The Champions league started this week with new signings and reconstructed squads, the groups were already decided before and it was time for the teams to display the quality of their sides. The matchday 1 had 16 matches between the best sides in Europe and the expectations were really high of the fans who were supporting their clubs from home. Big clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Manchester City had their matches and were expected to start the season with a win.
Lazio 3-1 Borussia Dortmund
Considered as the underdogs of the tournament Dortmund have been a side who has displayed exceptional performances throughout the past few years and with Halaand being one of the key man of the squad, high expectations from the sensational striker was down the drain when Lazio took a two goal lead and the powerhouse trio of Reus, Halaand and Sancho were only able to score one goal. It was Ciro Immobile who opened the score for Lazio and later in the game assisting Jean Akpa winning the game by two goals.
Paris Saint-Germain 1-2 Manchester United
Bruno Fernandes managed to score another penalty for United 23 minutes in to give the visitors the lead. After a Martial own goal levelled things up ten minutes after half time, it took the dying stages of the match for Marcus Rashford to score the winner for United. United has recently experienced a lot of defensive mistakes and have given away goals in important games but were able to neutralise the trio of Neymar, Mbappe and former United player Di Maria.
Real Madrid 2-3 Shakhtar Donetsk
One of the most shocking results of match day 1, the 13 time champion bottled the game against Shakhtar, with the El Classico down the corner its was not the portrayal Real were seeking to give. Shakhtar were blindingly fast and precise in their counter-attacks, which gave the Madrid defence some real headaches. Modric’s screamer from 25-yards out managed to pull Real back into the competition. But alas, it was heartbreak for the Madridistas as a Fede Valverde goal in the dying stages of injury time was ruled out for Vinicius obstructing the vision of the goalkeeper.
Inter 2-2 Borussia Mönchengladbach
The first half ended level for both teams involved, with neither able to open the scoring. Shortly after half time, Romelu Lukaku gave Inter the lead from close range. However, as Gladbach pulled one back from the penalty spot shortly after, it was short-lived. The last minutes of regulation time saw the Germans take the lead and let Lukaku go five minutes later to save the day again for the Conte squad.
Ajax 0-1 Liverpool
The own goal of Nicolas Tagliafico was sufficient for Liverpool to defeat Ajax 1-0 in the Champions League, but it was the display of provisional centre-back Fabinho that inspired the long-term absence of Virgil Van Dijk. As expected, alongside Joe Gomez, the 35th centre-back partnership to begin for Jurgen Klopp, the Brazil midfielder fell into the back four, and he barely put a foot wrong in Amsterdam.
In other games the score line is shared below:-
- Zenit 1-2 Club Brugge
- Dynamo Kyiv 0-2 Juventus
- Chelsea 0-0 Sevilla
- Rennes 1-1 Krasnodar
- Barcelona 5-1 Ferencvaros
- RB Leipzig 2-0 Istanbul Basaksehir
- RB Salzburg 2-2 Lokomotiv Moscow
- Manchester City 3-1 Porto
- Olympiakos 1-0 Marseille
- Midtjylland 0-4 Atalanta
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