Continental club cup football returns this week in Europe.
22 of the 32 teams came to the opening round of the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League with a win in their most recent domestic league match.
Bayer Leverkusen (Germany), Inter Milan (Italy), Rangers (Scotland), RB Leipzig (Germany), and Sevilla (Spain) followed a defeat in the domestic league with a defeat in the opening round of the Champions League.
Atlético Madrid (Spain), Bayern Munich (Germany), and Manchester City (England) were winners in the opening round of the UEFA Champions League despite dropping points in a draw in their domestic league. Juventus (Italy), and Liverpool (England) went on to lose after dropping points in a draw in their domestic league.
Mislav Orsic’s goal saw Chelsea leave Croatia with a 1-0 defeat against Dinamo Zagreb.
AC Milan came from a goal down to get a point at Salzburg,
A Benzema-less Real Madrid found three goals in the second half to get a 3-0 win against Celtic.
Shakhtar Donetsk win 4-1 against RB Leipzig in Leipzig.
Dortmund had the ideal start as expected by getting a 3-0 home against Copenhagen.
Erling Haaland’s brace played a role in Manchester City’s 4-0 win in Seville against Sevilla.
Kylian Mbappe’s brace played a role in Paris St. Germain’s 2-1 home win against Juventus.
A beautiful strike from Alejandro Grimaldo in the 54th minute doubled Benfica’s lead to take a 2-0 home win against Maccabi Haifa.
The surprise of the round was Liverpool suffering a heavy defeat in Naples.
Antoine Griezemann scored in the 11th minute of the final added time to get
Atletico Madrid had a dramatic win against Porto.
Home advantage did not help Inter Milan and Eintracht Frankfurt get a win.
Bayern Munich left San Siro with three points against Inter Milan.
Sporting CP left Leverkusen with three points against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Lewandowski’s hattrick help Barcelona to do the expected at home by thrashing Viktoria Plzen.
Richarlison’s two goals lead Tottenham to the win against Marseille.
Ajax dominates Rangers in Amsterdam.
September 6.
Dinamo Zagreb 1-0 Chelsea (Group E)
RB Salzburg 1-1 AC Milan (Group E)
Celtic 0-3 Real Madrid (Group F)
RB Leipzig 1-4 Shakhtar Donetsk (Group F)
Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Copenhagen (Group G)
Sevilla 0-4 Manchester City (Group G)
Paris Saint Germain 2-1 Juventus (Group H)
Benfica 2-0 Maccabi Haifa (Group H)
It wasn’t the expected result but Mislav Orsic’s goal in the 13th minute saw Chelsea leaves Croatia with a 1-0 defeat against Dinamo Zagreb.
AC Milan came from a goal down to get a point in Salzburg after Alexis Sarlemaekers scored a 40th-minute equalizing goal to cancel out a shock lead Noah Okafor had given RB Salzburg.
It took a while for the defending champions to find the result. Celtic tried their best to give us a shocking headline for the opening round but Real Madrid was too strong and too experienced for that to happen. An injury had Karim Benzema subbed off for Eden Hazard in the 30th minute but a Benzema-less Real Madrid found three goals in the second half to get a 3-0 win against Celtic. Hazard scored the final goal of the match.
It looked like RB Leipzig had found their way towards a win when Moham Simakan scored the equalizing goal in the 57th minute to make it a 1-1 score, but RB Leipzig’s poor start to the season domestically trickled to the Champions League after Maryan Shved quickly scored his second goal of the game to restore Shakhtar Donetsk’s lead just a minute later to help lead his side to a 4-1 win in Leipzig.
Marco Reus opened the scoring, and Raphael Guerreiro doubled the lead for Dortmund to go into the halftime break with a 2-0 lead on Copenhagen.
Dortmund had the ideal start as expected by getting a 3-0 home against Copenhagen.
An Erling Haaland brace played a role in Manchester City’s 4-0 win in Seville against Sevilla.
Just like RB Leipzig, Sevilla’s poor form in their domestic league tickled to the Champions League. Sevilla was thrashed 4-0 at home by Manchester City. Many would’ve predicted a Manchester City win at Sevilla but it should not have been that easy.
Paris St. Germain starts their season off with a 2-1 win at home against Juventus. It was the big game of the night, and a brace from Kylian Mbappe made led Paris St. Germain to the win.
A beautiful strike from Alejandro Grimaldo in the 54th minute doubled Benfica’s lead to take a 2-0 home win against Maccabi Haifa.
September 7.
Ajax 4-0 Rangers (Group A)
Napoli 4-1 Liverpool (Group A)
Atlético Madrid 2-1 Porto (Group B)
Club Brugge 1-0 Bayer Leverkusen (Group B)
Barcelona 5-1 Viktoria Plzeň (Group C)
Inter Milan 0-2 Bayern Munich (Group C)
Eintracht Frankfurt 0-3 Sporting CP (Group D)
Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Marseille (Group D)
Ajax and Napoli scored 4 goals each in Group A to open their season with a home win. Both scored three goals in the first half and added another in the second. Ajax picked up three points at home from a 4-0 win against Rangers. Napoli conceded a goal but in return took a 4- win against Liverpool.
Club Brugge took a 1-0 lead minutes before the end of the first half (42nd minute) and held on to their lead till the final whistle to get the three points at home against Bayer Leverkusen.
Mehdi Taremi picked up a second yellow card for simulation in the penalty box to leave Porto with a numerical disadvantage from the 82nd minute.
Before Antoine Griezmann scored the game-winning goal with the last action of the game (90+11’) to get Atletico Madrid a 2-1 win against Porto, Mateus Uribe scored for Porto from a penalty in the 6th minute of the final added time to cancel out Mario Hermoso’s goal in the first minute of the added time for Atletico Madrid.
It was a comfortable opening round for Barcelona. They kicked off with a 5-1 home win against Viktoria Plzen. Frank Kessie opened the scoring for Barcelona in the 13th minute, and second-half substitute Ferran Torres added another goal in the 71st minute to ‘sandwich’ a Robert Lewandowski hattrick.
Bayern Munich went to San Siro and took the three points from a 2-0 win against Inter Milan. Leroy Sane played an instrumental role in both goals, even though the second goal was awarded as an ‘own goal’.
Eintracht Frankfurt had their moments but Sporting SP was more clinical on the day. Sporting CP found three goals to leave Frankfurt with all three points.
Richarlison scored his first two goals for Tottenham to get them a 2-0 win against Marseille.
