36 teams and a longer pre-knockout stage will certainly mean there’s no lack of European football this year, but is there a risk of a slow burn, as the big teams know they can easily pick up enough points to qualify for the business end of the competition?
As the new look Champions League kicked off on Tuesday night there were standout performances from Bayern Munich, who spanked Dynamo Zagreb 9-2 as Harry Kane helped himself to four goals including two penalties, and reigning champions Real Madrid who saw off a dangerous VfB Stuttgart 3-1, with summer recruit Kylian Mbappe on the score sheet.
Wednesday’s action for the top clubs, certainly in the first 45 minutes, provided the square root of nothing… as Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund were all at 0-0 at the half time break. By the final whistle, the Sky Blues were still goalless against the arch Italians Inter Milan, PSG beat Girona thanks to a last minute own goal and BVB ran away from Club Brugges with three late goals.
The rematch of the 2023 Champions League final was a master-class of Italian defending and counter attack, though neither goalkeeper had a busy night. The Sky Blues were frustrated in the first half by a well drilled Nerrazzuri who actually had the better chances, with Piotr Zielinski pulling the strings and Marcus Thuram a constant threat. Inter boss Simone Inzaghi, for reasons best known to himself. hooked them both on 66 minutes, though the introduction of Lautaro Martinez showed the Inter boss may have been sniffing a win. And the Italian side looked as likely as their hosts to score, but they did a brilliant job of nullifying the Sky Blue threat though Ilkay Gundogan had a late chance to nick a win.
As clear favourites to win the 2024/25 title, according to the early Champions League 2024 betting odds, the Sky Blues won’t be worried by this result but it is the first time they have failed to win this season. Midfielder Rodri, just returned from an injury sustained in the Euro 2024 final, has made his feelings on the congested fixture list clear, agreeing with boss Pep Guardiola that fixture pile ups are getting out of hand, and the Spaniard is even suggesting it could result in a player’s strike.
In other Champions League 2024 news Paris Saint-Germain’s home match against Girona was one way traffic from start to finish, as the hosts had 63 per cent possession and 26 shots to Girona’s three. But on a night where real quality was sadly missing it took an own goal from Paulo Gazzinga on 90 minutes to hand the French giants an opening win.
The Parisiens have made a perfect start to their Ligue 1 title defence with four wins from four and sitting clear at the top of the table; but it is the glass ceiling of Europe they are so keen to break through.
Elsewhere the 2024 Champions League losing finalists Borussia Dortmund made a winning start away to Club Brugge but they left it late. It was an open game with plenty of goalmouth action, shots flying in and a fair few on target at both ends but it took until the 76th minute before the deadlock was eventually broken. Emre Can found Jamie Bynoe Gittens on the left side of the penalty area and the 20 year old Englishman rifled home the opener into the top right corner. This boy is a real prospect and he grabbed his second to seal the points when he fired a low shot home with four minutes remaining. And BVB made it a rout deep into injury time when summer signing Serhou Guirassy slotted home a penalty.
There were more goals on Wednesday night elsewhere as Sparta Prague whacked Red Bull Salzburg 3-0 and Celtic beat Slovan Bratislava 5-1, while some other newcomers, Bologna, drew 0-0 at home to Shakhtar Donetzk.
There’s more Champions League action for SBOTOP football fans tomorrow when Barcelona visit Monaco, Atalanta host Arsenal and Red Bull Leipzig head to Madrid to take on Atletico; and in those big games we’ll hopefully get some goals before the 75 minute mark! But for now, it’s so far so good for Borussia Dortmund, Celtic and Sparta Prague, a decent outcome for PSG and a dull old night for Manchester City fans who have seen their team start a Champions League campaign with a 0-0 draw for the very first time.
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