Champions League 2018/19: Top 5 results from Matchday 1

#4 Barcelona 4-0 PSV

FC Barcelona v PSV - UEFA Champions League Group B — Messi has already laid the marker for this season

This was the game that kicked off the new Champions League season and if the morning shows the day, we are in for a fabulous season of football. Barcelona went into the game unbeaten and leading in La Liga, but Valverde did not underestimate PSV, putting out his strongest available team to face the Dutch Champions.

The game started with PSV looking the better side, however, it did not take long for Barcelona to stamp their authority on the evening and the first goal of the new Champions League season will certainly be one of the best goals of the year. Lionel Messi, the magician, crafted the perfect free kick to send Barcelona 1-0 up. The score would remain the same at the break, but there was a lot more to come in the second half.

The first talking point came from Dembele, who, with a turn curled in an incredible goal in the 74th minute, doubling Barcelona’s lead. 3 minutes later, Messi latched on to Rakitic’s pass and finished first time, his second of the night.

In the 79th minute, Umtiti saw his second yellow of the night, got his marching orders and put Barcelona in a little bit of trouble. Messi brushed those troubles aside in the 87th minute, receiving Suarez’s ball and completing his hattrick. The game ended 4-0 to Barcelona and saw two new records set by Lionel Messi – the most hattricks in the Champions League and the most goals scored in the group stages of the Champions League.

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Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over seven years at Sportskeeda. He has written more than 9000 articles for the website, and has garnered over 20 million reads.

Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.

Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.

Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.

Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.

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Edited by Debjyoti Samanta