Unsuccessful ending for Liverpool and defeat from Salzburg
The very first day of the Champions League group stage gave the fans, if not a sensation, then a big surprise: the current Liverpool trophy winner began his performance in the main European Cup with a defeat. This happened for the first time in 25 years.
Jurgen Klopp's wards on the road lost to the Italian Napoli. The match as a whole turned out to be equal, and both teams had moments in order to step forward, but for the time being the best on the field were goalkeepers, Alex Meret and Adrian.
However, ten minutes before the end of normal time, the Neapolitans managed to earn a penalty. Jose Calejon burst into the penalty area and fell, stumbling upon Andrew Robertson's leg. It seemed that the Spaniard began to fall on the lawn before contact with the opponent, but the judge pointed to the “point”, and realized the 11-meter Dries Mertens.
At the same time, Adrian was close to saving his team this time. He guessed the direction of the ball’s flight and even touched it, but it treacherously flew into the net. And already in the time added by the arbitrator, Fernando Llorente managed to double the advantage of Napoli.
However, last season, when the draw also sent teams to the same group, the Neapolitans of the Liverpool house also beat, but as a result did not get into the playoffs, while the Merseysides won the trophy.
In another group E match, a rather unexpected result was also recorded. The Austrian Salzburg, in the joys of returning 24 years later to the group stage of the Champions League with a tennis score, defeated the strongest Belgian Genk team at home - 6: 2. At the same time, five goals were scored in the first half.
And the main character in the hosts was the 19-year-old Norwegian striker Erling Holland, who had hat-trick before the break. It is worth noting that, at the start of the season, Salzburg won all matches in all tournaments and scored less than four goals only once. On average, an Austrian champion upsets an opponent more than five times in each game. On the account of Holland appear 17 goals, an average of almost two per match. And in the summer, the performance of the Norwegian surprised the whole world. Then, in a match of the youth world championship, he hit the gates of peers from Honduras nine times.
The return of Messi and the salvation of Inter
In another match with a loud sign, the Dortmund Borussia and Barcelona failed to open an account. At the same time, the German team owned the advantage, which delivered 14 attacks against five of the guests. In addition, the Catalans only shot on target.
But in their composition in the main European Cup debuted 16-year-old Ansu Fati. He became the youngest player in Barcelona to take part in the Champions League. Lionel Messi returned to duty, but the Argentinean did not get into the starting lineup and entered the field only in the second half.
But the guests weren’t greatly helped by this either. Blue-garnet did not have the best match, but luck accompanied them, because Borussia did not even manage to realize a penalty. At the beginning of the second half, Marc Andre ter Stegen fended off a shot by Marco Royce and repelled the fourth one of six in the Champions League.
In general, the game day was rich in sensation. One of them occurred in the match of Inter and Slavia. “Neradzurri” in the first half acted so unconvincingly (just one shot on target), that the Czech champion believed in himself and seized the advantage. As a result, even after the break, Peter Olayinka managed to bring the guests ahead.
Not only that, Prague residents had a lot of opportunities to consolidate their advantage, but did not realize their moments, for which they were punished already in the added time. To escape from defeat, "Inter" helped the standard. After hitting Stefano Sensi with a free kick, the ball hit the crossbar, but Nicolo Barella was the first to finish. Despite this, the head coach of the Milanese Antonio Conte after the final whistle admitted that the opponent "was better than his wards in all."
Defeat Benfica and Werner take
As part of Group G, which included Zenit, Leipzig managed to beat Benfica away. The German team in all respects looked better than the opponent, but for the time being the hosts were saved by Odysseas Vlachodimos who worked real miracles at the last frontier.
However, in the second half of the Greek goalkeeper Timo Werner managed to break twice. Moreover, the referee initially canceled the second ball of the striker, but after watching the replay he changed his mind. “Benfica” in the end managed to reduce the backlog to a minimum thanks to the goal of Haris Seferovich, but the team did not have more strength. Thus, Leipzig became the leader of the quartet, while Zenit and Lyon were two points behind him.
Unrealized penalty of Chelsea and goal of Promes
Also on Tuesday managed to pleasantly surprise its fans, “Valencia”, which on the road beat the updated “Chelsea” under the leadership of Frank Lampard.
But Russian football fans were doubly pleased with the first hit of the season in the main team. The domestic midfielder spent almost the entire game on the field and was replaced only in the time added by the referee.
With regard to the course of the match, the Londoners most of the game had the advantage, inflicted 17 shots on the opponent’s goal, but could not score. The 21-year-old blue striker Tammy Abraham tried especially hard, but luck did not accompany him. And another young Chelsea talent Mason Mount was injured at the very beginning of the meeting and was forced to ask for a replacement.
As a result, the fate of the match was decided by the standard. After filing from a free kick at someone else's goal, Rodrigo was quicker than anyone and sent the ball into the net. Chelsea's fortune did not smile even at the very end of the game, when Ross Barkley failed to realize a penalty.
And in the match between Ajax and Lille, Quincy Promes reminded himself of the Russian fans. The ex-forward of Spartak opened an account in this meeting already in the 18th minute and marked the beginning of the defeat of the French team. Subsequently, Edson Alvarez and Nicolas Tagliafico also scored goals.