Star-studded Paris Saint-Germain were held to a surprise 1-1 draw by Club Brugge on Wednesday night in Group A in Flanders.
Lionel Messi made his debut for PSG, joining the XI alongside former Barcelona teammates Neymar and Kylian Mbappe for the first time since joining the Catalan giants in the summer.
Despite a long list of high-profile arrivals in Paris, it was Ander Herrera who opened the scoring for the visiting side in the 15th minute, reaching behind him to hit a left-footed shot into the home when Mbappé interrupted him. I kicked out. penalty area.
"We didn't play a great game, but to be fair we did enough to win, we deserved to win," Herrera said.
"Maybe they had chances at the start of the second half but I think we controlled the match, we had a lot of chances."
Brugge struck back before half an hour when Hans Vancken powered off an inch-perfect cross from Eduard Sobol to put the match back on level terms by shooting Keeler Navas in the center of the box for the first time.
Mauricio Pochettino's side found themselves under pressure from the Belgian champions after Leveller, but they managed to reach the dressing room at half-time in a 1–1 draw.
Mbappe, who went on the field in the first half and came out briefly, then went off the pitch at the start of the second after an awkward tussle with a pair of Brugge defenders and was replaced by Mauro Icardi.
In the second half both sides pushed for the lead, and Messi had the Argentine yellow for a challenge on Brugge's Matt Ritts about 70 minutes before by Simon Mignolet.
"I didn't have much work to do, I just saved some. We played as a compact team, it was the right approach," said the Belgian.
There were no winners for either club and the teams scored a point each to overtake Manchester City, who beat RB Leipzig in the group on Wednesday.
After the match, Pochettino urged patience with PSG's new attacking trio: "They need time to shine together.
"It requires work. I made it clear that we are not a team yet, we have to work for it."