Last season, Ajax spent the big bucks to secure the signature of West Ham United’s Sebastien Haller. It was going to be a valuable addition in their Europa League campaign. But due to an astonishing administration error, their new recruit wasn’t registered for the competition. This season, however, Ajax made sure they don’t repeat the slip-up. And they were instantly rewarded. Haller shone in his first Champions League appearance and scored four goals in his team’s thumping win over Sporting Clube de Portugal in Lisbon.His two goals inside the opening ten minutes set the tone for the match in which the green and whites rarely looked like getting something.For the first time, Paris boss Mauricio Pochettino was able to pick a thrilling trio in attack: Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe. Brugge’s goalkeeper Simon Mignolet must have been pretty nervous looking at the opposition. But it was Ander Herrera, the former Manchester United midfielder, who scored the first goal of the game. The Belgian team showed no fear, however, and managed to get back into the game with a well-worked goal from their captain Hans Vanaken.Still getting used to this 😳 pic.twitter.com/CSF6q6XnVw— Goal (@goal) September 15, 2021 Leo Messi nearly marked his first start for the Parisians when his curling shot bounced off the crossbar on the half-hour mark, but the French star-studded team seldom looked superior to the brave hosts.Manchester City provided a no-fuss display and hammered RB Leipzig, with Nathan Ake and Riyad Mahrez all but securing the win in the first half. Jack Grealish netted on his Champions League debut after the break. Christopher Nkunku scored a hat-trick in vain for the German team. It wasn’t enough in the clash with rampant Citizens, who ran out comfortable winners.Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland run riot as Dortmund pass their Turkish test with flying coloursAt Anfield, The Reds were absolutely cruising in their rematch of 2005 final against Milan. Well, they were cruising up to a point. They took the lead when Trent Alexander-Arnold forced an own goal from Fikayo Tomori and had a chance to further from the spot. But Mohamed Salah saw his penalty saved by Mike Maignan. Nevertheless, Jurgen Klopp’s men looked ready to blow a beleaguered Milan out of contention. But twice a gap opened up between Matip and Alexander-Arnold and twice the Italians took advantage. Ante Rebic and Brahim Diaz scored in a matter of minutes and Liverpool were behind at the break.2 – Jack Grealish is the first Englishman to both score and assist on his UEFA Champions League debut since Wayne Rooney versus Fenerbahçe in September 2004. Acclimatised. pic.twitter.com/Q05e8UAHxn— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 15, 2021 But Mohamed Salah made amends for his penalty miss when he received a well-timed forward pass from Divock Origi and poked it past Maignan to level. The hosts completed the comeback when captain Jordan Henderson applied an emphatic first-time finish from the edge of the area that found the bottom corner and made it 3-2.What a goal from Henderson pic.twitter.com/gsE4hjjyBx— ²⁹ (@ftblkai29__) September 15, 2021 Real Madrid travelled to Milan to face Italian champions Inter and were dominated for longs spells of the game. But their boss Carlo Ancelotti knows how to win these games and his team held on before delivering a late blow through Brazilian wonderkid Rodrygo and snatching a win. Looking at the clubs’ names and the quality of the players, we expected more from this game, but all we got to see was a high-intensity battle and a few chances that weren’t taken by Marcelo Brozovic and Karim Benzema. Just as both teams looked like they were going to have to settle for a point each – Rodrygo struck to break Italian hearts.But even the Inter v Real Madrid game seemed like a lot of fun compared to Atletico’s goalless draw with Porto. It was a non-event of a football match.UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUEGROUP STAGE – ROUND 1TuesdayYoung Boys – Man.Utd. 2-1 (0-1)/Ngamaleu 66, Siebatcheu 90+5 – Ronaldo 13/Sevilla – Salzburg 1-1 (1-1)/Rakitic (p) 42 – Susic 21/Barcelona – Bayern 0-3 (0-1)/Muller 34, Lewandowski 56,85/Dynamo Kyiv – Benfica 0-0 (0-0)Villareal – Atalanta 2-2 (1-1)/Trigueros 39, Danjuma 73 – Freuler 6, Gosens 83/Lille – Wolfsburg 0-0Chelsea – Zenit 1-0 (0-0)/Lukaku 69/Malmo – Juventus 0-3 (0-1)/Sandro 23, Dybala 45, Morata 45+1/WednesdayBesiktas – Dortmund 1-2 (0-2)/Montero 90+4 – Bellingham 20, Haaland 45+3/Sheriff Tiraspol – Shakhtar 2-0 (1-0)/Traore 16, Yansane 62/Club Brugge – PSG 1-1 (1-1)/Vanaken 27 – Herrera 15/Manchester City – RB Leipzig 6-3 (3-1)/Ake 16, Mukiele 28 og, Mahrez 45+2, Grealish 56, Cancelo 75, Jesus 85 – Nkunku 42, 51/Atletico Madrid – Porto 0-0Liverpool – Milan 3-2 (1-2)/Tomori 9 og, Salah 49, Hernderson 69 – Rebic 42, Brahim Diaz 44/Sporting – Ajax 1-5 (1-3)/Paulinho 33 – Haller 2, 9, 51, 63, Berghuis 39/Inter – Real Madrid 0-1 (0-0)/Rodrygo 89/
