Champions League Matchday One Recap: Five English Wins, Haaland's Double in Porto and a Hat-Trick on Debut for Torres

Erling Haaland scored both goals and Porto did not manage a shot on target. City had twenty shots to five and 64.3 per cent of the ball, and Porto, who had won all five of their league games this season, did not attempt a shot in the first forty-five minutes at home. Diogo Costa kept it goalless for as long as he could, with two reflex saves from Haaland and stops from Antoine Semenyo and Phil Foden, and then the second half started and lasted two minutes before he was beaten.

The opener came in the 47th minute, a header into the far corner from Enzo Fernández's cross, and the second in the first minute of stoppage time, rolled in after Rayan Aït-Nouri set him up. In between, Alan Varela curled narrowly wide and William Gomes shot off target, and Gianluigi Donnarumma went the whole night without a save to make. It was the first time Porto had failed to put a shot on target in a Champions League game since they faced Juventus in February 2017. Ayyoub Bouaddi, eighteen, made his first City start in midfield and did not look out of place. Haaland told Amazon Prime the club had found a gem, and that Bouaddi should have played him through in the second half.

The goals take Haaland to thirty-six in the Champions League for City in forty appearances, level with Sergio Aguero. Enzo Maresca told Amazon Prime his side could have scored more in the first half and deserved the win, and Pat Nevin said on BBC Radio 5 Live that a five or six goal margin would not have raised an eyebrow. City host Paris Saint-Germain on 14 October.

Alexis Mac Allister told a press conference on Tuesday that he was sad Liverpool had not offered him a new contract over the summer, with his current deal running to 2028, and on Wednesday he scored the winner in front of the Kop. It came in the 50th minute, a left-footed strike from outside the box onto a loose ball, and Jan Oblak had no chance. A minute earlier Bradley Barcola, making his first start since his £123m move from Paris Saint-Germain, had fired wide from a glorious opportunity.

Liverpool had been behind, for the third time in four games this season. Marcos Llorente ran off Milos Kerkez in the 17th minute, took Julian Alvarez's pass and finished past Alisson, his fifth Champions League goal at Anfield out of ten in the competition, from the man who named his dog after the ground after scoring twice there in 2020. Kerkez won the ball back before the equaliser on 40 minutes, Ronald Araujo back-heeled it into Dominik Szoboszlai's path and Szoboszlai finished. Alisson had kept out Alvarez from distance before that, and Barcola went off on the hour with cramp.

Atlético had 54.8 per cent of the ball and nine shots to Liverpool's fourteen, four on target to five. Andoni Iraola, with his first home win and first Champions League win as Liverpool manager, told TNT Sports that Atlético had surprised him by playing five at the back and that he took the blame for the start. Mac Allister called it a good comeback and answered the contract question with "we will see", and Steven Gerrard said on TNT that his performance had been outstanding. Liverpool go to LASK on 14 October.

Arsenal had twenty-six attempts in Naples, their most in a Champions League game since records began in 2003-04, and needed the captain to turn one of them into a goal. Martin Ødegaard's finish from outside the box in the 75th minute came at the end of a move of twenty-nine passes, their second-longest build-up to a Champions League goal on record, and it was his fourth goal in five games this season counting the Community Shield. Christos Tzolis, on as a substitute, supplied the pass.

Before that the misses piled up. Mikel Merino, starting for the club for the first time since January, headed straight at Alex Meret midway through the first half, Bukayo Saka lifted a chance over the bar and Piero Hincapié shot over from inside the six-yard box. Napoli's best moment came when David Raya spilled a Kevin De Bruyne shot from distance and Ben White got there first. Arsenal had 57.7 per cent of the ball, six corners to none and eight shots on target to three.

This was Arsenal's first Champions League game since losing last season's final, and Hincapié dropped to his knees at the whistle and thumped the ground. Mikel Arteta told TNT Sports the three points were fully deserved and that on any other day the result would have been different, a complaint about the chances missed rather than the one scored. Joe Cole said on TNT that everything runs through Ødegaard. Arsenal host Lille on 13 October.

Aston Villa had gone three league games without a goal and scored three in Bruges before half-time. John McGinn's strike in the 11th minute, after Pau Torres ran through the middle to set him up, was Villa's first goal of the season and his twelfth in Europe for the club, which makes him Villa's record European scorer. Hugo Vetlesen levelled on 19 minutes, Emi Buendía restored the lead three minutes later from João Gomes's pass, and Nicolas Jackson scored his first Villa goal in the 43rd after Yann Sommer came rushing out.

The last twenty-nine minutes were less comfortable. Nicolo Tresoldi scored a penalty in the 61st minute after Aaron Wan-Bissaka, on his full debut in place of the injured Matty Cash, handled, and Tresoldi later hit the post. Brugge had 64.1 per cent of the ball, though Villa had more shots, twenty-one to fourteen, and more on target, nine to seven. George Hemmings was the first teenager to start for Villa in Europe's top competition since 1983.

Unai Emery is working ten new signings into a side that has lost six of the eleven who started the Europa League final in Turkey, including Morgan Rogers, sold to Chelsea for £117m, and has asked for patience. A win on the first night of the league phase buys some. Villa host Fenerbahçe on 14 October.

