Sid Lowe's report from the Camp Nou
Quite a few interesting results there. Shall we knee-jerk? Bayern Munich were imperious, Barcelona look a busted flush, Chelsea and Juventus should swan through Group H, and you wouldn’t want to be forced to put the entire mortgage on the eventual winners of either Group F or G. It could be an entertaining group stage, this. Thanks for reading this Clockwatch!
The full-times (again)
Group E
Barcelona 0-3 Bayern Munich
Dynamo Kiev 0-0 Benfica
Group F
Villarreal 2-2 Atalanta
Young Boys 2-1 Manchester United: Niall McVeigh’s MBM
Group G
Lille 0-0 Wolfsburg
Sevilla 1-1 RB Salzburg
Group H
Chelsea 1-0 Zenit St Petersburg: follow with Paul Doyle on the MBM
Malmo 0-3 Juventus
... but VAR overturns the decision! Correctly so, as Guilavogui - who only took down his man when slipping - clattered Onana inches outside the box. It’s the correct decision, and so the match ends goalless. Shall we do the full-times again?
Penalty awarded in the sixth minute of injury time in Lille! Josuha Guilavogui slides in on Amadou Onana, and the referee points straight at the spot. What drama!
The full-times
Whistles go everywhere but in Lille.
Group E
Barcelona 0-3 Bayern Munich
Dynamo Kiev 0-0 Benfica
Group F
Villarreal 2-2 Atalanta
Young Boys 2-1 Manchester United: Niall McVeigh’s MBM
Group G
Lille 0-0 Wolfsburg (L)
Sevilla 1-1 RB Salzburg
Group H
Chelsea 1-0 Zenit St Petersburg: follow with Paul Doyle on the MBM
Malmo 0-3 Juventus
NO GOAL! Dynamo Kyiv 0-0 Benfica
But it’s disallowed for an offside earlier in the build-up. What a shame for the hosts, who built up a real head of steam here. A big escape for Benfica.
GOAL! Dynamo Kyiv 1-0 Benfica (Mykola Shaparenko 90+3)
Benfica are hanging on in Kyiv. Mykola Shaparenko hits the post from distance. Benjamin Verbič misses an open goal. Benfica knock it behind. From the corner Denys Garmash’s header is tipped over. Then a deep cross from the left. Mykola Shaparenko cuts in from the right and slams home! What a finish!
Turns out Denys Garmash hasn’t been sent off. Our very own Anthony Taylor did caution him for a studs-up lunge, but only with a yellow. However he incorrectly thought it was his second booking, and so brandished red as well. After a long exchange of views, the referee realised the error of his hapless ways, and Kyiv’s man was allowed back on.
GOAL! Barcelona 0-3 Bayern Munich (Lewandowski 85)
Kingsley Coman sends Serge Gnabry clear into the box down the right. Gnabry creams a shot off the right-hand post. The ball breaks back to Robert Lewandowski, who sends Gerard Pique off for El Pais, then slams a fierce drive into the net.
Updated
GOAL! Villarreal 2-2 Atalanta (Gosens 83)
The Italians bounce back, Robin Gosens prodding in a right-wing cross from close range. That shows Benjamin Verbic how to do it. Seconds later, Francis Coquelin is sent off for a second bookable offence! Not a great 60 seconds for the Yellow Submarine.
Updated
There hasn’t been too much going on at the Olimpiyskyi. And then ... Dynamo Kyiv nearly take the lead as Benfica defender Nicolás Otamendi fresh-air swipes a right-wing cross, but gets away with it as Benjamin Verbič does the same, six yards out. Then Kyiv sub Denys Garmash is sent packing for a crude studs-up dance.
Bayern are pressing for a third at Camp Nou. Serge Gnabry steams down the right and, with options in the middle and Barca light at the back, should do better than a low cross that doesn’t beat the first man.
GOAL! Villarreal 2-1 Atalanta (Danjuma 73)
Remo Freuler is caught faffing around, 30 yards from his own goal. Daniel Parejo charges him down. The ball breaks to Gerard Moreno, who flicks immediately down the middle to release Arnaut Danjuma, who pearls a glorious first-time shot into the bottom right. What a goal by the former Bournemouth man!
