Most of the Champions League big guns were out on show on Tuesday night as Manchester City, Arsenal, PSG, Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona and the two Milan clubs lined up for their second matches.
And there was a goal rush for these giants of the European game with City, Inter, Barcelona and Dortmund all winning handsomely, scoring 20 goals between them, BVB the headline grabbers with a 7-1 stuffing of Glasgow Celtic.
It was a busy night for us all here at SBOTOP so let’s take a look at how the action unfolded for the leading lights.
The returned Ilkay Gundogan gave Manchester City an eighth-minute lead away to Slovan Bratislava with his first goal of the season; and then Phil Foden, who has made a strangely quiet start to the campaign, scored a brilliantly taken second from a clever lay-off by Jeremy Doku. 2-0 at the break, though City could have been out of sight.
The Sky Blues were out of sight on 58 minutes when Erling Braut Haaland (who else?) got on the score sheet with a clinical finish from a super ball by Gundogan. That was the last we saw of the big Norwegian and it was the man who came on for him, James McAtee, who scored City’s fourth and rounded off an impressive away win.
Hakan Calhanoglu gave Inter Milan an 11th-minute lead with a brilliantly taken free-kick against Red Star Belgrade, as it flew into the top corner; and that was the only goal of the first half. Marko Arnautovic made it 2-0 in the hour and Argentine hitman Lautaro Martinez added a third soon after. Mehdi Teremi converted a penalty with ten minutes remaining as I Nerazzurri ran out comfortable 4-0 winners.
In one of the Big Gun face-offs Arsenal took a 20th-minute lead against Paris Saint-Germain as Kai Havertz headed home from a Leandro Trossard cross. Despite dominating their domestic league the Ligue 1 side has really struggled to make headway in Europe and the pre-tournament Champions League 2024 betting odds made the Gunners much more likely to win the tournament than the Parisiens. And Mikel Arteta’s team underlined that stat when winger Bukayo Saka doubled the hosts lead; though it was an odd goal in many ways. The England star swung in a low corner which both Thomas Partey and Gabriel Martinelli went to play, but both missed the ball, as did PSG keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, and the ball flew straight into the visitors’ net to make it 2-0 at half time and that is how it stayed in a big win for Arsenal.
Barcelona were as dead certs as you could be at home to Young Boys of Switzerland and it took all of eight minutes for Robert Lewandowski to open the scoring with a typical poachers’ goal. The underdogs were plucky though and kept the Blaugrana at bay until the 34th minute, but slack marking at a corner allowed Brazilian winger Raphinha to pounce. And two quickly became three when Inigo Martinez headed in a cross from Pedri shortly before half time.
Lewandowski headed home a corner early in the second half and a late own goal from Mo Camara made it 5-0 to the Catalans. Young Boys thought they had bagged a consolation in injury time but VAR spoiled their celebrations!
There was no shortage of Champions League 2024 highlights and goals aplenty in Dortmund, in fact three goals in the first 11 minutes. Karim Adeyemi gave the Schwarzgelben a second lead after Celtic’s Daizen Maeda had equalised Emre Can’s early penalty. BVB were dominant throughout the first half and when Adeyemi scored his second with a blistering shot it was no more than the hosts deserved. Then it became carnage as Serhou Guirassy slotted home a penalty and Adeyemi completed his hat-trick before the break as the sides went into hal ftime at 5-1.
Midway through the second half Guirassy scored his second goal and BVB’s sixth and Felix Nmecha made it 7-1 with ten minutes remaining… and then the Germans declared on seven.
Leverkusen vs AC Milan was Tuesday’s eye-catching fixture but it was the only game to be scoreless in the first 45; though that all changed on 51 minutes when Victor Boniface gave the Bundesliga champions a lead. But that was it in the lowest scoring game of the night.
Let’s hope Wednesday delivers as well!
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