Champions League Review - Week 1

An exciting start to the Champions League. There were goals, red cards, upsets and in one game there were four penalties in the first half! It was great to see fans back in the stadiums especially for the smaller clubs where the atmosphere looked electric. Shout out to Sheriff, Young Boys and Club Brugge, absolutely fantastic performances to cause a few upsets.

Let's get into the Week 1 Review...

Group A
Result: Man City 6 - 3 Leipzig - My Prediction: Man City 3 - 1 Leipzig
Result: Club Brugge 1 - 1 PSG - My Prediction: Cub Brugge 0 - 4 PSG

Goals, goals and more goals. I thought there would be but I really didn't see Leipzig sticking three past
Man City. This game was a lot closer than the scoreline suggests with Leipzig pulling to within one goal on three occasions but City were just too strong for them in the end. It's not often a player will score a hattrick and be on the losing side but that's what happened to Nkunku who had a fine game for the German side. Angelino got sent off against his old club which will not have been a happy return for him. Leipzig should take some heart from this game though and with the other result in this group they might think they can challenge.

Our first upset came in Brugge where PSG were held to a 1-1 draw. All the talk was about MNM but they were poor. It will only be a matter of time before these three start gelling but I can't take anything away from Club Brugge here, they were fantastic at keeping PSG quiet. They even registered almost double the amount of shots and Nsoki was a rock in their defence. He is an ex-PSG player as well so this result will have been even sweeter for him.

Group B
Result: Atletico Madrid 0 - 0 Porto - My Prediction: Atletico Madrid 2 - 1 Porto
Result: Liverpool 3 - 2 AC Milan - My Prediction: Liverpool 1 - 1 AC Milan

An incredibly boring game in Madrid. No goals. Nothing to talk about apart from a sending off late in the game for Porto's Mbemba. Porto will be the happier of the two teams and this is two points dropped for Simeone's side.

Ergh... Liverpool won. Don't want to talk about this much but it was a decent win for them. AC Milan were on the back foot for most of the game but Liverpool were a little dodgy at the back which let Milan back into the game. Salah missed a penalty which was funny but now doesn't really matter. Don't like Henderson but it was a good finish, although his defensive work all game was poor in the middle of the park. I'm going to move on...

Group C
Result: Besiktas 1 - 2 Dortmund - My Prediction: Besiktas 1 - 2 Dortmund
Result: Sporting 1 - 5 Ajax - My Prediction: Sporting 1 - 1 Ajax

A comfortable win in the end for Dortmund although Besiktas did pull one back late on that could have spoiled their party. They won this in the first half with a man of the match performance from Jude Bellingham. He got the first goal, the assist for the second and ran the midfield for Dortmund. He is clearly going to be something quite special and Dortmund could do well if him and Haaland keep this up. Haaland now has 66 goals in 66 appearances, the guy is just insane. 

A huge win and performance for Ajax. In a group where Dortmund should comfortably finish top, second place is all to play for. Ajax have made a massive statement in week 1 and obliterated Sporting Lisbon on their return to the Champions League. Haller with four goals and Antony with 3 assists tore apart the Sporting defence. That's eight goals already this season for Haller, he is going to cause trouble for a lot of teams.

 

Group D
Result: Sheriff 2 - 0 Shakhtar - My Prediction: Sheriff 0 - 0 Shakhtar
Result: Inter 0 - 1 Real Madrid - My Prediction: Inter 2 - 2 Real Madrid

Wow. This was incredible from Sheriff. I was actually watching the Dortmund game but when Haaland made it two I switched over to this game. Now you would think maybe this was one of those games where Sheriff were lucky and scraped two goals but in truth, it could have been more. Shakhtar were outplayed from start to finish. Yes they had a lot of the ball, but they barely troubled the Sheriff defence and it was a great performance from the minnows. Sheriff are not just here to make up the numbers and on this performance, the rest of the group need to watch out. The fans absolutely loved it and so did I.

The other game surprisingly lacked a bit of quality. There wasn't much to talk about until Madrid stole it at the end with a late Rodrygo goal. The San Siro is always a difficult place to play and the result will have pleased Ancelotti (much to my annoyance). Camavinga is going to be a top player and he did well to combine with Rodrygo for the goal.