Updated
A couple of Juventus subs look to have combined for a fourth goal in Malmo. Weston McKennie splits the home defence to release Moise Kean with a sliderule pass. Kean rounds Ismael Diawara on the right and rolls into the empty net ... but the flag instantly pings up for offside. No need for VAR to stick its neb in here.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Zenit (Lukaku 69)
Romelu Lukaku breaks the deadlock by gently heading Cesar Azpilicueta’s right-wing cross into the bottom left. All the action from the Bridge with Paul Doyle!
RED CARD! Wolfsburg defender John Brooks is sent packing for a second bookable offence. That one was a deliberate handball; the first was earned for a yank on an opponent’s shirt. Can Lille press home their numerical advantage, as Young Boys did against Manchester United, and Salzburg didn’t against Sevilla?
Juve are turning on the style in Malmo. Paulo Dybala, Juan Cuadrado and Álvaro Morata draw some pretty triangles down the middle of the pitch at high speed, only for Morata’s drive towards the bottom left to be parried clear by Ismael Diawara. That would have been a picture-book goal.
A reminder that the champions are also playing tonight. They get a whole MBM to themselves. No goals yet at Stamford Bridge, though Sardar Azmoun just passed up a glorious chance for Zenit having been sent clear. Paul Doyle has the details.
GOAL! Barcelona 0-2 Bayern Munich (Lewandowski 56)
Jamal Musiala takes a touch on the edge of the D and sends a scorching shot off the inside of the right-hand post. Marc-André ter Stegen dives but has no chance. Robert Lewandowski sticks out a boot to stud the rebound into the empty net. Bayern have Barca’s number all right.
Updated
It’s amazing that football’s officials are happy to play fast and loose with free-jazz interpretations of the law when it comes to stuff that leads to splintered ankles, but get so pernickety with situations like this. But here we are.
NO GOAL! Lille 0-0 Wolfsburg
A sickener for Lille. Angel Gomes is judged to have run the ball out of play earlier in the move on the left touchline. That’s a very tight call by the VAR official, as it looked like a little bit of the ball was still hovering over the white line. Even if it was a couple of pixels the other way, c’mon. But that’s the law, and there’s the decision. Revised score: Lille 0, Pedantry 1.
GOAL! Lille 1-0 Wolfsburg (David 48)
The champions of France make the breakthrough at the Stade Pierre Mauroy. Jonathan David is sent skittering clear down the inside-left channel. He enters the box, draws Koen Casteels, and slots under the keeper.
Ruslan Malinovskyi flashes a glorious first-time shot towards the top left of the Villarreal goal from the edge of the D. Gerónimo Rulli tips away at full stretch.
The second halves are under way. Here we go, then!
Half-time reading. Jonathan Liew was in Switzerland to witness Manchester United’s opening-day defeat at Young Boys of Bern. His report has landed, and here it is.
Half-time scores
Group E
Barcelona 0-1 Bayern Munich
Dynamo Kiev 0-0 Benfica
Group F
Villarreal 1-1 Atalanta
Young Boys 2-1 Manchester United (FT): Niall McVeigh’s MBM
Group G
Lille 0-0 Wolfsburg
Sevilla 1-1 RB Salzburg (FT)
Group H
Chelsea 0-0 Zenit St Petersburg: follow with Paul Doyle on the MBM
Malmo 0-3 Juventus
GOAL! Malmo 0-3 Juventus (Morata 45+1)
Malmo fail to deal with a long goal kick. Adrien Rabiot helps it on. There’s a huge gap in the centre of the home defence. Álvaro Morata barges through it and shins a weird one into the top left. The 1979 finalists have crumbled.
GOAL! Malmo 0-2 Juventus (Dybala 45 pen)
It’s a virtual shrug of the VAR shoulders. Paulo Dybala to take. He scuffs it down the middle, slipping over David Beckham style as he makes contact, but no matter, as Ismael Diawara dives to his right and can’t block with his trailing leg.
