Goals Galore and Last Minute Madness: A Champions League Matchday 1 Round Up

There is little debate that the highest-scoring game of the week was also the best in matchday 1. Two teams of elite European pedigree and two teams that have fallen by the wayside in recent years:

Game of the week – Borussia Dortmund 4-4 Juventus
The Dortmund team that were Champions League runners-up, just a year ago, seems a distant memory to the team that laboured to a fourth-place finish in the Bundesliga last year. Juventus’s break from the pinnacle of Europe has been even longer, having not reached a quarter-final since the 2018-19 season.

The game sprang alive in the 52nd minute when some close passing around the Juventus box saw Adeyemi find a pocket of space before firing a low driven shot passed Gregorio. Juventus’s response was special, Yildiz receiving the ball out wide, bent the ball into the far-right corner to even the game up in the 62nd minute.

Cue pandemonium. Just three minutes later, Nmecha finds himself on the edge of the box, and as the ball gets laid back to him, he bends it beautifully into the top corner. Before, Vlahovic, having just come on following Dortmund’s goal, found himself one vs one and dispatched with ease.

It was not long before Dortmund were back in front after a Couto strike saw the keeper napping at his front post, and their lead was doubled with a Bensebaini penalty after a Lloyd Kelly handball.

The game looked over, even when in the 93rd minute, Vlahovic got his second to halve Dortmund’s lead, but as so often is with the Champions League, it had one final twist.

As the game entered its dying embers, it was the unlikely figure of Lloyd Kelly who found himself unmarked in the Dortmund box to head home from close range. A raucous celebration ensued, and the German club will have left with the feeling that those were important points that had slipped away.

Biggest Winners – Qarabag Fk- Benfica 2-3 Qarabag
If anyone before the game had suggested Qarabag would win against an inform Benfica, yet to lose a league game in the Liga Portugal, away from home, they would either be a Qarabag fan or a Sporting one. When Qarabag conceded two early goals, I think even their most optimistic fans would have struggled to see them getting anything out of the game. But that they did.

Goals from Andrade, Duran and Kashchuk pulled off the biggest shock of matchday 1, and Gurbanov will be hoping to use the result to spur his players on to a playoff push.

Biggest loser – Luiz Junior, Tottenham 1-0 Villareal
Villareal were excellent against Spurs; they came with a game plan to defend well and find chances on the counter, and that is what they did. They managed to limit Spurs to just one shot on target and a point away from home to European Champions would have been invaluable.

It was, however, not to be, as Luiz Junior, Villereal’s keeper, would have his very own Rob Green moment. A Bergvall cross should have been comfortable for Junior as he dived to collect it, but the ball wriggled out from underneath him and rolled agonizingly into his own net and with that, an important point seems to have slipped the Spaniards by.

How did the other English teams get on?
Athletic Bilbao 0-2 Arsenal
Arsenal’s squad depth was on full display. With summer signings Eze and Madueke unable to break down a stout Bilbao defence, it was Martinelli and Trossard who proved the difference makers. Martinelli dispatched a one-on-one from a Trossard flick on, and then the goal scorer turned provider, pulling the ball back for Trossard to double Arsenal’s lead. In the end, it was all three points for the Gunners, but Mikel Arteta will be wanting improved performances as he hopes to lead Arsenal to their first ever Champions League.

Liverpool 3-2 Atletico Madrid
Liverpool, as they so often have this year, did not make it easy for themselves. They looked comfortable after storming into a two-goal lead courtesy of Robertson wrongfooting the keeper after a Salah free kick and goal.

Llorente then hauled Atletico Madrid back into the game with two excellent finishes, the second one being a superb volley after a Konate block looped back towards him.

It was not to be for Atletico, however, and for all the hard work getting back into the game, Van Dijk was able to free himself enough to head the ball home from a corner in the 92nd minute.

As happy as Slot will be with the three points, this is the third time this year Liverpool have let a two-goal lead slip, and that is something the Liverpool manager desperately needs to address.

Manchester City 2-0 Napoli
The return of Kevin De Bruyne to Manchester ended abruptly as the Belgian was forced off in a tactical change following an early red card for Di Lorenzo. From there, the Citizens dominated, and a smart Haaland finish, followed by a late Doku goal, saw the game out for Pep Guardiola’s team.

Chelsea 1-3 Bayern Munich
The Harry Kane show. 2 goals for the England forward were enough to see Bayern Munich beat a Chelsea team with a good deal more comfort than Enzo Maresca would have hoped. Olise opened the scoring before a tidy move was finished off by Cole Palmer, who marked his return since coming back from an injury picked up in the warm-up of their match against West Ham. Kane’s two goals without reply saw off any chance that Chelsea were to pick up any points.

Newcastle United 1-2 Barcelona
Marcus Rashford looked like a man reborn, free from the shackles of Manchester United. Newcastle started the game off well and did indeed seem like the more likely outfit to break the deadlock, but it was a Kounde cross and Rashford header that provided the opening. For as good as the header was, it did not come close to Rashford’s second. From 25 yards out, with Tonali pressing from behind, Rashford fired a shot into the top left corner.

Gordon’s late goal made the final few minutes a testy affair but ultimately the Newcastle pressure came to no avail.