Top 5 Moments from Champions League Matchday 1
Following the much-anticipated return of the UEFA Champions League this week, we take a look back at the Top 5 moments from the opening matchday of Europe’s premier club competition.
Among shock results, players scoring against their old clubs, last-minute winners, debut strikes, hat-tricks and sensational team goals, these were the most eye-catching moments from yet another absorbing round of action on the continent.
A 5-Star Galactico Showing at the White House
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European champions Real Madrid were supposedly under pressure going into the opening match of their defence of the trophy on Tuesday, with Los Blancos having surprisingly lost two of their opening three league games this season.
However, Carlo Ancelotti’s star-studded line-up ran riot against Swiss champions Basel at the Santiago Bernabeu, with the home side four goals ahead just past the half-hour mark thanks to a scintillating display of attacking football.
But it was Real’s fifth strike by frontman Karim Benzema—the club’s 1,000th in European football—after 79 minutes that was the pick of the goals, with the Frenchman playing a series of neat one-twos with Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo before rifling in a screamer off the underside of the bar from outside the area.
"Karim Benzema’s rocket of a goal was Real Madrid’s 1000th goal in European competition: https://t.co/04dFvX5jbc
— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) September 16, 2014"
Back with a Bang
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Striker Kostas Mitroglou marked his return to Olympiakos in fine style, scoring what turned out to be the winning goal in his side’s shock 3-2 home win over last season’s UEFA Champions League runners-up, Atletico Madrid, on Tuesday.
The 26-year-old became Fulham’s record signing back in January, but after a disastrous injury-interrupted spell at Craven Cottage that ended in relegation to the Championship, Mitroglou was loaned back to the Greek champions for the season on transfer deadline day.
And on what was the Greece international’s first start back for Olympiakos, Mitroglou sent the port of Piraeus into a state of delirium after an immaculate first touch and clinical finish for his ninth strike in his last 13 games in Europe’s premier club competition, as the visitors conceded as many goals in one night as they did in the entire group phase last season.
Meanwhile, usually inspirational Atleti head coach Diego Simeone could only watch proceedings unfold from the stands after being banned by UEFA for one game as a result of his on-pitch indiscretions during May’s Champions League final loss to city-rivals Real Madrid.
"9 - Kostas Mitroglou has scored nine goals in his last 13 Champions League games. Nightmare
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) September 16, 2014"
Balo Breaks His Reds Duck
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Liverpool’s new striker Mario Balotelli started to repay the £16 million the Merseysiders spent acquiring his services from AC Milan this summer by scoring his first goal for the club in their fortunate 2-1 win over Ludogorets Razgrad at Anfield on Tuesday.
What is more, the Italy international’s world-class finish to open the scoring with just eight minutes remaining—albeit after some initial good fortune—was, dare I say it, reminiscent of a certain Luis Suarez.
However, it was that aspect of Balo’s much-needed strike, as well as the player’s unusually impressive work rate as the Reds’ sole frontman, that most pleased his manager Brendan Rodgers.
“We’ve spoken about Suarez and his time here but if you’re clever you’ll remember he’s still young and still learning the game and he still has this hunger to do well,” said the Northern Irishman after the match, per The Guardian.
“You saw his work on Tuesday; he’s put his body on the line and he needs to do more of that but I think that will come as he gets fitter. But he’s well in tune with the history of Liverpool.”
And that goal on his Champions League debut for Liverpool now means that the 24-year-old has scored for four different teams in the competition.
"Mario Balotelli's game by numbers: 7 shots 88% pass accuracy 3 take-ons 2 chances created 1 goal pic.twitter.com/Y6cCgOADla
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) September 16, 2014"
North African Wing Wizard Helps Hit BATE for Six
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Porto kicked off their UEFA Champions League campaign by thrashing BATE Borisov 6-0 at the Estadio Dragao in Group H on Wednesday evening, with the Portuguese giants recording their biggest-ever UEFA Champions League win in the process.
It was new signing Yacine Brahimi who was the home team’s goalscoring hero after the Algeria international netted a sensational hat-trick, with each strike an improvement on the last.
Brahimi—bought for just £5.1 million from La Liga outfit Granada in July after shining for his country in the World Cup—opened the scoring after taking advantage of a poor throw out from the visitors’ goalkeeper.
The attacking midfielder-cum-wide man doubled his side’s lead following a brilliant solo run that took him past three BATE players and a bullet finish from the edge of the area off the inside of the post.
However, the 24-year-old left his best until last, with Brahimi—who has a reported £40 million buyout clause in the five-year deal he signed with Porto this summer—curling home a delicious 20-yard free-kick as the two-time European champions netted five times in the Champions League for the first time in 20 years.
"1 - In only his 3rd match in European competition, Yacine Brahimi scored a hattrick, which was the 1st in Porto's CL history. Novelty
— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) September 17, 2014"
Beware the Ex...
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Premier League champions Manchester City were just three minutes away from leaving Bayern Munich with a creditable and hard-fought goalless draw on Wednesday night before defender Jerome Boateng’s stupendous 89th-minute winner broke his former club’s heart.
The Bavarians—who have faced the visitors in the group stage of the competition in three of the past four campaigns—dominated proceedings from the off, with Pep Guardiola’s slick outfit having 22 efforts on Joe Hart’s goal, only for the goalkeeper to repel everything that came his way.
"Jerome Boateng just broke Manchester City’s hearts with this screamer of a goal: https://t.co/NqQq5AWnMT
— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) September 17, 2014"
And Hart must have thought he had done enough to preserve his clean sheet at the Allianz Arena after diving full length to keep out a long-range pile-driver late on from Boateng before conceding just seconds later.
But it still required an unstoppable strike of the very highest quality—and a slight deflection off the back of Mario Gotze—to beat Hart, as the centre-back made up for his dismissal against the same opponents last season by netting his first UEFA Champions League goal while condemning City to a third straight loss in Europe for the very first time.