Penalty for Juve! Malmo defender Lasse Nielsen lightly tugs at the shoulder of Álvaro Morata, and the referee isn’t having it. VAR will have a look to see if he’s been a bit too harsh.
GOAL! Villarreal 1-1 Atalanta (Trigueros 39)
Atalanta ship possession cheaply, 30 yards from their own goal. Alfonso Pedraza is slipped into the box down the left. His low cross takes a nick off a defender and falls to Manu Trigueros, who opens his body and slots clinically into the bottom right from close range.
Updated
GOAL! Barcelona 0-1 Bayern Munich (Muller 34)
A huge stroke of luck for the 2020 champions. Thomas Müller has a dig from distance, aiming for the top right. It’s not a great effort, but twangs off the back Eric García and files apologetically into the bottom left past a wrong-footed Marc-André ter Stegen. Super fortunate, but Bayern have been the better side.
Updated
Malmo are nearly undone again, and it’s another long ball, Álvaro Morata chasing after it down the middle. He gets to it first, on the edge of the box, and tries to lob Ismael Diawara, but the keeper is right in his grille and blocks with a Schmeichelesque star-jump.
Juve should be two up at Malmo. Matthijs de Ligt pearls a long pass down the left for Alex Sandro, who tears clear. His low diagonal drive flies inches wide of the bottom-right corner.
Barca go up the other end, Ronald Araújo rising highest to meet a right-wing cross. He heads harmlessly over the bar. We’re nearly half an hour in, and it doesn’t look as though another 8-2 is on the cards.
Jamal Musiala nearly puts Bayern in the lead against Barca. He’s in space down the inside-right channel. He enters the box and whistles towards the bottom right. Sergio Busquets slides in to block well. Musiala picks up the rebound, but is quickly swarmed and can’t get another shot away. He probably should have scored.
Updated
GOAL! Malmo 0-1 Juventus (Sandro 23)
Juan Cuadrado steams down the right and centres low and hard. Rodrigo Bentancur misses at the near post but Alex Sandro stoops in the middle and steers home a header from six yards. Could that kick-start Juve’s season?
Updated
Bayern, having started slowly against Barca, are growing into the game at Camp Nou. Leroy Sane chests down, just to the left of the D, and larrups a rising shot towards the top left. Marc-André ter Stegen sticks out a strong paw to parry. Meanwhile in Spain, Villarreal finally show in attack, Manu Trigueros spinning on the spot and slamming a shot straight at Juan Musso.
Malmo nearly open the scoring against Juve with a screamer. Jo Inge Berget barrels down the right and swings deep. On the penalty spot, Søren Rieks shapes like Zinedine Zidane in the 2002 final, and his volley, a perfect mix of grace and power, flies inches over the bar. “As a Spurs fan I should stay away from Champions League chat, but I’m sorry you’re wrong about Lamela (7.21pm),” writes Yash Gupta. “If he had played at Palace last weekend, we would’ve been two men down for sure.”
Lille are on top in the early stages against Wolfsburg. Burak Yılmaz nearly curls a cute free kick into the bottom left from a tight angle out wide, then Sven Botman slaps a header over the bar from the resulting corner. Botman takes a whack in doing so, and looks a little groggy.
Mykola Shaparenko nearly opens the scoring for Dynamo Kyiv against Benfica, with a fine free kick from the edge of the box. He whips towards the top-left corner, only for Odisseas Vlachodimos to spectacularly tip over. “I realize that the Sevilla-RB Salzburg game is over,” begins Matt Burtz, promisingly, “but this American watched two and half of our World Cup qualifiers last week and I was immediately struck by Brenden Aaronson’s movement, quickness, and finishing as he scored two goals over those games. And he’s only 20 years old! Another American in Europe to keep an eye on.” Yep, he certainly warmed Yassine Bounou’s gloves during injury time at Sevilla to nearly steal the win for Salzburg.
The Yellow Submarine is in danger of springing a leak, as Remo Freuler nearly makes it two in two minutes! He romps into an absurd amount of space down the middle, and pearls another effort towards the bottom left. Gerónimo Rulli parries well. Not sure where the Villarreal defence was there.
