opponents they must simply hate the sight of.

Two goals in the space of four minutes early in the second half from Lucas Hernandez and Leroy Sane proved the difference between the sides as Bayern made it five wins in a row against the Catalans by an aggregate 19-4 scoreline.

Going further back, this was Barca's ninth Champions League loss to Bayern, which is now more than twice as many as they have suffered against any other opponent in the competition (four v Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea).

Julian Nagelsmann had called on his Bayern side to "put on a show" amid growing doubts over his own future on the back of three successive league draws, Bayern's longest wait for victory in the Bundesliga in four years.

For 45 enthralling minutes, the hosts were second best and rather grateful that their former hero Lewandowski had stage fright on his first trip back to this ground.

The prolific striker had five shots alone in the first half, which was one more than the entire Bayern side, equating to an expected goals (xG) return of 0.5 compared to 0.3 for the hosts.

Lewandowski would have expected to capitalise during his time at Bayern – he scored 344 times in 375 appearances for the German giants – but this proved to be a rare off-day.

He also failed to get his head on Joshua Kimmich's delightful corner that was instead met by Hernandez for the opening goal of the contest. At that point, Barca had conceded 16 goals from the past 30 shots on target faced against Bayern in the Champions League.

That soon became 17 goals from 31 shots on target thanks to Sane's goal after the winger was played in by the ever-improving Jamal Musiala, who himself would not look out of place in the Barca side Xavi is desperately attempting to mould.

Going down 2-0 to Bayern is far from irreparably damaging from Xavi's perspective, even if it does end an unbeaten start to the season spanning six matches. If ever there was a game to truly gauge how far his side have come this season, this was very much it.

It was only a little over nine months ago that Xavi described a 3-0 loss in this fixture as "a harsh reality" for his side. Just weeks into the job, the club legend acknowledged Europa League-bound Barca could not consider themselves among Europe's elite clubs at that point.

The performance produced by Barcelona in the first half on Tuesday offered plenty of promise. They may not be back at their very best just yet, but the signs of improvement on the back of a busy transfer window are clear to see.

And while this game did not quite follow the script from Lewandowski's perspective, the former fan favourite – who finished the match with seven attempts and an xG of 0.8 – will have a second chance to inflict some pain on his old side when they face off again at Camp Nou next month.

Yet on the basis of this latest tussle between the heavyweight clubs, it seems no matter what ploy Barca take – even if that means nabbing their opponents' best player – the outcome will remain the same. Now that is a harsh lesson.

Simone Inzaghi was in no doubt as to the importance of Inter's 2-0 Champions League win at Viktoria Plzen, as he looks to navigate a path through a group containing Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

Having fallen to a 2-0 loss against Bayern last Wednesday, Inter were faced with the prospect of starting a Champions League campaign with back-to-back defeats for just the second time (after doing so in 2006-07).

But Edin Dzeko's cultured first-half finish put the Nerazzurri in control, and Denzel Dumfries made the points safe after Pavel Bucha was dismissed on the hour mark.

Inter have now won three of their last four Champions League away games, as many as they had in their previous 12 such matches.

Having triumphed 1-0 at Liverpool in the second leg of a last-16 tie in March, meanwhile, the Nerazzurri have won back-to-back away games in the competition for the first time since October 2011. 

Inzaghi, who began his news conference by labelling Barcelona and Bayern "the two best teams in the world at the moment", was aware of the importance of taking maximum points in the Czech Republic.

"We know we will face them, today the goal was to bring home the points," he said.

"We made easy a match that was not, no Italian team had won here in Plzen. It's a well-deserved victory, wanted by the boys, I'm happy.

"We are happy, because we knew that the opponent could not be underestimated. We knew the path of all the Italian teams that came here in Plzen. 

"The boys were good, they remained focused, and I congratulated them in the locker room."

Inter never looked likely to surrender the points after Dzeko swept into the bottom-right corner. The former Manchester City and Roma striker has now recorded 20 goal involvements in his last 21 Champions League appearances (14 goals, six assists).

While praising the forward's contribution, Inzaghi highlighted the importance of competition in the Inter attack as he revealed Romelu Lukaku should return from injury after this month's international break.

"Edin was good, like all his team-mates. I need everyone in defence, in midfield and in attack," he added.

"After the break Lukaku will return, and from match to match I will choose the attacking couple who will enter the field."

Plzen coach Michal Bilek, meanwhile, rued the ruthlessness of the Bosnia and Herzegovina international, declaring: "I said yesterday that a shot on goal was enough for him to score.

"He is a very good player and even today he managed to score like this. For the rest of the match I think that our players managed to control him well."