UEFA Champions League Matchday 1: Standout Performers

                                      A St🌟r-Studded Affair

Matchday 1 of the 22/23 Champions League is done, and as the dust settles we have to take a glance back and appreciate some of the epic performances put forth by some of the greatest talents in the game. Today, the players in the spotlight melted our hearts with electric performances and most importantly, sublime goals and assists. 

Before we dive into that, a quick refresher on the full-time scores in 22/23 Matchday 1

Champions League Matchday 1 Results

Dinamo Zagreb 1-0 Chelsea

Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Copenhagen

Benfica 2-0 Maccabi Haifa

Sevilla 0-4 Manchester City

Red Bull Salzburg 1-1 AC Milan

Celtic 0-3 Real Madrid

RB Leipzig 1-4 Shakhtar Donetsk

Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 Juventus

Ajax 4-0 Rangers

Eintracht Frankfurt 0-3 Sporting

Inter Milan 0-2 Bayern Munich

Barcelona 5-1 Viktoria Plzen

Napoli 4-1 Liverpool

Atletico Madrid 2-1 Porto

Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Marseille

Club Brugge 1-0 Bayer Leverkusen

Hat-trick Hero Lewa

 

The Legend of Robert Lewandowski continues, he opened his Champions League campaign in His new home camp Nou with a Hat-trick.
 🤩
Most touches in the opposition box on MD1 of the 2022/23 UCL 
◉ 13 - Marco Reus
◉ 13 - Robert Lewandowski
Six players scored multiple goals on MD1 of the 2022/23 Champions League:
◉ Robert Lewandowski
◎ Marian Shved
◎ Erling Haaland
◎ Piotr Zieliński
◎ Richarlison
◎ Kylian Mbappé

Robert Lewandowski became the first player to score a Champions League hat trick with three teams.

  Erling Haaland 

Erling Haaland's game by numbers vs. Sevilla: 

1.83 xG

100% pass accuracy 

7 shots 

6 touches in opp. box

4 big chances 

3 shots on target 

2 chances created

2 goals 

Kylian Mbappe

A brace for the French wonder kid in his 22/23 UCL season opener. Both goals were assisted by Leo Messi. Can the deadly trio lead the Parisians to Champions League glory? We'll have to wait and see.

 Victor Osimhen

Luciano Spalletti's men put four goals past last year's finalist Liverpool F.C. The star of the show, Victor Osimhen. Napoli came into this game having made an unbeaten start to the new Serie A season. Their three wins and two draws from their opening five league matches currently sit second in the standings. 

The Nigerian striker scored and missed a penalty, but his influence in the front was second to none

 Teammate Piotr Zielinski scored 2 goals and provided one assist in the game as well.

Eden Hazard

Eden Hazard vs. Celtic:

▪️ Subbed on in the 30th minute for injured Benzema

▪️ Pass to Valverde who assisted Vinicius for Real Madrid’s first goal

▪️ Assisted Modrić’s goal

▪️ Scored Madrid’s third 

Vintage performance ✨

Honourable Mentions

Richarlison has scored twice on his Champions League debut. He has now scored the same amount of Champions League goals for Tottenham as Jermain Defoe and Rafael van der Vaart. What a debut!

Ousmane Dembele and Joao Cancelo each provided two assists.