With his Champions League goals 24 and 25, Erling Haaland once again sets a record. Manchester City wins at the start, and defending champions Real Madrid can also celebrate. Thomas Tuchel and Chelsea FC are visibly dissatisfied, while Julian Draxler is watching in Portugal for the time being.
Opening victories for Manchester City, Real Madrid and Paris St. Germain - next setback for Chelsea and his German team manager Thomas Tuchel: While the favorites underpinned their ambitions at the start of the new Champions League season, Tuchel's Londoners caught an evening to forget . At the debut of star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the premier class champion of 2021 lost 0-1 (0-1) at Dinamo Zagreb and conceded the third competitive defeat of the still young season.
"There is a lot to analyze," said Blues coach Tuchel after the game: "We are clearly not where we need to be and where we can be. So it's up to me, it's up to us, we have to find solutions. Everything is missing at the moment."
Chelsea's Premier League rivals from Manchester did a much better job with a 4-0 (1-0) win at Sevilla. Pep Guardiola's team was once again able to rely on star striker Erling Haaland, who shone in his Champions League debut for City with a brace (20th/67th). At 22 years and 47 days, the former Dortmunder also became the youngest player to score 25 premier class goals in his career. Haaland surpassed the previous record of Kylian Mbappé, who needed 22 years and 80 days. The Norwegian needed 20 appearances for this new record. The other City goals in Andalusia came from Phil Foden (58') and Ruben Dias (90').
Match winner for Paris in the 2-1 (2-0) against Juventus Turin was Mbappe (5th/22nd) with a brace. Weston McKennie (53rd) could only shorten for the old lady. Real Madrid with world champion Toni Kroos also started their mission to defend their title with a threesome. In the 3-0 (0-0) win at Celtic Glasgow, the royals needed some warm-up time before Vinicius Junior (56th), Luka Modrić (60th) and Eden Hazard (77th) scored in the second round. Goalscorer Karim Benzema was substituted before the break with knee pain.
In Zagreb, Mislav Orsic (13th) scored the goal of the day - and thus plunged Chelsea into the crisis. The Blues, with German national player Kai Havertz in the starting lineup, pushed for the equalizer in the final phase with eight minutes of stoppage time, but Reece James (85') didn't get more than a hit into the post. The Londoners, who have lost two of their previous six Premier League games, have spent around €280m (£240m) on new players this summer with the support of the new owner.
In the other games without Bundesliga participation, Benfica defeated Maccabi Haifa 2-0 (0-0), RB Salzburg and AC Milan drew 1-1 (1-1) in Chelsea's preliminary round group E. Rafa Silva (50') and Alejandro Grimaldo (54') scored for Roger Schmidt's new club Benfica. Julian Draxler, who was recently signed by PSG, remained on the bench.
