Holland vs Borussia Dortmund
On September 13, one of the most anticipated events of the evening was the arrival of Robert Lewandowski at the Allianz Arena, and this time the attention of the fans was focused on the confrontation between Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund.
Newly minted Citizens striker Erling Haaland was preparing to play against his former team for the first time and try to present a gift to Pep Guardiola.
The Spaniard was preparing to hold the 150th meeting in the Champions League as a head coach, which only four mentors had previously managed - José Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson.
And although Borussia was considered an obvious outsider, and its chances of success were quoted extremely low, the anniversary match for Guardiola did not turn out to be easy.
The hosts experienced enormous problems with creating dangerous chances and scored a total of 0.91 expected goals (xG), and right up to the very end they were completely catching up.
19-year-old Jude Bellingham responded to the filing of Marco Reus and scored for the fourth time in the main European Cup.
Help came from nowhere.
Ten minutes before the end of regular time, defender John Stones joined the attack of the “citizens” and caught Alexander Mayer-Schade by surprise with a cannon “shot”.
And four minutes later, one of the main talents of the generation added his weighty word.
Erling Haaland responded to Joao Cancela's serve and left the Borussia goalkeeper out of work with a karate-style kick.
And although the Norwegian himself did not celebrate the goal of the former team, the joy of his partners knew no bounds.
What can not be said about Guardiola, who entered into a skirmish with the chief referee Daniele Orsato, for which he received a yellow card.
Ancelotti's achievement
A kind of anniversary was also celebrated by the coach of Real Madrid.
The victory over Leipzig was Carlo Ancelotti's 100th Champions League head coach and brought him closer to record holder Alex Ferguson.
Under his leadership, Manchester United won 102 meetings in the main European Cup tournament.
True, if the legendary Scot won only two “big-eared” trophies, then the Italian won twice as many.
As for the confrontation itself, it turned out to be not the easiest for Madrid, but according to the plot it was reminiscent of recent matches with Celtic and Mallorca.
Real Madrid had a rather mediocre first half and could well have missed a couple of times before the break, but the problems of the Red Bulls with the implementation again made themselves felt.
In the second half, the hosts appeared in a completely different light.
Vinicius and Rodrigo perked up on the flanks, and Federico Valverde again demonstrated his goalscoring qualities.
In the 80th minute, he promptly joined the attack and shot irresistibly from his left foot into the far corner, scoring in the second meeting.
The final score was set by two replacement players.
Toni Kroos rolled the ball under the blow of Marco Asensio, who drove it into the net.
Mbappe's 30th goal and the dominance of Napoli and Milan
Not the easiest victories were won by other noteworthy favorites.
Paris Saint-Germain hardly expected to experience at least any problems during the trip to Haifa, but already in the 24th minute allowed Maccabi to take the lead.
Vitinha did not follow Tyaronn Chery's jerk.
But the French came to their senses and responded to this with three accurate blows.
Each of the three Lionel Messi - Kylian Mbappe - Neymar scored once, and the Argentine also scored an assist.
He assisted the Frenchman and helped him catch up with the club's top scorer in the history of the Champions League - Edinson Cavani (30 goals).
Napoli did not leave the Rangers a chance on the road.
Wards of Luciano Spalletti have accumulated almost four (3.69) expected goals, but in reality they were limited to only three.
All the fault of Piotr Zelinski, who lacked two attempts to realize the 11-meter foul on Giovanni Simeone.
The Pole unsuccessfully struck from the point, but the premature entry into the penalty area of Matteo Politano, who worked on finishing, provided him with another opportunity to light his name on the scoreboard.
On, as in the first case, Allan McGregor was on the alert - the fifth oldest goalkeeper in the history of the tournament (40 years 226 days).
However, the remaining ten men after the removal of James Sands, the Scots still failed to contain the formidable enemy.
It is all the more remarkable that the beginning of the defeat was laid by the same Politano, who replaced Zelinsky in the role of the penalty shooter.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia fell into the hands of the hosts' football player, and the Italian took McGregor by surprise.
Giacomo Raspadori and Tongay Ndombele completed what they started.
Milan won the first victory in the current competition.
The reigning champion of Italy did not repeat the fate of Chelsea and took over Dinamo Zagreb, which was not helped even by Mislav Orsic, who again scored an accurate blow.
The Rossoneri were drastically stronger and outperformed their opponent in xG six times (2.24 - 0.36), and managed to score three times.
Olivier Giroud was joined by Alexis Salemakers and Tommaso Pobega.
Potter's debut and the collapse of Juventus
Chelsea failed to take three points in the first leg after the dismissal of Thomas Tuchel.
Graham Potter, who replaced him, immediately changed the scheme (4-2-3-1), seated Wesley Fofan and Kalidou Koulibaly, who cost a total of €118.4 million, and formed a powerful fist in front with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as a tip.
However, it cannot be said that his plan completely worked.
The Blues created only a couple of 100 percent chances, and scored only once - Raheem Sterling responded to a cross pass from Mason Mount and hit the far corner.
But it was not possible to keep the minimal advantage.
Cesar Azpilicueta slept through Noah Okafor's dash to the 11-meter mark and could not prevent him from restoring parity.
Juventus, on the other hand, went further and was defeated by Benfica at home.
Through the efforts of Arkadiusz Milik, Massimiliano Allegri's wards took the lead already in the fourth minute, but subsequently not only missed a lot of chances to score, but also conceded twice.
First, a disservice to the partners was rendered by the pupil of the club, Fabio Miretti, who knocked down an opponent who ran out of the penalty area and thereby “brought” a penalty.
And then David Neres took advantage of the confusion in the defense of the “old lady”.
Both Dusan Vlahovic and Bremer could save the hosts from defeat, but the goal of the first was canceled due to offside, and the second missed from five meters.