The Champions Blog #1.2

 The Champions Blog

Please Note: Original Creation Date was October 6th

Matchday 2 brought another tension-packed time towards all European Cup fans as there were more thrillers, surprises and excitement over the course of the two days. This is The Champions Blog.

In Naples, Napoli hosted the highly-anticipated masters, Real Madrid in what would be a very enticing fixture. By the 20th minute, Norwegian defender, Leo Skiri Østigård scored to give the hosts the lead. After constant attacks from the Spanish giants, they eventually found their goal in Vinicius Junior who scored for the first time in the Champions League this season. 7 minutes later, Jude Bellingham scored to make it 2-1 and to continue his impressive form with Real Madrid. The half finished 2-1 to the Spanish visitors. Within 10 minutes into the second half, Napoli won a penalty and was scored by the Polish international, Piotr Zielenski. Both teams fought hard but it wasn’t until the 78th minute when Real Madrid got the lead for the second time in the match courtesy of an unfortunate own goal from Napoli’s goalkeeper, Alex Meret. Eventually, Real Madrid would go one to win the game 3-2 and secured all 3 points to take them top of Group C and to halt Napoli’s unbeaten run, which started in early September.

Picture Above: Real Madrid players celebrating after scoring.

Meanwhile in Manchester, struggling Manchester United faced Turkish champions, Galatasaray. Within the 18th minute, Man United had broken the deadlock courtesy of a goal by Danish striker and new signing, Rasmus Højlund. It only took Galatasaray 6 minutes to find an equalizer. The former Man United and Crystal Palace player, Wilfred Zaha scored on his return to Old Trafford to give the Turkish side some momentum in this crucial match. It didn’t happen until the 67th minute when Manchester United regained the lead after Højlund scored another goal to give a 2-1 lead to the Red Devils. Eventually, Galatasaray scored again in the 71st minute when Muhammed Kerem Aktürkoğlu slotted home a close range goal against Cameroonian goalkeeper, Andre Onana. Onana Unfortunately for Man United, things got worse when midfielders, Casemiro got sent off by a late challenge on Belgian forward, Dries Mertens. Fortunately, Mauro Icardi missed the penalty for Galatasaray but however, he eventually managed to find the net to give Galatasaray the lead by the 80th minute . Eventually, Galatasaray would hold on to cap off a historic win in the Theater of Dreams and get their first ever win on English soil in their 117 year history.

Picture Above: Galatasaray forward, Mauro Icardi scores his penalty to give Galatasaray the lead.

Around the grounds, Bayern Munich defeated København 2-1 in the Danish champions in Copenhagen to stay perfect so far in the Champions League this season. Lens surprised all of Europe by defeating Arsenal 2-1 in the Stade Bollaert-Delelis to go top of Group B. Sevilla we’re held in Eindhoven by PSV 2-2 and grabbed only 2 points so far out of a possible 6. Union Berlin were 2-0 up against Braga only to throw away their lead in the second half and finish the game defeated 3-2 in the Olympiadstadion to grab their first victory in the competition since October 2012. Last season’s finalists, Inter Milan grabbed their first 3 points of the competition this season courtesy of a 1-0 home win against Benfica. Basque club, Real Sociedad got their campaign up and running with a 2-0 away win against RB Salzburg to put them top of Group D.

Picture Above: Lens forward Eyle Wahi scores to give Lens the lead vs Arsenal. Inter Milan forward Marcus Thuram battles for the ball against Benfica defender, Morato. Bayern Munich midfielder, Thomas Müller controls the ball against a København defender.

On Day 2, a very shocking surprise was in store at St James Park. The Parisian champions Paris Saint-Germain to a trip to the northern parts of England to face Newcastle. It was the first Champions League game to be played in St James Park in over 20 years, back when Alan Shearer was still on his way to becoming a Premier League icon. It was highly unlikely that Newcastle would overcome the likes of the best club in France, but as we all knew over all these years, anything can happen in the Champions League. In the 17th minute, Paraguayan forward, Miguel Almiron struck a shot past PSG goalkeeper, Gianluigi Donnarumma. 20 minutes later, Newcastle doubled their lead before halftime with a goal by Dan Burn to cap off Newcastle scintillating 1st half performance. By halftime it was 2-0 to Newcastle. Things only got worse for PSG in the second half when Sean Longstaff went on to score to give Newcastle a 3-0 lead on 50 minutes. A couple minutes later, PSG got their goal in Lucas Hernandez to give the away side a glimmer of hope. However, it wasn’t until the dying embers of the match that a goal would be scored by Newcastle and it was a stellar hit by Swiss defender Fabian Schär to make it 4-1. It was a night that Newcastle fans would never forget as it would go down to be the Magpie’s biggest win in their history in the Champions League.

Picture Above: Newcastle players, Kieran Trippier and Sean Longstaff celebrating a goal.

Elsewhere, La-Liga champions, Barcelona travelled west to face the 2-time champions, Porto. This fixture would be the first time the two sides faced each other since the 2011 UEFA Super Cup Final were Barca were victorious 2-0 thanks to goals from eventual legends, Lionel Messi and Cesc Fabregas. Towards the half hour mark, Polish ace, Robert Lewandowski sustained a serious injury and was forced to withdraw from the match with Ferran Torres taking his place. Eventually, he scored in the 46th minute to make it 1-0 for the Blaugrana. Both sides fought hard to either find an equalizer or to double the lead. On the 80th minute, Porto had an appealed penalty but was ruled for offside. A few minutes later, Porto had a goal ruled for offside by Mehdi Taremi. Barca had to unfortunately end the game with 10 men after young Spaniard, Gavi received a red card on an altercation of forward, Wendell. In the end, it was 1-0 win for Barca which stretched their unbeaten start to the season to 12 games and doubled their point tally which took them to the top of Group H.

Picture Above: Barcelona players, Jules Kounde and Marc-Andre Ter Stegen celebrating the win with each other.

Around the grounds, Atletico Madrid survived a major surprise after defeating Feyenoord 3-2 in Madrid courtesy of a brace from Alvaro Morata and a volley from Antoine Griezmann. Antwerp played their first home Champions League against Shaktar Donetsk. Both teams fought hard, but a missed penalty in the dying embers by Antwerp captain, Toby Aldeweireld meant Shaktar would go back home with 3 points and a 3-2 win. In Belgrade, Red Star hosted Young Boys and in the end, the spoils were shared in a 2-2 draw. The champions, Man City to a trip to Leipzig to face the DFB Pokal champions, RB Leipzig. In the end, Man City were the victorious side, winning comfortably 3-1 thanks to goals from Phil Foden, Julian Alvarez and Jeremy Doku. In Dortmund, Milan played the Bundesliga runners-up in and enticing but goalless draw with both sides getting a clean sheet and a point. Lazio took a journey to Glasgow to face Celtic. 

This matchday was surely an entertaining one, just like the previous matchday which contained sucker-punching drama and surprising results. The Champions Blog will return by