GOAL! Villarreal 0-1 Atalanta (Freuler 6)
The Europa League champions Villarreal start their Champions League campaign in a very nervous fashion. Duván Zapata holds up the ball on the penalty spot with his back to goal, and tees up Remo Freuler who sends a forensic strike into the bottom left.
Updated
No drama yet. Barca are on the front foot against Bayern at Camp Nou - Joshua Kimmich has already been booked for a lunge on Frenkie de Jong - while Juventus, still without a win this season, are giving it a good go in the early exchanges against Malmo.
OK, here we go! A reminder of the fixtures, and the two results so far. It’s all happening!
Group E
Barcelona 0-0 Bayern Munich
Dynamo Kiev 0-0 Benfica
Group F
Villarreal 0-0 Atalanta
Young Boys 2-1 Manchester United (FT): Niall McVeigh’s MBM
Group G
Lille 0-0 Wolfsburg
Sevilla 1-1 RB Salzburg (FT)
Group H
Chelsea v Zenit St Petersburg: follow with Paul Doyle on the MBM
Malmo 0-0 Juventus
The teams are out! They’ll be underway all across Europe after a quick blast of this ...
FULL TIME: Sevilla 1-1 RB Salzburg
It was a tale of four penalties at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán. Salzburg were awarded the first three: Karim Adeyemi dragged the first wide right after 13 minutes, Luka Sucic slotted the second into the bottom left, then slammed the third onto the base of the right-hand post and away. Ivan Rakitic scored Sevilla’s only spot kick on 42 minutes.
FULL TIME: Young Boys 2-1 Manchester United
A shock result in Switzerland! With the very last kick of the game, Theoson Siebatcheu latches onto a dreadful Jesse Lingard backpass, and it’s an opening-night defeat for Manchester United. The look on the face of Cristiano Ronaldo, subbed for Lingard midway through the second half, is exactly how you imagine it. Niall McVeigh has all the dramatic details.
In the first of six extra minutes in Seville, US international Brenden Aaronson has just warmed the home keeper Yassine Bounou’s fingertips with a fine rising shot. So close to snatching all three points in this very strange Group G encounter.
Now Lamela rises highest in the Salzburg box and sends a powerful header this far wide of the top-left corner. The ten-men hosts look the most likely. They should already be dust, mind you: in the first half, they conceded three penalty kicks, but Salzburg could only convert one: Karim Adeyemi missed the first, Luka Sucic scored the second, and then Sucic missed the third. What a ridiculous game football can be.
Tottenham Hotspur were insipid in attack at Crystal Palace last weekend. They could have done with Erik Lamela, who has his faults but is capable of the sublime when the mood takes him. Now at Sevilla, he’s already a crowd favourite, and here he mesmerises a couple of Salzburg players with an astonishing run down the right touchline that involved a crisp Cruyff Turn followed immediately by an exquisite dragback. He eventually wins a free kick that he takes himself, whipping it into the mixer. Rafa Mir - the man who replaced Rakitic - should score from six yards but fluffs his header. It remains Sevilla 1-1 Salzburg.
Sevilla coach Julen Lopetegui has just taken off Ivan Rakitić with the best part of half an hour to play. It’s safe to say that the patrons of the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán aren’t best pleased with their hero being hooked, as the sweet Andalusian night air is filled with whistles and cat-calls. Boo! Boo Julen! Rakitić isn’t particularly happy about it either, as he trudges off with a face on at glacial pace. He’s booked en route to the bench, where he whips off his shirt in performative annoyance. Oh Julen! How could you!
Updated
Two of this evening’s fixtures kicked off at 5.45pm BST. Manchester United are currently a goal up at Young Boys, though they’re down to ten men. You won’t believe who scored! Niall McVeigh will rock your world over on the MBM. Meanwhile in the Sevilla-Red Bull Salzburg match, Luka Sucic and Ivan Rakitic traded first-half penalties, but the Spanish hosts are down to ten men, Youssef En-Nesyri having been sent packing for a second bookable offence.