Group E
Result: Barcelona 0 - 3 Bayern - My Prediction: Barcelona 2 - 4 Bayern
Result: Dynamo Kyiv 0 - 0 Benfica - My Prediction: Dynamo Kyiv 1 - 2 Benfica

I called it. I think we all called it (although I did think Barcelona would score). Barca were absolutely torn apart by Bayern and they had no response. None of Barca's five shots were on target compared to seven of 17 for Bayern. When was the last time Barca had no shots on target you ask? Well it hasn't happened for 11 seasons and this is the first time ever in the Champions League for them. Koeman put the blame on his lack of options, which is partly right but that first 11 should at least be capable of more than this. I think this could be a long campaign for the club and this result has confirmed my fears for them that they may not make the knockout stages. Bayern are going to trounce this group, they were fantastic!

Elsewhere in this group there was a nil-nil draw in Kyiv, which will give Barcelona fans some confidence providing they can pick up victories against both of those clubs. Benfica dominated possession against Dyanmo Kyiv completing 630 passes compared with Kyiv's 288. They will see this as a missed opportunity to exploit the early pressure on Barcelona. 

Group F
Result: Young Boys 2 - 1 Man United - My Prediction: Young Boys 0 - 3 Man United
Result: Villareal 2 - 2 Atalanta - My Prediction: Villareal 2 - 2 Atalanta

As Space, the band from Liverpool, would say, "Shock shock horror horror, shock shock horror!" Man United will blame the sending off but, even though they were ahead, they were not dominating this game at all. It was a definite red card for Wan-Bissaka, you can't do that anymore and he knows it. I know going down to ten men makes things difficult but I personally feel that the way United approached the game from that point on was completely wrong. Young Boys were all over them for the rest of the game and while United defended well, it only felt like the time was coming for Young Boys to equalise. I know you have to defend in these situations but they had no out ball and never looked like they could catch Young Boys on the break. Feel sorry for Lingard but his backpass was woeful. Great to see a team like Young Boys win a game like this and the atmosphere in the stadium looked fantastic - they fully deserved it. Ronaldo will not be happy.

Spot on with my prediction in the other game. Both Villareal and Atalanta will see this as a missed opportunity with United dropping points. This group is wide open and it will be interesting to see how United bounce back from their disappointment in week 1. 

Group G
Result: Sevilla 1 - 1 Salzburg - My Prediction: Sevilla 2 - 2 Salzburg
Result: Lille 0 - 0 Wolfsburg - My Prediction: Lille 0 - 1 Wolfsburg

I thought there would be more goals in it but I did think Salzburg are going to be a team to look out for and they certainly are. Had they converted their first half penalties they could have been three up and there would have been no way back for Sevilla after that. Bono in goal for Sevilla did very well to keep Salzburg out, making some cracking saves. I know he gave a way a penalty but he was standout aside from that. Salzburg look fantastic going forward and I do think they are going to cause a lot of teams problems. Sevilla were a bit average really. 

Bore draw in the other game. I was surprised to see that Lille dominated most of the game and Wolfsburg didn't have a shot on target. If Lille can continue like that they might pick up some wins in this group, Wolfsburg are going to need to improve quickly. Although, a point away from home is a decent result for them at this early stage. 

Group H
Result: Chelsea 1 - 0 Zenit - My Prediction: Chelsea 3 - 0 Zenit
Result: Malmo 0 - 3 Juventus - My Prediction: Malmo 0 - 2 Juventus

Zenit did very well to hold Chelsea to only one goal. Of course Lukaku was going to score but Chelsea were pretty disappointing all game. Barrios in central midfield for Zenit did very well to break up any attacks and Chelsea were a little bit lifeless in the final third. Thought Rudiger was their stand out player and he did very well to defend and make a crucial tackle on Azmoun as he was going clear on goal. He also glided forward almost the whole length of the pitch at one point and nearly scored, hitting it narrowly wide. Chelsea did what they needed to do and a win is a win. 

Juventus haven't had a good start to the season but this win will give them some confidence. Of course, they are expected to beat Malmo but they played well and maybe this will be the springboard to get them going.

So I got seven out of 16 results right and of those I got two correct scores. Not a great start...

Young Player of the Week: Jude Bellingham
Player of the Week: Sebastien Haller
Team of the Week: Sheriff 

Who were your stand out performers of the week?