It is always fascinating to watch the first round of Champions League group stage. It is especially interesting in the prospective of challengers and underdogs, who get only 6 chances to justify their presence in the tournament. Some of them have already achieved something tangible, something they will be proud of even if they do not build up on the successful start.
Let’s look at the 16 incredible matches closely.
Group A
PSG-Dynamo 4-1
(Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, Alex, Pastore - Veloso)
The Paris boys are the only team that scored 4 goals in the first round. They fully deserve to be the leaders in this parameter. They totally declassified their Ukrainian guests. They showed quality football, despite the first three goals coming from set pieces. Miguel Veloso, who was one of the few Dynamo players who deserved a positive character, scored a consolation goal for his team three minutes before the final whistle.
Dinamo-Porto 0-2 (Lucho, Defour)
The match didn’t impress with anything extraordinary other than Jackson Martinez’s horrible miss in the first half, when he took the ball away from the Dinamo goalkeeper, dribbled away from him and… forgot what he had to do with it. But Porto won anyway, thanks to its conditional advantage over the hosts. Two goals scored in the dying minutes of both halves earned the first three points for the Portuguese champions.
Next matches:
Porto-PSG
Dynamo-Dinamo
Intrigue: PSG’s toughest match in the season so far. Are they superficial over big teams like Porto as well? Is Porto capable of surprises without Hulk?
Group B
Montpellier-Arsenal 1-2 (Belhanda-Podolski, Gervinho)
The French champions were quick to score, but Arsenal even quicker to respond. Not an easy win, but surely a match which developed in accordance to Arsene Wenger’s scenario. The referee of the match appointed the first penalty of the tournament, which Belhanda converted in Panenka’s style.
Olympiacos-Schalke 04 1-2 (Abdun-Hoewedes, Huntelaar)
An interesting match, where Schalke needed some time to calm the enthusiastic hosts down. Huntelaar had a chance to score his second goal, but missed the penalty.
Next matches:
Schalke 04-Montpellier
Arsenal-Olympiacos
Intrigue: Do the French champions have any chances to fight for the Play-offs?
Group C
Malaga-Zenit 3-0 (Isco (2), Saviola)
The Russian champions showed one of their worst performances under Spalletti’s management. Isco, one of the brightest players of the first matchday, did everything he wanted under the Zenit defenders’ tolerance. The score could be much worse, if not Malafeev’s saves. A very inspirational performance by Malaga – a team, the potential of which was not known broadly. However, the next matches are going to be more difficult for Malaga, which suddenly became a hot favorite to advance from their group.
Milan-Anderlecht 0-0
Anderlecht showed some strength, to hold the Italian team to a draw in San Siro. Milan didn’t impress at all, but this story has already been discussed too many times. A very boring match for a neutral fan, by the way.
Next matches:
Zenit-Milan
Anderlecht-Malaga
Intrigue: Zenit or Milan: which of the two is in a deeper crisis? Can Spalletti impress the management of the team, which is constantly being reported to be interested in the coach’s service? Kerzhakov is, by the way, already forgiven by Don Luciano after the Hulk-transfer-related scandal found him and Denisov relegated to the reserve team.
Let’s look at the 16 incredible matches closely.
Group A
PSG-Dynamo 4-1
(Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, Alex, Pastore - Veloso)
Dinamo-Porto 0-2 (Lucho, Defour)
The match didn’t impress with anything extraordinary other than Jackson Martinez’s horrible miss in the first half, when he took the ball away from the Dinamo goalkeeper, dribbled away from him and… forgot what he had to do with it. But Porto won anyway, thanks to its conditional advantage over the hosts. Two goals scored in the dying minutes of both halves earned the first three points for the Portuguese champions.
Next matches:
Porto-PSG
Dynamo-Dinamo
Intrigue: PSG’s toughest match in the season so far. Are they superficial over big teams like Porto as well? Is Porto capable of surprises without Hulk?
