Dream start for Ilkay Gündogan and Marc-Andre ter Stegen, the defending champions with difficulty – plus great emotions in Hamburg: FC Barcelona made the first exclamation mark with its two German national players at the start of the Champions League, while Manchester City averted an embarrassment. Shakhtar Donetsk lost its premiere in the Hanseatic city.
Barca dispatched Belgium’s overwhelmed champions Royal Antwerp with coach Mark van Bommel 5-0 (3-0). Joao Felix (11th/66th), Robert Lewandowski (19th), Jelle Bataille (22nd/own goal) and Gavi (54th) scored the goals for the Spanish champions. Gündogan and ter Stegen played in the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, which the Catalans moved to due to renovation work on the Camp Nou.
La Masia talent Lamine Yamal became the second youngest player in the history of the premier class after coming on as a substitute in the 68th minute. At 16 years and 68 days, the Spaniard was just 50 days older than Borussia Dortmund’s Youssoufa Moukoko when he made his debut in December 2020.
ManCity sensationally behind at half-time
ManCity struggled for a long time to win 3-1 (0-1) against the rebellious Serbs from Red Star Belgrade. The guests even took the lead through Osman Bukari (45th + 2), but after the break the spell was broken: Julian Alvarez (47th/60th) and Rodri (73rd) scored the triple winner from England to victory Group G with RB Leipzig.
In Hamburg, 46,729 fans celebrated FC Shakhtar from Ukraine – who lost the emotional game against FC Porto 1:3 (1:3). The outstanding man at the traditional Portuguese club was double packer Galeno (8th/15th), and Mehdi Taremi (29th) also scored for the guests. Kevin Kelsy scored the interim equalizer (13th).
Last minute madness in Rome
The game in Rome between Lazio and Atletico Madrid came to a spectacular end. After the guests had led deep into stoppage time at 1-1 (0-1) thanks to Pablo Barrios’ goal (29th), Lazio’s goalkeeper Ivan Provedel came forward at the final corner – and scored a sensational header to equalize the much-celebrated game (90.+5).
In Dortmund’s strong Group F, last year’s semi-finalists AC Milan missed out on their opening win despite a dominant performance. Despite several top-class chances against Newcastle United, the Italians only managed a 0-0 draw. National defender Malick Thiaw was on the pitch for Milan until the end.