After a whirlwind stint in the Europa League last season, FC Barcelona brilliantly returned to the Champions League on Wednesday at Camp Nou, beating the modest Czech club Viktoria Plzen 5-1 as expected thanks to a hat-trick from its star rookie Robert Lewandowski.
Liverpool, unfortunate finalist of the last Champions League against Real Madrid, for its part took a lesson in Naples (4-1) and confirms its more than mixed start to the season.
Group A: Naples corrects Liverpool
Finalist last season, Liverpool tripped over the carpet in Naples (4-1), a heavy defeat in a sluggish start to the season.
Piotr Zielinski scored twice, including a penalty, accompanied by Frank Zambo Anguissa and Giovanni Simeone.
And again, Victor Osimhen missed a second penalty for the Neapolitans.
Luis Diaz only reduced the score to 4-1 for Jürgen Klopp's side.
🔥 𝚆𝙷𝙰𝚃 𝙰 𝙽𝙸𝙶𝙷𝚃 🔥
💙 #ForzaNapoliSempre pic.twitter.com/LGRHMahBJl
— Official SSC Napoli (@sscnapoli) September 7, 2022
The Maradona Stadium, formerly San Paolo, is definitely not successful at the Reds.
Two years earlier Napoli had already beaten them (2-0), with two goals in the last ten minutes.
And in 2018, the Italian club won with a goal from Dries Mertens at the last minute of the match.
The start in C1 is decidedly hard for the clubs of Glasgow, since after the 3-0 conceded by Celtic against Real Madrid on Tuesday, the Rangers were corrected 4-0 in Amsterdam by Ajax, with including a number of Ghanaian Mohammed Kudus on the third goal.
Group B: Griezmann at the finish
Antoine Griezmann offered victory to Atlético de Madrid against FC Porto (2-1) at the end of the night, with a header at the far post in the 90th + 11!
Only playing the last half hours of the matches for a contract problem raising the price of his loan if he plays too much, "Grizou" kissed his club's crest.
The leader of the France team brought his team out of the end of the match in intense added time, with a first goal for "Colchoneros" in the 90th + 2, by Mario Hermoso, an equalizer from Porto on penalty by Mateus Uribe , for a fault of hand of the same Hermoso, and finally, the release of "Antoine".
Atlético are joined at the top of the group by Club Brugge who, for their fifth appearance in a row, beat Bayer Leverkusen thanks to a goal from the Ivorian Abakar Sylla.
¡VAAAAMOS!
The 3 points ❗❕ pic.twitter.com/yfDvZ51Frq
– Atlético de Madrid (@AtletiFR) September 7, 2022
Group C: Bayern win the clash
Bayern Munich won the poster of the evening by dominating Inter Milan (2-0) at San Siro.
The man of the match is Leroy Sané, scorer on a sequence worthy of a circus act, amortized foot, chest control before going to beat André Onana.
Sané also provoked an own goal from Danilo D'Ambrosio.
In this very strong group with three European monsters in 14 C1 (6 for Bayern, 5 for Barça, 3 for Inter), Barcelona logically disposed of Viktoria Pilsen (5-1), with a hat-trick from Robert Lewandowski and a great Ousmane Dembélé, double passer.
Perfect Start in die neue #UCL-Season!
🙌#InterFCB #MiaSanMia #FCBayern pic.twitter.com/f6oDSusdoL
— FC Bayern München (@FCBayern) September 7, 2022
Group D: Marseille misses its entry
Missed entry.
Reduced to ten from the start of the second period for a foul by Chancel Mbemba on Son Heung-min as the last defender, the Marseillais ended up cracking on a header from Richarlison, forgotten by the defense.
The Brazilian scored a brace a few minutes later, again with a header, easily winning his duel with Samuel Gigot.
Just before the opener, Igor Tudor's men, with Dimitri Payet on the bench, had just missed an opportunity to lead by Amin Harit.
They start with a defeat like two years earlier, for their return to C1, where they were surprised by Olympiakos Piraeus in added time.
That season, OM only took three points out of 18.
In this group, Sporting Portugal takes the lead, after having surprised the holder of the Europa League, Eintracht Frankfurt (3-0), swept into their stadium for their first match in C1 since the 1960 final lost against Real Madrid (7-3).
The Marseillais receive Frankfurt next week in the duel of the vanquished to revive.
With AFP
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