Euro giants get goal shy after explosive opening night
2024-09-20
Manchester City's Erling Haaland reacts as teammate Ilkay Gundogan is left sprawling on the floor after missing a chance to score in a Champions League match against Inter Milan in Manchester, England, on Wednesday. ACTION IMAGES/REUTERS
Where did all the goals go?
The 0-0 draws between Manchester City and Inter Milan in their rematch of the 2023 final, after Bologna and Shakhtar Donetsk also failed to find the net, capped an untypically goal-shy evening for the Champions League on Wednesday.
Just 13 were scored across six games, a day after 28 were fired in, including nine by Bayern Munich alone.
How unusual was this? Two 0-0 draws after just 12 of 144 games to be played in the new league phase is already halfway to the total of four in 96 games a year ago in the old group-stage format.
The entire competition averaged three goals per game last season.
Paris Saint-Germain and Girona were also heading for a blank until a horrible 90th-minute error by the Spanish side's goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga — spilling a cross by Nuno Mendes through his own legs — gifted the club from the French capital a 1-0 win.
"We won't get to where we want to overnight," Girona coach Michel said. "It requires hard work."
Borussia Dortmund needed late goals from substitutes Jamie Gittens, twice, and Serhou Guirassy with a stoppage-time penalty to win 3-0 at Club Brugge.
The new format has welcomed new faces and long-absent friends back to European soccer's marquee competition.
Borussia Dortmund's Serhou Guirassy (center) celebrates scoring his team's third goal in a Champions League game against Club Brugge in Dortmund, Germany, on Wednesday. REUTERS
Sparta Prague rose to the challenge of its first game at this stage of the Champions League for 19 years by beating Salzburg 3-0.
Bologna waited 60 years to return to Europe's top table, and deserved more for its attacking ambition against Champions League veteran Shakhtar. The Ukrainian champion had a penalty saved in the fourth minute by Bologna goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski.
Slovan Bratislava was over-matched in its first Champions League game since 1992-93, the first season of the tournament's rebrand from the old European Cup, and saw Georgia defender Guram Kashia make his debut in the competition at age 37.
It could not keep out Celtic, which won 5-1 in Glasgow. Ireland internationals Liam Scales and Adam Idah, Japan forwards Kyogo Furuhashi and Daizen Maeda, and Arne Engels of Belgium scored for the Scottish champion.
"The quality of the goals was sensational," Celtic coach Brendan Rodgers said after just a fourth win in 33 Champions League games for the 1967 European Cup winner.
A rare Thursday slate of games saw Barcelona visit Monaco, Atalanta host Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen travel to play Feyenoord.
Six games each on three straight nights are launching the new format. Now, 36 teams each play eight different opponents through January, and are ranked in a single league table to decide which teams advance to the knockout phase.
City in rare home shutout
Fifteen months after City beat Inter 1-0 in Istanbul to lift the Champions League trophy for the first time, there was nothing to separate the champions of England and Italy.
Ilkay Gundogan wasted two late chances for manager Pep Guardiola's team, failing to convert a pair of headers.
It is the first time City has failed to find the net at home in Europe's elite tournament since being held to a 0-0 draw by Sporting Lisbon in March 2022, and just the second time at home in all competitions since then. The other was a 0-0 draw with Arsenal in the Premier League in March.
But, the result saw City extend its six-year unbeaten home run in European games to 32, dating back to a 2-1 loss to Lyon.
"I'm pleased with our performance, I liked everything," Guardiola said.
Paris St Germain's Nuno Mendes celebrates his cross spilling into the Girona net after an error by the Spanish side's keeper during a Champions League match in Paris on Wednesday. REUTERS
Dortmund strong defense
Dortmund's defense had a Champions League-best six clean sheets on its way to last season's final, where Real Madrid found two late goals to take the title.
Somehow, goalkeeper Gregor Kobel kept out Brugge, despite 18 goal attempts, one of which was a closerange shot by Hugo Vetlesen that rattled the crossbar in the 12th minute. Vetlesen's effort brought to an end a manic period that saw four shots in a matter of seconds, including one that forced a diving save from Kobel.
The Switzerland keeper's five saves meant that Dortmund did not pay for its own profligacy in front of goal, before it finally took the lead in the 76th minute courtesy of a Gittens shot that deflected off two defenders before looping past Simon Mignolet into the Brugge net.
Salzburg's heavy load
Few clubs will play more international games this season than Salzburg, under its new coach Pepijn Lijnders, the former long-time assistant to Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.
Salzburg had to advance through two Champions League qualifying rounds in August — because its 10-year title run in Austria was ended by Sturm Graz — and will play at least three more games in June at the Club World Cup in the United States.
Salzburg qualified among 12 European teams going to the relaunched FIFA club event because of its consistent results in the past four Champions League seasons, but it was upstaged in Prague.
"A few of our players were playing their first game for the club," Lijnders said. "It's a new team, we need to build it."
Sparta came through three qualifying rounds and six games to reach this stage, and made a sharp start Wednesday, scoring within two minutes to set the tone for an easy 3-0 win.
