It’s been one week of the new-look UEFA Champions League — how did things go?
Late winners, upsets, blowouts, individual brilliance; the return of football’s darling club competition, the UEFA Champions League, gave us pretty much everything we could ask for in its opening week. The much-maligned new format was able to be properly scrutinized for the first time, and there is no denying it will take some getting used to.
If you somehow missed out on the action this week, this is your European Week in Review.
The New Look UCL
The league phase table after Matchday 1 🧐#UCL pic.twitter.com/PFtqURqHkQ
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) September 19, 2024
Last season in the Champions League, we saw 16 games split evenly across two days throughout the group stage, in the old reliable Tuesday and Wednesday schedule that football fans have grown to love. The most notable update to the competition this year is the abolition of the group stage in favor of a larger “league phase,” which features too many teams to spread out over just two days, or at least for the first match week.
What was eight groups has become a league table of 36 teams, and for the first set of matches, we saw six games per day across Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. With the return of the Europa and Conference Leagues over the next few weeks, the schedule will return to the Tuesday-Wednesday setup, with nine matches played each day.
Last year we saw a grand total of 48 goals in the opening week, a figure that went up by nine to 57 — understandable with the additional set of matches. Likewise, the amount of scoreless draws went up from one last year to three this year.
But have the games been noticeably more entertaining?
A huge selling point that UEFA continues to push is that the new format will see Europe’s elite clash much more often. This has proven true thus far — we’ve seen a rematch of the 2023 final between Manchester City and Inter, a clash between two of Europe’s historic teams in Liverpool and AC Milan, and a Thursday that saw two sensational matches play out simultaneously, with Monaco beating Barcelona and Atletico topping Leipzig at the death.
Several mega matchups that were once rarely seen before the knockouts will now become commonplace, and while it was very enjoyable this week, you’d be remiss to say there isn’t a risk of these games losing their mystique and allure.
We’ll just have to wait and see.
Top Storylines
Madrid Gonna Madrid
Real Madrid are the kings of Europe and the kings of finding ways to win. It’s been spoken about ad nauseam at this point; Real Madrid go into a game, perform well below their standards, and are dominated for a vast majority of the 90 minutes.
Fulltime: Los Blancos win.
There was a similar story once again here. Before Kylian Mbappe’s opening goal to kick off the second half, Madrid were on the ropes for much of the first 45. Stuttgart dominated both in and out of possession and if not for the heroics of Thibaut Courtois, it could’ve been two or three before halftime for the Germans. After a Deniz Undav equalizer in the 68th minute, goals from Antonio Rudiger and Endrick sealed a 3-1 Madrid victory to kick off their 2024-25 European campaign.
The Youngsters Came to Play
We were blessed with some fantastic moments this weekend courtesy of some of the game’s young stars and it didn’t take long for them to make their mark.
In one of the two early games on Tuesday, 19-year-old Kenan Yildız stepped up to open the scoring for Juventus, and what a goal it was. Yildiz picked the ball up in the left channel before driving infield as he opened his body up to curl a sumptuous strike into the top corner which sent the Old Lady on their way to a 3-0 win.
Two of the young players who made huge impacts in game week one did so as substitutes.
Endrick made his European debut in the famous white of Madrid and he was the talk of the streets when he scored Madrid’s third to seal their win. Leading a late counter with Mbappe on one side and Vinicius Jr. on the other, the young Brazilian uncorked a venomous strike that proved too powerful for the goalkeeper and wheeled away to celebrate while many sat stunned.
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George Ilenikhena at just 18 years old in his first season at Monaco has already endeared himself to the fans as his lovely counterattack goal proved the difference as Monaco beat 10-men Barcelona.
History does have a way of repeating itself, and Barcelona fans must’ve had a horrible case of deja vu when this goal went in as just last season, Ilenikhena came off the bench for Royal Antwerp in the group stage to score the game-winning goal against, you guessed it, Barça.
Top Moments
Atletico’s Win at the Death
Harry Kane Breaks Wayne Rooney’s English UCL Goal Record
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Zeno Debast’s Goal of the Tournament Contender
Way Too Early Predictions
As it stands, Bayern sit at the top of the UCL table (still sounds weird to say) with the goal difference from their opening game sure to play a massive factor going forward. Leverkusen, Villa, and Liverpool also all registered lopsided wins and sit inside the top eight, while big teams that will need to turn it around include AC Milan, Leipzig, and Barcelona.
It’s important to stress that in this eight-game format, it’s much harder to be able to predict just how things will shake out. The top eight automatically progress to the knockouts, with ninth to 24th place entering a playoff, meaning scraping a draw in week 1 could be incredibly more valuable this year in the context of the entire first round.
This is by no means a cop-out.
Dark Horse: Atletico Madrid
Underachievers: Leverkusen
Breakout Star: Jamie Bynoe-Gittens
Winner: Inter