Group B
Montpellier-Arsenal 1-2 (Belhanda-Podolski, Gervinho)
The French champions were quick to score, but Arsenal even quicker to respond. Not an easy win, but surely a match which developed in accordance to Arsene Wenger’s scenario. The referee of the match appointed the first penalty of the tournament, which Belhanda converted in Panenka’s style.
Olympiacos-Schalke 04 1-2 (Abdun-Hoewedes, Huntelaar)
An interesting match, where Schalke needed some time to calm the enthusiastic hosts down. Huntelaar had a chance to score his second goal, but missed the penalty.
Next matches:
Schalke 04-Montpellier
Arsenal-Olympiacos
Intrigue: Do the French champions have any chances to fight for the Play-offs?
Group C
Malaga-Zenit 3-0 (Isco (2), Saviola)
The Russian champions showed one of their worst performances under Spalletti’s management. Isco, one of the brightest players of the first matchday, did everything he wanted under the Zenit defenders’ tolerance. The score could be much worse, if not Malafeev’s saves. A very inspirational performance by Malaga – a team, the potential of which was not known broadly. However, the next matches are going to be more difficult for Malaga, which suddenly became a hot favorite to advance from their group.
Milan-Anderlecht 0-0
Anderlecht showed some strength, to hold the Italian team to a draw in San Siro. Milan didn’t impress at all, but this story has already been discussed too many times. A very boring match for a neutral fan, by the way.
Next matches:
Zenit-Milan
Anderlecht-Malaga
Intrigue: Zenit or Milan: which of the two is in a deeper crisis? Can Spalletti impress the management of the team, which is constantly being reported to be interested in the coach’s service? Kerzhakov is, by the way, already forgiven by Don Luciano after the Hulk-transfer-related scandal found him and Denisov relegated to the reserve team.
Group D
Borussia-Ajax 1-0 (Lewandowski)
Ajax successfully blocked Dortmund’s weapons and even created better chances in the first half. The German champions looked better after the break, when they missed a penalty before their savior Robert Lewandowski could finally bring their ambitious neighbors on their knees. This important goal was scored on the 87th minute.
Real Madrid-Manchester City 3-2 (Marcelo, Benzema, Ronaldo – Dzeko, Kolarov)
Welcome to Champions League! I don’t think there are many football fans that preferred to ignore this match, but they will surely be sorry for their decision. There was everything that Champions League was so much expected for – tactical battles, quick counter attacks, long shots, quality free kicks all spiced with 5 goals in the last 20 minutes of the match. The coaches decided to surprise each other, introducing two young central defenders for such an important match. It was Varane for the home side and Nastasic for the visitors, who appeared in the starting line-ups. The youngsters didn’t disappoint. But there were some other alterations, which had their say later in the game. Mancini confirmed his famous sense of making right substitutions, as Dzeko and Kolarov, entering the match later than most of their colleagues, scored goals. But before all these would happen, Real was trying to organize a reasonable attack and City was trying to defend. Despite several positional mistakes, the English champions kept their goal impregnable in the first half, mainly thanks to the mastery of their last man. After an hour of play Mancini decided that it was now for them to have their say. Strange enough, but we hadn’t seen any threat in front of Casillas penalty area until this. But then it started! The long legged Yaya Toure ran away from his opponents crossing half of the pitch for the third time, and only this time he found the unmarked Edin Dzeko, who easily beat Iker. It was the day of third attempts, as Marcelo’s third shot equalized the score 7 minutes later. The mechanism had started; Manchester City went to get their second goal. And they did it. Aleksandar Kolarov executed a classical set piece to send his team in front 5 minutes before the final whistle. Two minutes later another substitute Karim Benzema scored his team’s second goal. Teams were reacting as, things were just starting. So much blood was shed, that no one wanted to leave with only one point. And they went to take the victory. This time it was Ronaldo’s turn to score. His shot disoriented the City captain, who didn’t play at his best that evening, and the ball crossed the line right there, where Hart seemed to have full control. There were still lots of goals waiting for us, but the referee blew the final whistle, to leave the score 3-2 in favor of Jose Mourinho’s side.
