Champions League Drama: Arsenal Impress in Bilbao, Goal-Fest Rocks Turin, Spurs Shine Under The Lights in North London (Night 1) | OneFootball

Champions League drama on the opening night, who would have thought that? If you didn’t know the elite competition in European football was back, now you do. From Arsenal grinding out a result against Athletic Club in Bilbao to Juventus and Borussia putting on a goal fest in Turin, here we take a deep dive into what took place in the key games on Tuesday night.

Athletic Club 0-2 Arsenal

This was an intriguing game on paper prior to kick-off; some would argue it was quite a tricky opening game for Arsenal in the Champions League. Whilst the Gunners didn’t necessarily perform to the best of their ability, the quality and depth they had, as well as a solid defensive base they have also helped them over the line in Bilbao to begin this season’s Champions League with three points.

Athletic Club were the sharper side with a higher intensity in their game. They tried getting their wingers and striker in behind when possible, particularly with Inaki Williams and Alex Berenguer. They were getting into good positions to create chances, with Oihan Sancet at the heart of things, although nothing that clear-cut was created. But generally, despite defeat, it was a good performance foundation Athletic Club can build as the League Phase progresses.

Arsenal, as mentioned before, weren’t at their best. They were making lots of passes, had lots of the ball and lots of possession. But particularly for over an hour, they struggled with any significant major attacking threat. Everything was coming down their right side through Madueke, who, to be fair, had some good moments one-on-one with his full back. Arsenal’s main threat was mainly set pieces for a large part, and even then, the main highlight from that was Gabriel heading the back of the head of Gyökeres in the first half.

Once Martinelli and Trossard came on, though, Arsenal had more threat and fluidity in different areas of their attack, and ultimately, they were the two goal scorers who won them the game.

Juventus 4-4 Borussia Dortmund

Where do we even start with this one? What an incredible game, one with twists and turns constantly, as well as stunning goals. The 1st half was actually quite a cagey 45 minutes, both sides setting up in similar shapes, which in a way saw them cancel each other out.

The battle in midfield between Felix Nmecha and Khepren Thuram was quite fascinating to watch. Both had similar roles in and out of possession for their respective sides, dropping deep to receive the ball on the half turn and try to progress up the pitch with the ball and then without the ball, both were tasked with maintaining a high position to counter-press. On a few occasions, they were also marking each other.

Borussia Dortmund were the side who had control of things with and without the ball in the 1st half. They got their distances between each line spot on, meaning Juventus had no time on the ball to find spaces to exploit on the counterattack. With the ball, they just took control of the rhythm and the general tempo. Whilst they didn’t create much, it certainly helped them settle into the game at the start.

Juventus were looking to counter press Borussia Dortmund when possible so that they could create chances from turnovers but because Borussia Dortmund had more bodies in central areas as well as having good tight spacing between their lines, it meant that whenever Juventus had the chance to turnover the possession to attack, Dortmund had an extra body to instantly win it back which therefore retained steady control.

The 2nd half is tactically quite hard to describe because it went from that well-controlled, well-organised, cagey kind of game to total chaos, where some stunning goals were also scored. Karim Adeyemi’s opener was top quality, where he was able to get on the turn outside the box, Juventus gave him half a yard of space to get a shot off, and he executed his finish into the bottom corner magnificently. From the moment that goal went in, that was basically when the goalscoring chaos started.

It only took Juventus a few minutes to regroup, get themselves on the attack and then in the 63rd minute, Kenan Yildiz was given the ball. He was able to go on the inside and score a curling beauty past Kobel. He showed exactly how he makes things happen out of absolutely nothing.

The way Borussia Dortmund responded to that was arguably even better because from kick off they got themselves on the attack, where the ball finds itself at the feet of Felix Nmecha, where he just smashes one past Di Gregorio. The Juventus goalkeeper was well beaten before he could even react, and that made it 2-1 to Borussia Dortmund after 65 minutes. That was quickly followed by a Dusan Vlahović equaliser, a lovely finish into the far corner, and that made it 2-2 after the 67th minute.

Somehow, the final twenty minutes at the Allianz Stadium were even crazier. Borussia Dortmund were on the front again in the 74th minute, but the attack didn’t seem too dangerous. Then Yan Couto chose to hit one, and it got past Di Gregorio at his near post, which totally stunned everyone. It certainly stunned the Juventus supporters in the stadium. Borussia Dortmund then got themselves a penalty a few minutes later after Lloyd Kelly’s handball, and it was slotted home coolly by Bensebaini. That made it 4-2 after 86 minutes, which looked like game over at that moment.

Into stoppage time, still fighting and believing they can get something, Juventus got a goal back in the 91st minute through Dusan Vlahović to make it 4-3. The cross was fired across by Pierre Kalulu, and the Serbian used his goalscoring instinct to get his foot on the end of it, which saw Gregor Kobel beaten again. The game wasn’t over there, though, because that then gave the Bianconeri the momentum and far greater belief they could grab an equaliser, and they did just that right at the end.

Dusan Vlahović finds himself on the right side of Juventus’ attack. He shifts the ball onto his left foot, where he put in a lovely cross and there in the box left free was Lloyd Kelly to score a crucial header in the 96th minute to rescue a point for Juventus and break Dortmund’s hearts in the process.

This is the game that shows why we love football and why we all love the Champions League too. One of the best 45+ minutes in history, which defines what makes the Champions League the amazing competition it is, and it also shows why the League Phase format is absolutely fantastic.

Tottenham 1-0 Villarreal

This game started with a thrilling display before kick-off by the Tottenham supporters in the main stand to help build the atmosphere ahead of their first game back in the Champions League since they won the Europa League, and it certainly helped their players early on.

They were instantly on the front foot and within a few minutes, thanks to a shocking goalkeeping error by Luiz Junior, Tottenham got themselves in front after 4 minutes. Tottenham had more possession in the game with 58% of the ball. But they didn’t really trouble the Villarreal goalkeeper after the own goal too much. Nine shots with just one on target, which generated 0.54 xG. In terms of attacking performance, that is quite poor. But Thomas Frank will be delighted that his side got the three points on the opening night and kept a clean sheet against a good team.

Villarreal actually had more shots in the game than Tottenham, with ten attempts. But they were unable to get any of them on target. They had a good spell after half-time but when you can’t even get an attempt on target or really make the goalkeeper work properly, then ultimately you stand no chance of getting anything out of the game, regardless of who the opposition is. It wasn’t a great night for Villarreal with that early error, but it’s a game they can definitely learn from moving forward in the Champions League, especially in an attacking sense.

It was a thrilling night of Champions League action on the opening night all across Europe. Belgian Champions Union Saint-Gilloise, as well as Real Madrid, got opening night victories by beating PSV Eindhoven and Olympique de Marseille, respectively. Particularly for the Belgian side, a historic night in Holland they will never ever forget and one that’ll be written in their fantastic story.