Champion League Group Stage 13/09

Tuesday Night marked the return of the UEFA Champions League Season 2017-18. Matches for Groups A through D were held on the first night, including some exciting matchups which were eagerly awaited.

Group A witnessed the first upset of the night where Benfica fell prey to CSKA Moscow. A rare and costly defeat for the Portuguese champions which might hurt them down the road in the group stages. Although Benfica completely dominated the match with resounding possession, Zhamaletdinov came off the bench to score the winner for Moscow. 

In the other match in Group A Manchester United comfortably defeated the Swiss champions Basel without conceding themselves. 

In group B, PSG run riot in Glasgow against the Scottish champions Celtic defeating them 0-5. The big three of the PSG attack, Edi Cavani, Neymar Jr. and Kylian Mbappe all got on the scoresheet in the comfortable win.

Bayern Munich also won resoundingly over RSC Anderlecht who were reduced to 10 men with only 11 minutes gone adding to the visitor's woes.

Group C saw Chelsea defeat FK Qarabag with the biggest margin for the night. A whopping 6 goals to Nil, with Zappacosta scoring an absolute screamer. But it doesn't take anything away from the Azerbaijani side who came through three rounds of qualification for the first time in club's history.

On the other side the match between Roma and Atletico Madrid ended goalless in Rome. The visitors had countless chances to capitalize with Saul Niguez and Carrasco both being clear on goal at some point but the home side keeper Allison was in sublime touch. 

Finally in Group D arguably the biggest clash of the night, between FC Barcelona and Juventus took place in the Camp Nou. Many deemed this matchup to be a revenge from last year's Champions League knockout that Barcelona faced at the hands of Italian Champions. And the hosts did live up to the expectations defeating the visitors 3 goals to Nil. Although the Juventus side was comparably a weaker one from last season, the Blaugrana side seems to be gelling up well under new boss Valverde.

The final matchup between Olympiakos and Sporting CP turned out to be one of the most exciting from the night. The match seemed over as Sporting had knocked back three goals in the first half. But Olympiakos almost made a magnificent comeback but just fell short as they pulled two back in the second half. 

The Final Results: