The matchday 1 of the UEFA Champions League 2017/18 was full of jaw-dropping goals with sensational victories. The very first day of the tournament has shown us that this time, the defending champions Real Madrid have a Herculean task ahead of them to defend their title for the third consecutive time.
United Start off with a Win
In Group A, Manchester United marked their return to the Champions League with a 3-0 victory over FC Basel at home. Jose Mourinho’s side faced little resistance from the Swiss visitors.
Marouane Fellaini scored the first goal for the hosts at the mark of the 35th minute, which was then followed by Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford finding the net.
It was a dominating performance by the Red Devils in all the aspects of the game. While it is still too early in the league, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them finish at the top of their group.
PSG, Bayern Settle for Easy Wins
In Group B, the two big guns - Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munch sailed to comfortable victories in their respective games. The interesting battle here will be to see who comes out on the top of the Group - a feat which is likely to be decided when they face each other in the first leg of the fixture on 27th September. PSG started their run with a 5-0 rout against the Scottish champions Celtic.
Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, and Edison Cavani once again got themselves on the scorecard, proving that right now, they make the strongest forward attack in Europe. As for the Germans, it was a humble 3-0 victory over Anderlecht with no major surprises except for a red card for the visitors.
Chelsea Hit a Six
In Group C, Chelsea humiliated FC Qarabag in their first ever Champions League appearance.
The fans in Stamford Bridge got to witness the classic Blues attack, with the final score being 6-0. As for the other game in the group between Roma and Atletico Madrid, the end result was a goalless draw.
Saul Niguez hit the woodwork twice for the Spanish side, but Roma always found themselves to be the luckier team that night.
Barcelona Gain Sweet Revenge
Moving to Group D, Barcelona avenged their 3-0 defeat to Juventus last season by defeating the visitors with the same score. Lionel Messi finally managed to score against Gianluigi Buffon on a night where the Italians missed the core of their defense.
Nonetheless, a win here for the Catalans puts them in a much superior position, compared to their spanking against Real Madrid before the season started. It will be interesting to see if they can continue in the same vein.
Moving down, Liverpool were held to a 2-2 draw by Sevilla at home, which was quite surprising given the way they started. After being up 2-1, the Reds tried their best to keep the Spanish side at bay, but Joaquin Correa found the net at the 71st minute, with a stunning, right footed kick.
Interestingly, the Reds took 24 shots but only seven of them were on target. They face Spartak Moscow next in Russia, which is quite likely to be a demanding match for them.
Spurs Surprise Dortmund
Another interesting game we got to see was between Tottenham Hotspur and Borussia Dortmund, where the hosts finally managed to defeat the Germans. Since the beginning of the game, Spurs appeared to be the far more superior side despite having 32 percent ball possession.
The hosts won 3-1, owing to a stunning brace by Harry Kane, who not so surprisingly, was the man of the match. In the same Group, Real Madrid won comfortably over the Cyprian side APOEL with a 3-0 score.