Noah Okafor silenced Stamford Bridge tonight to earn a 1-1 draw for RB Salzburg against Chelsea in Graham Potter’s first match in charge as manager of the English club.
After a goalless first half, Chelsea took the lead three minutes into the second period through Raheem Sterling’s superb curling effort.
However, the visitors from Austria fought back as two youngsters with Nigerian heritage combined for the 75th minute equaliser.
Salzburg broke away and 21-year-old Junior Adamu, who was born in Nigeria to Nigerian parents but plays international football for Austria, delivered a low cross for 22-year-old Switzerland striker Okafor, born to a Nigerian father, to sweep home from close range.
Chelsea were unable to score another goal and they shared the points.
The London club now have just one point from their first two Group E matches, which translates to the worst start to a Champions League campaign in their history.
They are bottom of the group, with AC Milan on top with four points after their 3-1 victory over Dinamo Zagreb in Italy in the evening kick-off.
Dinamo Zagreb are second with three points, one ahead of third-placed Salzburg.
In another Champions League fixture in England tonight, Manchester City battled back from going behind to defeat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in Group G.
Jude Bellingham gave the Germans a shock lead in the 56th minute with a header, but John Stone’s stunning strike from outside the box and Erling Haaland’s acrobatic finish earned City their second straight win.
In the group’s other game tonight, FC Copenhagen and Sevilla played out a 0-0 draw in Denmark.
Paris Saint-Germain’s three superstars Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar were all on the scoresheet as they came from behind to beat their Israeli hosts Maccabi Haifa 3-1 in Group H.
The result took the French champions to the top of the group with six points, level with Benfica who shocked Juventus 2-1 in Italy.
Arkadiusz Milik fired the struggling Italian giants in front after just four minutes but Benfica responded with a Joao Mario penalty in the 43rd minute and David Neres’ goal 10 minutes into the second half.
Juventus and Maccabi Haifa are both without a point and bottom of the group standings.
In other games tonight, defending champions Real Madrid eased to a 2-0 win over RB Leipzig with Federico Valverde and Marco Asensio netting late goals, while Napoli overran Rangers 3-0 in Scotland.
Without their talisman Victor Osimhen, Napoli were still brilliant, earning an excellent away win through Matteo Politano, Giacomo Raspadori and Tanguy Ndombele despite missing a penalty earlier.
The Italians are on top of Group A with six points, followed by Liverpool and Ajax who have two each. Rangers are pointless at the bottom.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RESULTS
Manchester City 2-1 Dortmund
Rangers 0-3 Napoli
Juventus 1-2 Benfica
Maccabi Haifa 1-3 PSG
Real Madrid 2-0 Leipzig
Copenhagen 0-0 Sevilla
Shakhtar Donetsk 1-1 Celtic
Chelsea 1-1 RB Salzburg
