Champions: three City, three Barcelona

No surprises in the other matches of this first evening of the Champions League. Manchester City, despite sweating their proverbial shirts for an hour, managed to get the better of Red Star, who even took the lead; Alvarez helped the comeback with a brace in the final 3-1. Goal for Barcelona, ​​who strolled against Antwerp as confirmed by the 5-0 they achieved in Spain. Practice already archived in the 23rd minute when Xavi’s team is ahead by three goals, including that of Lewandowski who becomes the third player to score the hundredth European goal after Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi. Porto moves on to Hamburg against Shakhtar driven by a super Galen who scores the 1-3 in favor of the Conceiçao team with a brace. In Lazio’s group, Feyenoord beat Celtic 2-0, also taking advantage of their double numerical superiority. Leipzig wins in Bern against Young Boys, with Schlager and Sesko defeating the Swiss in the final phase of the match.

MANCHESTER CITY-RED STAR 3-1

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More laboriously than expected, Guardiola manages to get to grips with Red Star. City created a lot, but crashed into Glazer: the goalkeeper took turns blocking Rodri, Aké and Foden while Haaland’s shot went off the crossbar in the 26th minute. The Citizens ended the first half badly: first Bernardo Silva’s injury – Doku replaced him – then the Serbs’ advantage: Bukari sprinted on the edge of offside and beat Ederson. In the second half things got back on track: Alvarez equalized in the 47th minute after a splendid triangulation with Haaland, which ended with a dribble on the goalkeeper and a pass into an empty net. Glazer makes another miraculous intervention on the Norwegian’s tap-in (57′), but shortly afterwards he ruins everything. On the arcing path of Alvarez, he smooths the ball with his fist and Manchester comes back in the 60th minute. Rodri scores the goal of tranquility, at the end of a personal action concluded with an excellent shot to the far post (73′). Bobb looks for glory, Glazer counters well to avoid a worse loss.

BARCELONA-ANTWERP 5-0

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No problem for Xavi’s Barça, who closed the score already halfway through the first half. In the 11th minute Joao Felix broke the deadlock, well served by Gundogan in the area; The Portuguese did well to carve out the space to close the shot well. Lewandowski doubles the lead following Felix’s suggestion at the far post, for an easy pass (19′). A match that had nothing left to talk about already in the 23rd minute, after Bataille’s unfortunate own goal which fatally deflected Raphinha’s cross behind Butez. Gavi also drops the poker in the 54th minute: counter-attack in the area, the young Blaugrana talent resolves the melee by unloading a powerful left-footed shot under the crossbar. The exclamation point goes to the one who opened the scoring, Joao Felix heads the ball past Butez again on the Brazilian’s cross (66′).

SHAKHTAR-PORTO 1-3

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Under the direction of Massa, Porto won three important points against neutral Hamburg. It’s a show from Galeno that guarantees the success: he scores first in the 8th minute, repeating Franco’s saved shot into the net. After five minutes the Ukrainians equalized with Kelsy’s nice header from Konoplia’s cross, but there was little attention in defense. A horizontal pass from Sikan inadvertently serves Galeno who scores a brace in the quarter of an hour. Taremi extends the lead in the 29th minute: this time the Brazilian serves the assist which the attacker deposits flatly into the net in the center of the area. For the rest, the Portuguese have no difficulty managing the timid offensives of Shakhtar, who begin their Champions League campaign with a defeat.

FEYENOORD-CELTIC 2-0

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The Scots took the lead in the initial part, Feyenoord slowly gained control of the game and took the lead in injury time in the first half: a long-range free kick from Stengs, an approximate intervention from Hart who was perhaps fooled by the rebound of the ball. The second half went downhill after the hour mark: Celtic remained with ten men due to Laerbielke’s penalty foul which earned him a second yellow card, even though Paixao had his shot saved from the spot. In the 69th minute the guests also lost Holm, who made a very dangerous slide which was sanctioned with another expulsion, this time direct. With two more men, the goal arrives effortlessly: after the one annulled in Geertruida, Jahanbakhsh takes care of it, punishing Hart with a sharp right-footed shot under the crossbar (76′).

YOUNG BOYS-LEIPZIZ 1-3

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The Germans immediately control the match: in the 3rd minute Simakan heads a corner kick from the right perfectly. Xavi Simons would have the chance to equalize in the 13th minute, but he closes his right foot too much and puts it wide. Wicky’s team equalized shortly after the half hour mark with Elia, who finished well from the edge of the box. At the start of the second half Openda had two interesting opportunities, with Racioppi who scored in the 62nd minute from close range. Young Boys’ last interesting situation is in the 72nd minute with Ganvoula’s shot, rejected by the opposing goalkeeper; then Leipzig takes over the game: Schlager finds the far corner with a precise diagonal from outside the area (73′), in the final Sesko closes it after the excellent counterattack led by Henrichs.