The debate is open in Europa: is the current and renewed one a better Champions League? Are you achieving the objective of capturing the audience that has emigrated in recent seasons? Are the games better with the new format? The answers cannot be conclusive because the second day will only be completed this Wednesday, but the number of viewers rose a few points compared to last year. Something that also improved is the average number of goals: this Tuesday 9 games were played and 32 were scored, which gives an average of 3.56 screams per duel.
Manchester City He is still the top candidate to stay with Orejona. The cast that commands Pep Guardiola The season started in a great way: they won 6 games and drew 4; became champion of the Community Shield after beating Manchester United after the 1-1 equality. The English beat Slovan Bratislava 4-0 in Slovakia with goals from Gündogan’s housePhil Foden, James Mcatee y Erling Haaland. The Norwegian scorer reached 42 celebrations in 41 games in the competition.
But the peculiarity of the Citizens is that they achieved an undefeated record of 25 games in Champions Leaguewith 17 wins and 8 draws and reached the highest record that belonged to Manchester United, which reached that same mark between September 2007 and May 2009. The last time Guardiola’s team lost was against Real Madrid on May 4 of 2022.
The numbers with which the duel ended showed the superiority of the England team: they had 74 percent possession and completed 110 attacks against just 7 of the locals. “We did what we had to do. I enjoy coaching this team; I love it. Playing in the opponent’s area is not easy. In general, there were no injuries, so it was a very good night for us,” Guardiola said.
The Argentine cry of the day was given by Lautaro Martínez in Inter’s 4-0 against Red Star in Italy. The local team did not need to shine to beat their modest rival, who had just lost on the opening day against Benfica 2-1 and showed a pale image at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium. In fact, Simone Inzaghi kept Lautaro, his scorer, and other of his usual starters on the bench. The former Racing player entered 18 minutes into the final stage and just eight minutes later scored 3-0: he was one-on-one with the goalkeeper after an assist from Taremi and with his left foot he did not miss.
The victory was carried out by the last finalist Borussia Dortmund: In Germany they beat Celtic 7-1 with a hat trick from Karim Adeyemi.
Brest from France, meanwhile, is the big surprise of the tournament: they beat Salzburg 4-0 away, a team in which former Boca Nicolás Capaldo played 30 minutes. The French are leaders with an ideal score, 6 goals for and only one against.
The most attractive match was played Arsenal y Paris Saint Germain and it was a 2-0 victory for those led by Mikel Arteta with goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka. “I don’t feel like explaining my tactics because they wouldn’t understand them.”“, Luis Enrique, PSG coach, defended himself. And he clarified: “Honestly, I am not here to individualize a defeat. If so, the defeat is mine. The rival was better in the pressure and in the duels. They took fewer risks after the break, but our defeat was deserved.”
Barcelona also flourished with the 5-0 victory against Young Boys with two goals from the Polish Robert Lewandowski, who reached 96 goals in the Champions League and was 4 away from reaching 100, a figure that only Cristiano Ronaldo (140) and Lionel Messi (129). The culé cast thus recovered from the fall against Monaco on the first date. “No one knows how this Champions League is going to work, but it is always good to have a good difference,” said Hansi Flick.
More results: Stuttgart 1-1 Sparta Prague, Bayer Leverkusen (Exequiel Palacios came on) 1-0 Milan, PSV (starter Walter Benítez) 1-1 Sporting Lisbon.
The most attractive matches on Wednesday will be: Aston Villa-Bayern Munich, Benfica-Atlético de Madrid, Liverpool-Bologna and Lille-Real Madrid.
