Gameweek 1 of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League began with much fanfare, but it didn’t throw up any surprises with the usual suspects winning their games in a convincing manner.
Aston Villa returned to the Champions League in style against Young Boys and Juventus barely had to sweat against PSV, while Bayern Munich ran riot in their opening game and Liverpool were the comeback kings at San Siro. PSG narrowly beat Girona through an own-goal, while Sparta Praha marked their return to Champions League with a dominating performance against Salzburg.
Also read: UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Sponsors
Let’s take a look at the games of the first round of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League.
Juventus 3-1 PSV Eindhoven
Juventus hosted PSV Eindhoven at home in this tie. They started on the front foot and opened the scoring with a blistering shot from youngster Kenan Yildiz in the 21st minute. The Old Lady kept threatening and soon scored the second goal through midfielder Weston McKennie in the 27th minute.
The second half went the same way and the Italian giants added a third through Nico González in the 52nd minute, killing off the game. PSV did, however, earn a consolation goal late on via Ismail Saibari in stoppage time to take a slight bit of confidence back home.
Young Boys 0-3 Aston Villa
Young Boys hosted Aston Villa at the Wankdorf Stadium this weekend. The contest seemed a bit too much for the Swiss side as Villa hammered them from start to finish.
Young Boys couldn’t find any rhythm, with the Villa players mostly on the attack, taking a 2-0 lead in the first half through Youri Tielemans (27′) and Jacob Ramsey (38′). They should also have had a third goal courtesy of Ollie Watkins, but his effort was ruled out for handball.
Villa continued to attack in the second half as well and were rewarded a late third goal through Amadou Onana in the 86th minute, marking a great return for them to Europe’s elite competition.
AC Milan 1-3 Liverpool
This was supposed to be the battle of the titans, and it started at a blistering pace with Milan forward Christian Pulisic delivering the opener inside three minutes. But Liverpool started to settle down and began controlling the game after the initial frantic phase.
The Reds eventually equalised in the 23rd minute when defender Ibrahima Konaté headed home from a free-kick. The Merseysiders had the Italian giants on the ropes by this point and soon scored a second through another set-piece as a corner kick was headed home by Virgil van Dijk in the 41st minute.
The second half saw a more even contest, with Milan attacking the Liverpool goal as well. Just when it looked like they could equalise, a counter-attacking move saw Liverpool score a third through Dominic Szoboszlai in the 67th minute. Milan did muster a couple of decent chances after that but never really threatened the Liverpool goal, with the full-time whistle handing the Reds all three points.
Real Madrid 3-1 Stuttgart
The defending champions welcomed German team Stuttgart to the Bernabéu in this exciting match-up. It was the away side that started with purpose, however, and if not for their goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, Los Blancos could have had an embarrassing first half.
The first half went goalless but the Galácticos came back in the way they always do with an opener through Kylian Mbappé 30 seconds into the second half. Stuttgart did equalise through Deniz Undav, but the Spanish giants again took the lead through Antonio Rüdiger in the 83rd minute from a Luka Modric corner-kick and killed off the game when Brazilian teenager Endrick scored deep into stoppage time.
Bayern Munich 9-2 Dinamo Zagreb
Bayern hosted Croatian side Dinamo in their opening fixture at the Allianz Arena. Harry Kane opened the scoring for them from the spot-kick in the 19th minute and would convert three more before full-time. Raphaël Guerreiro scored an absolute scorcher in the 33rd minute and CL debutant Michael Olise made it 3-0 in the 38th minute.
In the second half, the away side scored two goals in quick succession through forward Bruno Petkovic (48′) and defender Takuya Ogiwara (50′) to reduce the deficit to one goal. But, buoyed by the home crowd, Die Roten attacked with intent and scored first through Kane in the 57th minute and then through Olise in the 61st minute. They further added two more goals via spot-kicks from Kane in the 73rd and 78th minutes. Leroy Sané then found the net in the 85th minute to make it 8-2 and Leon Goretzka completed the rout in stoppage-time, handing Dinamo a humiliating 9-2 defeat.
Sporting 2-0 Lille
Portuguese side Sporting hosted French team Lille at the Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon for this fixture. The Leões started brightly but were denied by the opposition goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier a couple of times. However, they were rewarded with the opening goal when the in-form Swedish forward Viktor Gyökeres netted into the far post in the 38th minute. Bad then turned to worse for Lille when their midfielder Angel Gomes was shown a second yellow at the 40-minute mark.
The second half saw much of the same, with Sporting attacking and Lille on the defensive. Sporting’s second goal arrived unexpectedly, however, as their defender Zeno Debast struck a long-range effort in the 65th minute, ending Lille’s hopes of trying to find an equaliser and a point.
Sparta Praha 3-0 Salzburg
Czech side Sparta Praha marked their return to the Champions League in fine fashion against Salzburg. They started with a flourish when a counter-attacking move saw them score inside two minutes through Kaan Kairinen. Salzburg did try to gain control of the game but kept losing possession in dangerous areas, giving Sparta several chances to attack. Sparta then doubled their lead in the 42nd minute through Victor Olatunji, who found a long pass in the box.
The second half was slightly better for the Austrian side as they started to attack more, but they couldn’t find the elusive goal. Sparta then found a third in the 58th minute through midfielder Qazim Laçi, putting the game past Salzburg.
Bologna 0-0 Shakhtar Donetsk
Bologna hosted Ukrainian champions Shakhtar at the Renato Dall’Ara in their opening fixture. The away side were awarded a penalty for a foul in the box within three minutes but failed to convert it, with Bologna goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski making a fantastic save.
Bologna took charge of the game from there on but couldn’t find a goal, with opposition keeper Andriy Pyatov in fine form. Nothing much to write home about, as this match-up ended in a tame draw.
Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 Girona
PSG started their quest for that elusive Champions League title on the front foot against Girona with many chances being floundered in the first half.
The second half saw much of the same, with PSG attacking even more but struggling to break down the Girona defence. The best chance of the game fell to Ousmane Dembélé, but a stunning piece of defending from Ladislav Krejcí prevented him from scoring. Girona looked set to share the spoils with a stoic defensive performance but were halted by a goalkeeping error by Paulo Gazzaniga in the 90th minute as a costly own goal from saw PSG take all three points.
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