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After four months away, the Champions League returned, with an enthralling round of fixtures. Last year, Real Madrid took home their third successive European title, but a lot has changed since then, with Zinedine Zidane resigning as manager, and Cristiano Ronaldo leaving to join Juventus.
This week saw Inter Milan return to the Champions League for the first time in six years, and they marked their return with a win, coming from a goal down to beat Tottenham thanks to two late goals. In the same group, Barcelona hammered PSV 4-0, with Lionel Messi scoring his eighth Champions League hat-trick.
Liverpool, hoping to go one better this year after losing last year’s final, got their campaign underway with a 3-2 win over PSG at Anfield. The holders, Real Madrid, also got off to a winning start, beating Roma 3-0 at the Bernabeu.
The shock result came at the Etihad Stadium, where Lyon collected an impressive 2-1 win over Manchester City, who are regarded by many as favourites for the competition.
Elsewhere, there were wins for Bayern Munich and Manchester United, who beat Benfica and Young Boys respectively. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Champions League debut for Juventus ended in disaster, as he was sent off against Valencia, even though his side were able to pull off a 2-0 win thanks to two Miralem Pjanic penalties.
Here are the top ten sides from the opening round of fixtures.
#10 Manchester United
On paper, this looked like a relatively easy match for Manchester United against Young Boys. However, this is the sort of game that we have seen United struggle in during recent seasons, and many people wouldn’t have been too surprised had they dropped points away in Switzerland. However, on this occasion, they picked up the points that they needed to get off to a good start in what could be potentially a tough group.
Paul Pogba was the star of the show against Young Boys, scoring twice, including an excellent finish to give his side the lead, before Anthony Martial sealed the win with his first goal for the club since January. This probably wasn’t their best performance of the season so far, but this wasn’t what they needed, it was the three points, and they got just that.
#9 Borussia Dortmund
Since reaching the final of the Champions League during the 2012/13 season, we have seen very little of Dortmund in the Champions League. They continue to bring through some good young players, but that hasn’t really led to any success, either in the Bundesliga or in Europe. They will hope for a different outcome this year though and got themselves off to a decent start against Club Brugge.
They are in a very tough group this year. Atletico Madrid and Monaco are the other two sides in the group, and both of them will be aiming to finish in the top two. Dortmund weren’t at their best, but picked up a much-needed win, with young winger Christian Pulisic netting a late winner. From an English perspective, Jadon Sancho became the youngest Englishman to make his Champions League debut for a club outside of Europe.
#8 Juventus
It was all eyes on Cristiano Ronaldo as Juventus travelled to Valencia, as their record signing played in the Champions League for the club for the first time. It was the Portuguese superstar who took the headlines as well, seeing red in an incident with Jeison Murillo. If Juventus fail with their appeal, Ronaldo will now miss both of the matches against his former side, Manchester United.
In his absence, Juventus were able to get off to a winning start, with Miralem Pjanic the hero, scoring twice from the spot to give the Old Lady the win. They were certainly deserving of the three points, but the issue will be the loss of Ronaldo, as he will be so important to any hopes they have of winning Europe’s biggest title this season.
#7 Atletico Madrid
There are high hopes for Atletico Madrid this season. They have strengthened in the summer, without losing their best players, and they look stronger as a unit so far this season. They haven’t made a great start to the league season, having earned just five points from their opening four games, but pulled off an impressive victory over Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup last month.
Their first game was a tough one, away at Monaco. They went behind early on with Samuel Grandsir’s goal, but fought back well, and were ahead before the break, thanks to goals from Diego Costa and Jose Gimenez. Atletico won the Europa League last season, and will hope to go one better this time around, and go all the way in the Champions League, particularly with the final taking place at the Wanda Metropolitano, their home ground.
#6 Inter Milan
It has been six years since Inter’s last Champions League campaign, and a lot has happened in the years since then. There have been big changes both on and off the pitch, and it may be good for all of European football that they are now back at the top of their game. They are in a very tough group, which includes Barcelona, Tottenham, and PSV.
The pressure looked to have gotten to them for the most part of the game, and Tottenham went ahead midway through the second half thanks to Christian Eriksen, whose deflected shot looped in over Samir Handanovic. They managed to turn the game around in the final few minutes though, thanks to a stunning volley from Mauro Icardi, and then a late winner from Matias Vecino.
#5 Liverpool
Liverpool were one win away from becoming European Champions last season, as they were beaten in the final by Real Madrid. They have spent big over the summer though, with the aim of strengthening, and getting closer to winning titles both in England, and Europe. They started their campaign against PSG, who are another team desperate for European success given the money that they have spent over the past couple of years.
The Reds got off to the perfect start thanks to goals from Daniel Sturridge and James Milner, but PSG, who looked way off the pace for much of the evening, found themselves level thanks to goals from Thomas Meunier and Kylian Mbappe. It took until injury time for Liverpool to grab a winner, when Roberto Firmino fired in to get them off to a winning start.
#4 Bayern Munich
Another side who have seen change this season is Bayern Munich, who are now managed by Niko Kovac, after Jupp Heynkes completed his interim spell in charge of the club. They are another team desperate to end Real Madrid’s domination of Europe, as even though Bayern have been in and around the semi-finals of the Champions League since they last won it in 2013, they haven’t reached the final in the time since.
They aren’t in the strongest group in the competition, which also contains Ajax and AEK Athens, along with Benfica, who they played on Wednesday night. They got off to a winning start, with goals from Robert Lewandowski, who continued his stunning form in European competitions, and Renato Sanches, who looks to be coming back into form after a torrid spell on loan at Swansea City.
#3 Lyon
Not many people will have expected Lyon to be on this list, especially when the group stage draw meant that they would face Manchester City in their opening game. Lyon are one of the clubs who have suffered from the amount of money coming into French football, particularly with Monaco and PSG, and it has regularly seen them lose their best players in recent years.
They do still have one of the top academies in Europe, and continue to produce some extremely talented young players. It was these players who were the stars against City, as they put in a brilliant counter-attacking display, and got the win that they fully deserved. Maxwell Cornet and Nabil Fekir got the goals before halftime, and despite Bernardo Silva pulling one back in the second half, it wasn’t enough for City, and Lyon picked up a memorable win.
#2 Real Madrid
It was a case of no Ronaldo, no problem for Real against Roma on Wednesday night. There have been big changes at the Bernabeu since they won their third straight European title in May. Zinedine Zidane is no longer manager, having resigned just days after the final, and was replaced by Julen Lopetegui in controversial circumstances. This wasn’t long before they sold Cristiano Ronaldo, arguably the best player in the world, to Juventus.
It didn’t look like too much of a loss for Los Blancos against Roma though, as they produced an excellent performance to come away with a 3-0 win. Isco opened the scoring just before the break, before Gareth Bale doubled the lead not long after halftime to complete the victory. Mariano Diaz, Real’s new number seven, replacing Ronaldo, added a third late on, his first goal since returning to the Bernabeu from Lyon in the summer.
#1 Barcelona
It is no surprise that Barcelona top this list, after they made an excellent start to their Champions League campaign. They are another side who has strengthened over the summer, but they probably haven’t bought in the level of players they were hoping for, particularly having missed out of Paul Pogba. They have also managed to get their best players back to the top of their game, in particular, Ousmane Dembele, who failed to make an impact after joining from Borussia Dortmund last summer.
Lionel Messi was the star of the show against PSV, and not for the first time, netting a brilliant hat-trick, his eighth in the Champions League. No one has more. He will hope this is the start of another successful season, after a disappointing World Cup campaign. Barcelona dominated Spanish football last season, and they will hope to take that form into the Champions League this time around.