Manchester City’s defense really deserved to concede that day, but conceding three in the last quarter of the match was probably too harsh for Joe Hart. Their attack did its job perfectly. Only three shots on the target produced two goals. Real’s victory wasn’t undeserved either. A very high quality spectacle, where especially the wingers made the City defenders struggle. Angel Di Maria is the player of the match to me, whose numerous crosses were a constant threat for the visitors.
Next matches:
Manchester City-Borussia
Ajax-Real Madrid
Intrigue: Which one of the previous Champions League group stage losers has not learnt from their mistakes, Manchester City or Borussia? Both are not in the form, which let them win their domestic leagues last season. The clash at Etihad Stadium is the central match of the day.
Group E
Chelsea-Juventus 2-2 (Oscar (2)-Vidal, Quagliarella)
So it was time to see the title holders in action. They could have been luckier with their first opponent. Juventus showed up in a great form, but started very nervously. Lots of misplaced passes and positional mistakes gave a small psychological advantage to the home side. This is probably why they scored two goals in a spell of 3 minutes. But it is hard to say that the goals logically fitted into the match scenario. Both of the goals were scored by Brazilian Oscar, who surprisingly appeared in the Chelsea starting eleven. On the 31st minute Oscar’s shot beat Buffon after it took a deflection. And on the 33th minute he got the ball, turned away, thus misleading Bonucci and Pirlo, and sent a beautiful ball into the net. Everything was done too quickly. The Italian champions had waited for this match for too long, so they couldn’t just lose it after conceding those two long range shots. They continued their hard work, as if the score was 0-0 yet, and scored their goal thanks to Arturo Vidal’s shot. The Chilean was, by the way, the best on the pitch that evening. It is always a pleasure to watch hardworking midfielders who keep on destroying the flow of opponent attacks and organizing their own ones. The second half started in the same way as the first one, where Chelsea was more interested in scoring. But this enthusiasm of the hosts didn’t bring much, as Juventus looked good in the back. Some 15 minutes later the picture started to change gradually. Chelsea was getting tired while Juventus getting closer. The coaches also smelled the situation change, as they started to make their substitutions. But it was Massimo Carrera’s substitution that was meant to work on the 80th minute, when lenient John Obi Mikel and John Terry let Claudio Marchisio and Fabio Quagliarella organize the equalizer. The Juve midfielder cut the Chelsea defense by a smart pas, and Quagliarella, who hasn’t been a regular goalscorer in Antonio Conte’s Juventus, sent the ball into the net. A moment later the goalscorer hit the post by a shot identical to Oscar’s, but the score was not meant to change any more. Another big match to be written in the Champions League history.
Shakhtar-Nordsjælland 2-0 (Mkhitaryan (2))
Shakhtar was too confident on that Champions League opener day. They gave the visitors chance to control the midfield. Those ones weren’t able to bother Andriy Pyatov. On the other hand Shakhtar was very effective in its counterattacks, where Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored once in each half.
Next matches:
Nordsjælland-Chelsea
Juventus-Shakhtar
Intrigue: Both sides are in a great run, but one of them needs to surrender. Shakhtar players have overcome all the resistance they met so far, but what about trying themselves in the role of partisans? Can the unstoppable Mkhitaryan score against Buffon? This is the central match of Tuesday.
Group F
Bayern-Valencia 2-1 (Schweinsteiger, Kroos - Valdez)
Valencia has established itself as the third team of Spain. But it is only the name that sounds threatening. The distance between the first two and the third is too big. This is why Bayern had no problems in beating their guests that evening. Bastian Schweinsteiger and Toni Kroos confirmed the German dominance, which was responded by four shots on the target during the whole match. One of these four went into the back of Neuer’s net, but it was too late for Valencia to hope for anything more. Bayern became completed the strange statistics of all German clubs missing penalties that evening. In the Munich side it was Mario Mandzukic, who lost the chance of opening the count to his Champions League goals.
