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Donetsk fans at Hamburg's Volksparkstadion

Photo: Christian Charisius / dpa

A memorable first matchday in the Champions League for Shakhtar Donzek. The club from Ukraine plays its home games in Hamburg because of the war at home. On Tuesday, the team was celebrated in front of almost 50,000 spectators, but the opponent retained the victory.

In the other games there were favorite victories, especially FC Barcelona was in a goal-scoring mood. Defending champions Manchester City initially struggled against Red Star Belgrade, but turned the game around after the break.

In this year's Champions League home of Hamburg, Shakhtar Donetsk have botched their start to the Champions League season. Despite great fan support and La Ola at the Volksparkstadion, the Ukrainian football champions were deservedly defeated 1-3 (1-3) by FC Porto in Group H opener on Tuesday. Kevin Kelsy (13th) scored the only goal for the Ukrainians to make it 1-1.

In front of 46,729 spectators – including the second-division professionals of Hamburger SV – Porto's Galeno was player of the evening. He scored twice himself (8th/15th minute) and set up Iran's Mehdi Taremi's goal (29th). In addition, Galeno stood out for his fair play. Because his opponent Stav Lemkin signaled an injury, he stopped his dribbling and played the ball.

Due to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Dutch coach Patrick van Leeuwen's team is not allowed to play European Cup matches in their home country for security reasons. Last season, Donetsk moved to Warsaw.

HSV supports Shakhtar in the organization and receives a share of the revenue. In November, Donetsk will face Spanish champions FC Barcelona and Royal Antwerp at the Volksparkstadion.

Defending champions Manchester City struggled for a long time in the 3-1 (0-1) against the rebellious Serbs of Red Star Belgrade and escaped embarrassment thanks to the improvement in performance after the break. The visitors even took the lead through Osman Bukari (45+2), but after the break the spell broke: Julian Alvarez (47th/60th) and Rodri (73rd) shot the treble winner from England to victory.

City were dominant in the first half, but were unsuccessful despite 22 shots on goal. Red Star had only one shot on goal to take the lead. City play in Group G together with RB Leipzig, who won their game at Young Boys Bern 3-1 in the early evening.

FC Barcelona defeated 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. The German internationals İlkay Gündoğan and Marc-Andre ter Stegen played at the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, where the Catalans moved due to renovation work at Camp Nou.

La Masia talent Lamine Yamal became the second-youngest player in the history of the Champions League 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.

Dutch champions Feyenoord Rotterdam have made a perfect start to the Champions League season. The team defeated Celtic 2-0 at home in De Kuip Glasgow.

The goals for the hosts were scored by Calvin Stengs, who converted a free-kick just before the break, and Iran's Alireza Jahanbakhsh. Celtic keeper Joe Hart also saved a penalty kick from the Dutch. The Scots not only lost the game, but also two players, Odin Thiago Holm and Gustaf Lagerbielke, were sent off.

A last-minute goal from the goalkeeper saved Lazio Roma from home defeat at the start of the Champions League. The Italian capitals drew 1-1 against Atletico Madrid.

In a heated match in which Atletico coach Diego Simeone almost traditionally saw a yellow card, Atletico had taken the lead after half an hour because Roma's Kamada deflected a shot from Barrios into his own goal.

Just when it looked like a narrow away win, Lazio goalkeeper Ivan Provedel headed the ball into the Madrid goal after a corner in the 95th minute.

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