Group H teams
Chelsea v Zenit: All the news that’s fit to print, over on the MBM with Paul Doyle.
Malmo FF: Diawara, Berget, Ahmedhodzic, Nielsen, Brorsson, Rieks, Innocent, Christiansen, Rakip, Birmancevic, Colak.
Subs: Ellborg, Larsson, Olsson, Beijmo, Malik, Gwargis, Nalic, Dahlin, Eile, Bjorkqvist, Nanasi.
Juventus: Szczesny, Danilo, de Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Cuadrado, Locatelli, Bentancur, Rabiot, Dybala, Morata.
Subs: De Sciglio, Chiellini, Ramsey, McKennie, Kean, Pinsoglio, Rugani, Perin, Kulusevski.
Group G teams
Lille: Grbic, Celik, Fonte, Botman, Mandava, David, Andre, Xeka, Ikone, Gomes, Yilmaz.
Subs: Djalo, Gudmundsson, Yazici, Ascone, Lihadji, Onana, Niasse, Leo Jardim.
Wolfsburg: Casteels, Mbabu, Lacroix, Brooks, Roussillon, Guilavogui, Arnold, Baku, Philipp, Steffen, Weghorst.
Subs: Bornauw, van de Ven, Waldschmidt, Vranckx, Lukas Nmecha, Pervan, Felix Nmecha, Lukebakio, Klinger, Gerhardt, Ginczek.
Group F teams
Villarreal: Rulli, Foyth, Albiol, Torres, Pedraza, Pino, Capoue, Parejo, Trigueros, Gerard, Dia.
Subs: Sergio Asenjo, Mario, Alcacer, Iborra, Estupinan, Danjuma, Moreno, Coquelin, Pena, Mandi, Moi Gomez.
Atalanta: Musso, Toloi, Palomino, Djimsiti, Zappacosta, de Roon, Freuler, Gosens, Malinovsky, Pessina, Zapata.
Subs: Maehle, Koopmeiners, Pezzella, Demiral, Rossi, Scalvini, Sportiello, Miranchuk, Lovato, Ilicic, Pasalic, Piccoli.
Group E teams
Barcelona: ter Stegen, Araujo, Pique, Garcia, Busquets, Sergi Roberto, Frenkie de Jong, Pedro Gonzalez, Jordi Alba, Luuk de Jong, Depay.
Subs: Dest, Puig, Demir, Neto, Coutinho, Lenglet, Mingueza, Umtiti, Pena, Nico Gonzalez, Gavi, Balde.
Bayern Munich: Neuer, Pavard, Upamecano, Sule, Davies, Goretzka, Kimmich, Sane, Muller, Musiala, Lewandowski.
Subs: Richards, Gnabry, Coman, Choupo-Moting, Cuisance, Sabitzer, Sarr, Lucas, Roca, Kouassi, Ulreich, Stanisic.
Dynamo Kiev: Boyko, Kedziora, Zabarnyi, Syrota, Mykolenko, Tsygankov, Sydorchuk, Shaparenko, De Pena, Buyalsky, Shkurin.
Subs: Bushchan, Verbic, Shepelev, Shabanov, Lednev, Andrievsky, Harmash, Karavayev, Vitinho, Tymchyk, Neshcheret, Supriaga.
Benfica: Vlachodimos, Gilberto, Otamendi, Vertonghen, Morato, Joao Mario, Weigl, Grimaldo, Everton, Yaremchuk, Rafa Silva.
Subs: Nunez, Meite, Seferovic, Goncalves, Pizzi, Lazaro, Radonjic, Taarabt, Helton Leite, Fernandes, Goncalo Ramos, Ferro.
Preamble
You want Eurogoals? We’ll get you those darn Eurogoals if it’s the last thing we do. Here are tonight’s fixtures, all kicking off at 8pm BST:
Group E
Barcelona v Bayern Munich
Dynamo Kiev v Benfica
Group F
Villarreal v Atalanta
Group G
Lille v Wolfsburg
Group H
Chelsea v Zenit St Petersburg
Malmo v Juventus
Team news coming right up. It’s on!