Lille-BATE 1-3 (Chedjou – Valadzko, Radzionau, Aliakhnovich)
Shots 24 vs.6, corners 10 vs. 0, crosses 22 vs. 1, goals 1 vs. 3. This is the statistics of the match, where Lille’s efforts brought nothing but frustration opposed to three successful attacks of BATE in the first half. The French team looked too monotonous without Eden Hazard, so it is going to be difficult to improve their last year result, when they found themselves on the 4th place in their Champions League group.
Borussia-Ajax 1-0 (Lewandowski)
Ajax successfully blocked Dortmund’s weapons and even created better chances in the first half. The German champions looked better after the break, when they missed a penalty before their savior Robert Lewandowski could finally bring their ambitious neighbors on their knees. This important goal was scored on the 87th minute.
Real Madrid-Manchester City 3-2 (Marcelo, Benzema, Ronaldo – Dzeko, Kolarov)
Manchester City’s defense really deserved to concede that day, but conceding three in the last quarter of the match was probably too harsh for Joe Hart. Their attack did its job perfectly. Only three shots on the target produced two goals. Real’s victory wasn’t undeserved either. A very high quality spectacle, where especially the wingers made the City defenders struggle. Angel Di Maria is the player of the match to me, whose numerous crosses were a constant threat for the visitors.
Next matches:
Manchester City-Borussia
Ajax-Real Madrid
Intrigue: Which one of the previous Champions League group stage losers has not learnt from their mistakes, Manchester City or Borussia? Both are not in the form, which let them win their domestic leagues last season. The clash at Etihad Stadium is the central match of the day.
Group E
Chelsea-Juventus 2-2 (Oscar (2)-Vidal, Quagliarella)
So it was time to see the title holders in action. They could have been luckier with their first opponent. Juventus showed up in a great form, but started very nervously. Lots of misplaced passes and positional mistakes gave a small psychological advantage to the home side. This is probably why they scored two goals in a spell of 3 minutes. But it is hard to say that the goals logically fitted into the match scenario. Both of the goals were scored by Brazilian Oscar, who surprisingly appeared in the Chelsea starting eleven. On the 31st minute Oscar’s shot beat Buffon after it took a deflection. And on the 33th minute he got the ball, turned away, thus misleading Bonucci and Pirlo, and sent a beautiful ball into the net. Everything was done too quickly. The Italian champions had waited for this match for too long, so they couldn’t just lose it after conceding those two long range shots. They continued their hard work, as if the score was 0-0 yet, and scored their goal thanks to Arturo Vidal’s shot. The Chilean was, by the way, the best on the pitch that evening. It is always a pleasure to watch hardworking midfielders who keep on destroying the flow of opponent attacks and organizing their own ones. The second half started in the same way as the first one, where Chelsea was more interested in scoring. But this enthusiasm of the hosts didn’t bring much, as Juventus looked good in the back. Some 15 minutes later the picture started to change gradually. Chelsea was getting tired while Juventus getting closer. The coaches also smelled the situation change, as they started to make their substitutions. But it was Massimo Carrera’s substitution that was meant to work on the 80th minute, when lenient John Obi Mikel and John Terry let Claudio Marchisio and Fabio Quagliarella organize the equalizer. The Juve midfielder cut the Chelsea defense by a smart pas, and Quagliarella, who hasn’t been a regular goalscorer in Antonio Conte’s Juventus, sent the ball into the net. A moment later the goalscorer hit the post by a shot identical to Oscar’s, but the score was not meant to change any more. Another big match to be written in the Champions League history. Shakhtar-Nordsjælland 2-0 (Mkhitaryan (2))
Shakhtar was too confident on that Champions League opener day. They gave the visitors chance to control the midfield. Those ones weren’t able to bother Andriy Pyatov. On the other hand Shakhtar was very effective in its counterattacks, where Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored once in each half.
