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2023-24 UEFA Champions League Matchday 1

Finally, the wait is over, and the UEFA Champions League is back (well, in its group stage). As always, there are great matches between the best teams in European football, and this section covers all the games of the first matchday.

Group A

Group A began the phase with a highlight and possibly the best match of matchday 1 that pitted two giants of European football against each other: Manchester United and Bayern Munich. The Bavarians had a very good first half that allowed them to take a two-goal lead, taking advantage of the speed of their wingers and an error by United goalkeeper Andre Onana. Despite United’s goals, Bayern always maintained the advantage in the result and control of the match.

Galatasaray received Copenhagen in a match whose result was misleading for the vast majority of the time since the Turks generated more chances, but the Danes were the ones who were winning. Thanks to two intense minutes near the end of the match, Galatasaray achieved a 2-goal tie.

Group B

Sevilla had a match that is almost typical of the Andalusian club in the Champions League since, unlike what usually happens in the Europa League, when they are the dominant force, they are always missing something in the top European competition. They needed that to get past the draw against a Lens team that went to Spain to play an intelligent game.

In the other match, Arsenal surpassed PSV Eindhoven. The English side only needed time to define the match that featured Saka and Gabriel Jesús as the goalscoers and that would end with 4 to 0 for the Gunners.

Group C

The perennial favorites of the tournament, Real Madrid, were one minute away from losing two points at home against Union Berlin due to many missed chances in addition to several shots hitting the posts. Bellingham’s goal in injury time gave Ancelotti’s team the victory.

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For its part, Napoli saw the three points almost slip away when Bruma scored a 1-1 draw in the 84th minute. However, the Italians quickly reacted, leading to Niakaté’s own goal, leaving 2 to 1 on the final score.

Group D

Real Sociedad had a great game in their return to the Champions League, opening the scoring quickly with Brais Méndez’s goal, although they many mistakes that did not allow them to score the second goal and, as they say, a goal that you don’t make on one side, which you receive in the other and more so against an Italian team. In the 87th minute, Lautaro Martínez took advantage of a chaotic play and some carelessness by the Basque team’s defense to score the tie.

In the other game of the group, Red Bull Salzburg presented the youngest starting eleven in the history of the competition (21 years and 183 days on average) for a frenetic start that had two penalties, a red card, and a goal. The Austrian team managed to strike at the right moments and had Alex Schlager, their goalkeeper, as their main figure. Salzburg won 2-0.

Group E

In this group, Feyenoord received the Scottish champions, Celtic, in what was a first half full of mistakes and nervousness that saw the Dutch team trying to take the initiative and the Catholic team waiting for a counterattack. At the end of the first half, Calvin Stengs managed to open the scoring for Feyenoord, and that tipped the rest of the game in favor of those led by Arne Slot.

In Lazio vs. Atlético de Madrid, the Spaniards took the lead in the first half with Barrios’ goal. However, with less than a minute left in the match, there was a corner in favor of Lazio that ended in a play where Luis Alberto threw a cross that Provedel, the Italian goalkeeper, headed in to score the agonizing equalizer of the match. Provedel became the second goalkeeper in the history of the tournament to score a goal from a play.

Group F

Pioli’s renewed AC Milan received Howe’s Newcastle at San Siro, in what was a draw that left a bad taste in the mouths of the Italians who created more and better goal opportunities than the English but without being able to achieve them. The final result was a simple nil-nil draw.

In the other match, PSG easily beat Borussia Dortmund, who were lucky to only lose 2 to 0 since the French team, and mainly Kylian Mbappe, had chances to turn the result into a rout.

Group G

This group left no room for surprises since Leipzig beat Young Boys in Switzerland by 3 to 1 in a more than entertaining match for the neutral fan and, although it had a point where the Swiss managed to equalize the result, the team German managed to overcome and overcome them with a certain sobriety.

On the other hand, Red Star caused a momentary surprise since Bukari’s goal had them with a one-goal lead at halftime. However, City quickly equalized the match in the second half with Julia Álvarez who would later put her team ahead as well. Rodri would increase the advantage and put the final result at 3 to 1.

Group H

FC Barcelona had a fairly comfortable match against Antwerp, the Belgian champions, where Joao Felix showed that he is recovering his best version with two goals, an assist, and an outstanding performance. The Belgians came to have possession of the ball in the first minutes of the match, although Barcelona’s first goal was enough to collapse Van Bommel’s plan and fall 5-0 in Catalonia.

At the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg, Shakhtar Donetsk played host to Porto. The match had a frenetic start in which there were 3 goals in the first fifteen minutes, two in favor of the Portuguese and one for the Ukrainians. Despite it being an even match, Porto managed to be more forceful and won 3 to 1.

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