Former European champions Aston Villa started their Champions League campaign impressively as they eased to a 3-0 win over BSC Young Boys at Stadion Wankdorf. An early full-blooded start by the reigning Swiss Super League champions was repelled, courtesy of a string of brilliant saves from Emiliano Martinez, with Villa then going on to dominate the tie.
But it was in the 27-minute mark where Villa finally broke through as Youri Tielemans executed a rehearsed set-piece from the Austin Macphee playbook, guiding the delivery by John McGinn to the far corner. Ollie Watkins missed an open chance to double Villa’s lead shortly later, but Jacob Ramsey did just that after being fouled against Young Boys goalkeeper David von Ballmoos. The third finally came really late as Amadou Onana sealed the win with a sublime strike to round off a perfect start to life in the Champions League for Unai Emery’s men.
Juventus also returned to European action in fine style as they saw off PSV 3-1 at the Allianz Stadium. A scintillating six-minute spell in the first half set Juventus on their way to a victory that was secured, with 18-year-old Kenan Yildiz becoming the club’s youngest-ever UCL scorer. Weston McKennie added another following a loose ball in the box, with Nicolas Gonzalez sealing the third in the second half. PSV managed to pull one back through Ismael Saibari, but it was a mere consolation as Juventus dominated night long. Thiago Motta will be over the moon following his opening win in this season’s UCL, as his charges now set their eyes on RB Leipzig next.
Liverpool completed their comeback, beating AC Milan 3-1 in a fine match at the San Siro. Milan took the lead after three minutes through Christian Pulisic, before Liverpool levelled through a powerful header from Ibrahima Konate. Virgil van Dijk gave the Reds the lead before half-time with another set-piece goal on his 50th UCL appearance. Dominik Szoboszlai sealed the win with a third, rounding off an excellent performance from Arne Slot’s men. Milan continue to struggle with just one win from five competitive games this season.
Real Madrid began their Champions League title defense with a 3-1 win over VfB Stuttgart at the Santiago Bernabéu. Stuttgart impressed early, forcing several saves from Thibaut Courtois, but Madrid found their rhythm after halftime. Kylian Mbappé opened the scoring with his first UCL goal for the club, but Stuttgart leveled things through Deniz Undav, only to see Real Madrid respond through a header by Antonio Rüdiger and then one at the end by teenage sensation Endrick to seal all three points.
This was setting up an exciting Champions League season in which all four teams were really positioned to go deep into the competition.