Next matches:
Nordsjælland-Chelsea
Juventus-Shakhtar
Intrigue: Both sides are in a great run, but one of them needs to surrender. Shakhtar players have overcome all the resistance they met so far, but what about trying themselves in the role of partisans? Can the unstoppable Mkhitaryan score against Buffon? This is the central match of Tuesday.
Group F
Bayern-Valencia 2-1 (Schweinsteiger, Kroos - Valdez)
Valencia has established itself as the third team of Spain. But it is only the name that sounds threatening. The distance between the first two and the third is too big. This is why Bayern had no problems in beating their guests that evening. Bastian Schweinsteiger and Toni Kroos confirmed the German dominance, which was responded by four shots on the target during the whole match. One of these four went into the back of Neuer’s net, but it was too late for Valencia to hope for anything more. Bayern became completed the strange statistics of all German clubs missing penalties that evening. In the Munich side it was Mario Mandzukic, who lost the chance of opening the count to his Champions League goals.
Lille-BATE 1-3 (Chedjou – Valadzko, Radzionau, Aliakhnovich)
Shots 24 vs.6, corners 10 vs. 0, crosses 22 vs. 1, goals 1 vs. 3. This is the statistics of the match, where Lille’s efforts brought nothing but frustration opposed to three successful attacks of BATE in the first half. The French team looked too monotonous without Eden Hazard, so it is going to be difficult to improve their last year result, when they found themselves on the 4th place in their Champions League group.
Next matches:
Valencia-Lille
BATE-Bayern
Intrigue: Is BATE really worth to be aware of, or it was Lille, that became a mediocre team after Hazard’s departure?
Group G
Barcelona-Spartak 3-2 (Tello, Messi (2) - Daniel Alves (a), Romulo)
Celtic-Benfica 0-0
It was a pretty equal match with several half chances from both sides. None of the teams was too close to score, however.
Next matches:
Spartak-Celtic
Benfica-Barcelona
Intrigue: What is Benfica going to suggest to Barcelona?
Group H
Manchester United-Galatasaray 1-0 (Carrick)
Galatasaray was in a good form, while Manchester United was on its way be there. That’s why the match was expected to be a hot one. Manchester won 1-0 thanks to Carrick’s goal and Nani’s missed penalty. The Turkish guests weren’t passive. Their attacks were not less dangerous, but their biggest achievement was hitting the post a couple of times.
Braga-Cluj 0-2 (Rafael Bastos (2))
One of the two sensations of the round took place in Portuguese Braga. Rafael Bastos scored two in the first half, to secure the Romanian champions a victory. The score didn’t reflect the whole picture of the match, to be objective. Braga’s statistics looked impressive with 35 attempts, of which 23 on target; 517 completed passes and 65% ball possession. Goals will surely come, if they continue to play like that.
Next matches:
Cluj-Manchester United
Galatasaray-Braga
Intrigue: Can the Romanian champions surprise against imperfect Manchester United?
Manchester United-Galatasaray 1-0 (Carrick)
Galatasaray was in a good form, while Manchester United was on its way be there. That’s why the match was expected to be a hot one. Manchester won 1-0 thanks to Carrick’s goal and Nani’s missed penalty. The Turkish guests weren’t passive. Their attacks were not less dangerous, but their biggest achievement was hitting the post a couple of times.
Braga-Cluj 0-2 (Rafael Bastos (2))
One of the two sensations of the round took place in Portuguese Braga. Rafael Bastos scored two in the first half, to secure the Romanian champions a victory. The score didn’t reflect the whole picture of the match, to be objective. Braga’s statistics looked impressive with 35 attempts, of which 23 on target; 517 completed passes and 65% ball possession. Goals will surely come, if they continue to play like that.
