Champions League matchday 2 debrief

When it comes to champions league nights, we all know anything can happen. As Matchday 2 of the new UEFA champions league wrapped up today, we experienced the uncertainty when it comes to European nights in club football. We had some spicy fixtures in the 2nd day of the matchday 2 and some even more surprising results. Here’s how the champions league shaping up after the 2nd day of matchday 2.

Real Madrid’s Galacticos fall flat to Lille away

Real Madrid were already struggling to find the rhythm in their league as they were behind the league leaders Barcelona by 3 points yet they were the favorites going in to this fixture. Madrid were not convincing in their first match against Stuttgart and were barely able to scrap the 3 points but they were optimistic about their match against Lille as their opponents were also coming from a defeat away to Porto. This was the first time the two teams going against each other in a European competition and Madrid had a surprise coming their way.

It was an sturdy performance all around from the hosts as they were resilient at the back and clinical at the right moments. Something that are usual talked about when talking about the Los Blancos, but in the case of the game they were far from their usual confident clinical side. Madrid struggled to grow into the game until later on and it was to late to conjure a goal.

Endrick came closer to scoring early on but his shot was saved by Chevalier. Lille too had some early chances but Lunin replacing T Courtois kept Madrid out of trouble. But just before the half times the big breakthrough came for Lille as Edon Zhegrova’s shot was handled by Camavinga in the penalty box in an attempt to block the shot.

VAR review deemed the contact enough for a penalty and Jonathan David was more than happy to give his team the valuable lead smashing the penalty into the top corner. Despite going 1-0 down, Madrid wasn’t looking as fierce as they should and they left it late to create. Kylian Mbappé  came on as a substitute in the last 30 minutes but even he wasn’t enough to inspire Madrid.

Madrid did however came to play in the dying minutes with both Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham coming close to scoring. But it seemed too little too late for the travelling side. This was Madrid’s first defeat in the champions league since may 2023 against Manchester city.

Unai Emery’s European pedigree proved crucial against Bayern

Another upset came from England as the Host were able to hold off the German giants Bayern Munich to a 1-0 victory .

Bayern were the obvious favorites between the two teams scoring 9 goals in their first champions league game against Dynamo Zagreb. Although Aston Villa were also enjoying a good start to their season and also winning their first fixture against Young Boys. Going into the game, Bayern started getting hold of the game but weren’t able to create any clear-cut chances. Surprisingly, it was the hosts who scored first through Pau Torres but his goal was ruled out for off side.

[ Also Read: Champions League Highlights: Aston Villa, Real Madrid, Bayern, Liverpool Wins ]

Kompany’s side kept pushing for a goal and Serge Gnabry and Michael Olise coming close to scoring. Villa did and amazing job at keeping bayern from scoring through the start of second half and their golden chance came in the 79th minute. In comes Jhon Durán with an aboslute beauty of a goal out of nowhere. Duran spotted Neuer in no man’s land and fancied a shot which was an amazing one, this gave Villa even more confidence to get all 3 points.

After that Bayern went all out in their attack and hid indeed came close to equalizing. But fortune favors the brave and Emi Martínez  proved that by his amazing performance which was crucial for his sides victory being the underdogs.

Dortmund climbs to top with a thumping of Celtic

It was a goal fest at the Signal Iduna Park  As Borussia Dortmund embarrassed Celtic scoring 5 times in the first half alone. Emre Can opened the scoring for the home team through a penalty after Kasper Schmeichel brought down Gittens in the penalty box. Celtic did equalized immediately after but after that Dortmund ran away with game with Karim Adeyemi scoring a Hat-trick in the first half alone. Guirassy also scored a brace to do his part in the demolition job on the opponent and Nmecha also scored later in the second half

It was an embarrassing display by the Scottish side with several defensive errors. The visitors were also not tactically on par with their opponents Dortmund were able to take to foot off the gas in the second half. To say the least, Celtic were Humbled by their opponents and they should be reflecting on themselves as they will face Atalanta in the upcoming match in the champions league. As for Dortmund, the only negative they would be taking away from the game would be the Adeyemi injury in the second half. Their next fixture is with Real Madrid with a mouthwatering rematch of the last year’s final.

[ Also Read: Szczęsny comes out of retirement to save Barcelona from goalkeeping crisis ]

Barcelona Picks themselves up after first game upset

Barcelona currently are enjoying great form in their domestic league, although they lost to Osasuna they are still top of their league with a 3 point lead over their rivals Real Madrid. The only thing they needed was a confident in the champions league, and that win did indeed came in form of a 5-0 victory over Young Boys.

Blaugrana dominated the game throughout the 90 minutes, with Robert Lewandowski scoring his brace. Lamine Yamal was also very good in the game as usual but he failed to convert his chances, that didn’t matter though as Raphinha conducted the game very well and also managed to score one for himself. And, the cherry on top came from a own goal in the 81st minute Barcelona will be satisfied with themselves as they recovered well from the previous loss in this competition

How’s the Champions League table shaping up after matchday 2

After 72 matches between the 36 teams in the new league format the champions league table is taking it’s shape. Dortmund is sitting at the top with a superior goal difference of 9 goals, from 2nd to 7th position all the teams are sitting with 6 points.

Some of Europe’s top teams are currently at the middle of the table with Bayern, Barcelona and Real Madrid sitting at 15th,16th and 17th positions. While the lower half of the table sees AC Milan RB Leipzig and RB Salzberg all losing their first two matches. In the bottom, Slovan Bratislava and Young boys both having a -8 goal difference.

It is only two games in the league phase and teams will have plenty of chances to turn their season around and it will be interesting

Stay tuned with us for more such sports related updates. Cześć