As a footballer Xabi Alonso played 119 times in the Champions League and won two trophies (with Liverpool and Real Madrid). Looking at his first match in this competition as a coach, he will be as successful as he was years ago as a player. Bayer Leverkusen, the current Bundesliga champion just demolished Feyenoord in the first game of the new Champions League campaign: Feyenoord – Bayer 0-4. Last season, Alonso‘s men surprisingly won the title without a single loss, while their only defeat in Europe came in the UEFA Europa League final against Atalanta. Everybody was keen to see how will they look in the strongest competition and they didn‘t disappoint.If there is a football team in the Netherlands which can cause problems for stronger European teams at their home ground, it‘s Feyenoord. Just ask Lazio, Celtic, Roma or Shakhatar. But this season they lost coach Arne Slot and their best players Yakuba Minteh, Mats Wieffer and new Leipzig man Lutsharel Geertruida. It was just too much against Bayer, who came motivated and well prepared for the game. Leverkusen just ‘killed‘ the home team with the ligthtning spead of Grimaldo and Frimpong and the in-form Florian Wirtz, who scored a brace on his debut.Four shots four goals. A perfect percentage for Bundesliga champions. Just as the game started and Feyenoord took advantage, it was 1-0. Ramiz Zerrouki lost the ball cheaply and Andrich passed it to Wirtz who scored a beauty in his Champions League debut. A minute later, the hosts equalized but the goal was nullified due to offiside. Still, they kept on attacking, while Leverkusen opted to attack from the counter attacks and almost all other goals in the first half came that way. Boniface played a fade while Frimpong poked a cross from the right. The ball took a nick, bringing it into the path of Grimaldo who simply tapped it in for the second goal in the 30th minute. Frimpong has been a nightmare for Feyenoord and continued to harras them with his pace. The Dutch winger set up Wirtz‘s second goal in the 36th minute, before keeper Timon Wellenreuther scored an own goal after a shot from Tapsoba. There was nothing interesting in the second half, as Feyenoord didn‘t want to concede more goals, but they were again denied one goal due to offside. As for Leverkusen, they kept it cool and didn‘t even bother to create chances. They failed to shoot at least once on target in the second 45 minutes.UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – MATCHDAY 1TuesdayJuventus – PSV 3-1 (2-0)/Yildiz 21, McKennie 27, Gonzales 52 – Saibari 90+3/Young Boys – Aston Villa 0-3 (0-2)/Tielemans 27, Ramsey 38, Onana 85/AC Milan – Liverpool 1-3 (1-2)/Pulisic 3 – Konate 23, van Dijk 41, Szoboszlai 67/Bayern – Dinamo Zagreb 9-2 (3-0)/Kane 19 pen, 58, 63 pen, 78 pen Guerreiro 33, Olise 38, 61, Sane 85, Goretzka 90+2 – Petkovic 49, Ogiwara 50/Real Madrid – Stuttgart 3-1 (0-0)/Mbappe 46, Rudiger 83, Endrick 90+5 – Undav 68/Sporting – Lille 2-0 (1-0)/Gyokeres 38, Debast 65/WednesdayBologna – Shakhtar 0-0Sparta Praha – Salzburg 3-0 (2-0)/Kairinen 2, Olatunji 42, Laci 58/Celtic- Slovan B. 5-1 (1-0)/Scales 17, Furuhashi 47, Englels 56, Maeda 70, Idah 86/Club Brugge – Dortmund 0-3 (0-0)/Gittens 76, 86, Guirassy 90+5 (p)/Man.City – Inter 0-0PSG – Girona 1-0 (0-0)/Gazzaniga (og) 90/ThursdayCrvena Zvezda – Benfica 1-2 (0-2)/Milson 86 – Artukoglu 9, Kokcu 29/Feyenoord – Leverkusen 0-4 (0-4)/Wirtz 9, 36, Grimaldo 30, Wellenreuther 44(og)/22:00: (4.10) Atalanta (3.50) Arsenal (1.90)22:00: (1.80) Atl.Madrid (3.60) RB Leipzig (4.60)22:00: (1.90) Brest (3.60) Sturm (4.50)22:00: (4.60) Monaco (3.60) Barcelona (1.80)***odds are subject to change***
