Champions League 2013-14: Most Impressive Players from Opening Matchday

The first day of play in the UEFA Champions League was filled with some exciting plays and even more exciting players.

There weren't exactly any upsets to speak of in the eight matches from Tuesday. The powerhouse teams beat the smaller ones, just like they were supposed to. Still, that doesn't mean that there weren't some incredibly exciting moments from some of the world's biggest stars and even some of the more relatively unknown players.

While there was a fair amount of players that had terrific games, here were the three that really stood out to me.

Wayne Rooney, Manchester United

The Red Devils won rather easily over Leverkusen, winning 4-2. There wasn't a single player who made a bigger impact on the game than Rooney.

The 27-year-old from Croxteth came into the match with 198 career goals in all competitions for United. He came away with a goal in the 22nd minute thanks to a cross from Patrice Evra, then came up with this shot in the 70th minute to give him goal No. 200.

Rooney is currently fourth all-time in goals scored for United, and now needs just 11 more goals to tie Jack Rowley for third all-time. Manchester United tweeted this statement from Rooney after the match:

Scoring goals wasn't the only thing that Rooney did on Tuesday. In the 79th minute, he delivered a well-timed and well-struck through ball to Antonio Valencia that took two defenders away from the ball and gave him an easy goal.

This was just the beginning for the Red Devils, and Rooney certainly seems tuned in to start league play.

Johan Wiland, Copenhagen

Probably not a lot of people know who this is, but Copenhagen's goalkeeper had an incredible day that helped his team significantly.

The Lions were able to score early in the 14th minute and hold onto the lead heading into halftime, but Juventus was able to score to tie it up in the 54th. Copenhagen appeared tired, and it looked like they would come away with the loss.

Instead, Wiland kept the Lions in the game thanks to some great saves.

Juventus had 25 shot attempts on the day, with 12 of them on target. Wiland had an impressive nine saves and kept the Lions from falling late in the match.

Had it not been for Wiland, Copenhagen would have been looking at zero points instead of one. They would have loved to get three, but they will be content with the draw after how well Juventus played.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid

Did you really think I wasn't going to put him on here?

Goals in the 63rd, 66th and 91st minutes gave Ronaldo the first hat trick in Champions League play. Real Madrid, who have won nine Champions League titles, dominated Galatasaray 6-1 in the win.

Ronaldo was simply on it that night. As you can see here, he found a way to weave his way through three different defenders and then place a beautiful shot in the back of the net.

In the 81st minute, Ronaldo also recorded an assist. He had a very clean cross that got to Karim Benzema, making it a 5-0 match.

It was an efficient match for Ronaldo, who had nine total attempts with seven on target, scoring on one third of his attempts.

In case you need any more proof that Ronaldo is one of the greatest players in the world, here it is.