UEFA Champions League Group Stages Matchday 1 Part 2

The unexpected results and undying excitement continued during the Champions League group stage fixtures on Wednesday. 

Injury ravaged Liverpool defeated Dutch club Ajax, 1-0 after Ajax’s Nicolas Tagliafico scored an own goal in the first half. Despite Virgil Van Dijk’s absence, Liverpool managed to contain the Dutch side. 

Manchester City overcame FC Porto, 3-1. Porto’s Luis Diaz scored the game’s first goal and then shortly after Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero scored a penalty. In the second half, Manchester City’s Ilkay Gudogan scored a free-kick and then new signing Ferran Torres scored the third goal. 

Serie A club Atalanta scored four against Danish club FC Midtjylland. Duvan Zapata, Alejandro Gomez, Luis Muriel and Aleksei Miranchuk all scored. 

Greek club Olympiacos F.C. defeated Ligue 1 side Marseille 1-0 after Ahmed Mahgoub scored a goal during the added time of the game. 

The Inter Milan and Borussia Monchengladbach fixture ended with a draw, 2-2. All the goals were scored in the second half. Inter Milan forward Romelu Lukaku scored two goals. Borussia Monchengladbach’s Ramy Bensebaini scored a penalty followed by Jonas Hofmann who scored the equalizer for his side.

Unexpectedly, current Champions League champions Bayern Munich beat La Liga club Atlético Madrid, 4-0. Bayern Munich’s Kingsley Coman had a great match and scored two goals. Corentin Tolisso scored a brilliant goal from 20 yards and Leon Goretzka also scored. Atletico Madrid’s Joao Felix scored, but the goal was ruled out for offside. 

The biggest shocker of the night was Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk defeating La Liga champions Real Madrid, 3-2. Shakhtar Donetsk’s Tete scored the first goal followed by an own goal from Real Madrid’s Raphael Varane. Before the end of the first half, Shakhtar Donetsk’s Manor Solomon scored the third goal for his side. Real Madrid tried to bounce back in the second half after Luka Modric and Vinicius Junior each scored. 

So far, Bayern Munich are looking really strong and could possibly win the competition again this season. Manchester City also looked strong, but they are still making mistakes. Real Madrid looked shaky and less confident than they usually are. Liverpool were not at a very high level right now, which is probably because of the large number of injured players. 

However, the competition is long and many unexpected things can happen.