Next matches:
Cluj-Manchester United
Galatasaray-Braga
Intrigue: Can the Romanian champions surprise against imperfect Manchester United?
RANKING BY LEAGUES
| League | Pts. | |
| 1 | Spain (4) | 9 |
| 2 | Germany (3) | 9 |
| 3 | England (4) | 7 |
| 4 | Portugal (3) | 4 |
| 5 | Belarus (1) | 3 |
| 6 | Romania (1) | 3 |
| 7 | France (3) | 3 |
| 8 | Ukraine (2) | 3 |
| 9 | Italy (2) | 2 |
| 10 | Scotland (1) | 1 |
| 11 | Belgium (1) | 1 |
| 12 | Greece (1) | 0 |
| 13 | Turkey (1) | 0 |
| 14 | Netherlands (1) | 0 |
| 15 | Denmark (1) | 0 |
| 16 | Croatia (1) | 0 |
| 17 | Russia (2) | 0 |
Topscorers: Oscar (Chelsea), Bastos (Cluj), Isco (Malaga), Mkhitaryan (Shakhtar) and Messi (Barcelona) have all scored twice in their first matches.
3 Best goals of the day:
3. Isco (Malaga) – the first of his two goals was executed too quickly for Zenit to respond. The young Spaniard got the ball, turned away from Zyrianov’s tackle, dribbled across Anyukov and shot while Bruno Alves and Malafeev were busy to choose the right positions.
2. Valadzko (BATE) – the Belarusian got the ball, turned away, didn’t notice any opponent around and pulled the trigger from 25 meters. Such shots have are not savable.
1. Oscar (Chelsea) - 2 of total 43 goals of the first matchday were scored by Chelsea’s young talent Oscar. His second one was just a pearl. Just watch it!
Fact of the day: Only 2 out of 6 appointed penalties were eventually converted into a goal. Ibrahimovic, Belhanda of French PSG and Montpellier were the ones who scored, while Nani of Manchester Unted and the 3 representatives of German teams – Huntelaar, Hummels and Mandzukic missed.
RANKING BEFORE THE SECOND MATCHDAY
| Place | Club | |
| 1 (-) | Real Madrid (Spain) | |
| 2 (+1) | FC Barcelona (Spain) | |
| 3 (+1) | Bayern (Germany) | |
| 4 (-2) | Man. City (England) | |
| 5 (-) | Man. Utd. (England) | |
| 6 (+2) | PSG (France) | |
| 7 (-) | Juventus (Italy) | |
| 8 (+2) | Chelsea (England) | |
| 9 (-3) | Borussia D. (Germany) | |
| 10 (-1) | Arsenal (England) | |
| 11 (+1) | Milan (Italy) | |
| 12 (+7) | Malaga (Spain) | |
| 13 (+3) | Shakhtar D. (Ukraine) | |
| 14 (-) | Schalke 04 (Germany) | |
| 15 (-) | Porto (Portugal) | |
| 16 (-5) | Valencia (Spain) | |
| 17 (-4) | Zenit (Russia) | |
| 18 (-1) | Ajax (Netherlands) | |
| 19(+12) | CFR Cluj (Romania) | |
| 20(+12) | BATE (Belarus) | |
| 21 (+7) | Anderlecht (Belgium) | |
| 22 (-1) | Galatasaray (Turkey) | |
| 23 (+2) | Montpellier (France) | |
| 24 (-6) | Benfica (Portugal) | |
| 25 (+1) | Spartak M. (Russia) | |
| 26 (+1) | Celtic (Scotland) | |
| 27 (-3) | Olympiacos (Greece) | |
| 28 (-8) | Lille (France) | |
| 29 (-6) | Sp. Braga (Portugal) | |
| 30 (-8) | Dynamo K. (Ukraine) | |
| 31 (-1) | Nordsjæland (Denmark) | |
| 32 (-3) | Dinamo Z. (Croatia) | |
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