Manchester United's first Champions League game in more than a thousand days was also their biggest win in the competition since 2020, and it was settled by half-time. Matheus Cunha finished Patrick Dorgu's low cross in the 27th minute, Bruno Fernandes scored from Youri Tielemans's reverse pass in the 42nd, and Benjamin Šeško rounded the goalkeeper in the 45th after Bryan Mbeumo's pass, his second goal in two games on his first start since 3 May. Lisandro Martínez added the fourth in the 68th minute from a loose ball, after Joshua Zirkzee's back-heel.

Sabah, the Azerbaijan champions, came through four qualifying rounds to reach the league phase for the first time, and had their moments: Noussair Mazraoui lost Joy-Lance Mickels at the far post for a free header in the first half, and the visitors finished with eleven shots, none of them on target, to United's twenty-one with ten on target. United had 57.8 per cent of the ball and seven corners to two. Senne Lammens had a quiet night.

Michael Carrick has three days before Sunday's derby against Manchester City, and the question is whether Šeško now starts it, and whether Cunha or Marcus Rashford, who stayed on the bench, plays on the left. United have four points from three league games, which cannot become four from four. In Europe they go to Atlético Madrid on 13 October.

The holders are thirteenth in Ligue 1 without a win, two draws and a defeat, and scored six in their first Champions League game of the season. Ousmane Dembélé scored twice in six first-half minutes, the first on 17 minutes from the rebound after Nuno Mendes hit the post, the second a header from Dro Fernández's deflected cross after Slovan were caught playing out from the back. Ferran Torres, signed from Barcelona in the summer, then scored three: a tap-in at the near post from Dembélé's cross on 31 minutes, a finish two minutes into the second half after Maghnes Akliouche's lay-off, and a third from Dembélé's corner on 57 minutes.

Suleiman Camara scored for Slovan a minute later, cutting onto his right foot and finding the top corner, and Fabián Ruiz drilled in the sixth in the 87th minute. PSG had thirty-five shots, fourteen on target, and 72.1 per cent of the ball. Torres is the first player to score a hat-trick on his Champions League debut for a club since Robert Lewandowski for Barcelona in September 2022, and Dembélé is the third PSG player to score twice and assist twice in a Champions League game, after Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi.

Slovan are managed by Yaya Touré. PSG's next game is at Manchester City on 14 October, which already looks like the fixture of the second matchday.

Real Madrid scored with their first two attempts on target and then spent most of the game under pressure. Kylian Mbappé's finish from inside the box in the 14th minute was his seventy-first goal in ninety-nine Champions League and European Cup games, which puts him joint-fifth on the all-time list alongside Raúl, behind only Karim Benzema, Robert Lewandowski, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The second came in the 23rd minute from a mistake: Josep Martínez, Inter's goalkeeper, lost possession after Benjamin Pavard's back pass and Federico Valverde took the ball off him and rolled it over the line.

Inter had more of the ball and more of the shots for the rest of it. Thibaut Courtois, on his hundredth Champions League appearance, saved from Hakan Çalhanoğlu and Lautaro Martínez early on, Curtis Jones hit the top of the bar, and Josep Martínez made up for his error with a double save from Mbappé and Jude Bellingham before the post rescued Inter. Bellingham missed a chance for a third, and Carlos Augusto swept in Inter's goal in the 77th minute. Inter had 64.4 per cent of the ball, twenty-one shots to sixteen and eleven corners to four; Real had eight on target to seven. John Stones, a Champions League winner with Manchester City in 2023, came on at half-time.

José Mourinho's current club beat his former one, and the crowd made its unhappiness with the performance known during the game. Real have now scored in eleven Champions League games in a row. They go to Roma on 14 October.

Raphinha has scored in all five of Barcelona's games this season, and this was the third time in those five that he scored twice. The first came after three minutes, a piece of skill that took two Feyenoord players out of the game before a calm finish, and the second in the 57th minute, across the goalkeeper after a well-timed run. Karim Adeyemi, signed from Borussia Dortmund in the summer, curled the second goal into the top corner from twenty yards on 22 minutes and celebrated with a back-flip, shortly after Anis Hadj Moussa had gone down in the box and been refused a penalty.

Lamine Yamal's free-kick made it four in the 77th minute. Sem Steijn, a substitute, scored for Feyenoord in the 82nd, which leaves Barcelona still waiting for a first Champions League clean sheet since April 2025, and Gabriel Jesus, who joined from Arsenal at the start of the month, headed the fifth three minutes later. Barcelona have twenty-two goals in five games. They had 71.6 per cent of the ball and twenty-four shots to four.

Jesus is the fifth player to score on his Champions League debut for three different clubs, after Fernando Morientes, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Javier Saviola and Erling Haaland, and all three of his debut goals came against Dutch sides. Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who won this competition with Barcelona in 2005-06, is the Feyenoord manager. Barcelona go to Galatasaray on 13 October.

It was 0-0 at half-time and 5-0 at the end. Jamal Musiala scored the first in the 47th minute, when Harry Kane's shot deflected to him, on his first start of the season after collapsing twice in four days in August with a neurological dysfunction. He said afterwards the feeling was one he had not had for a while. It was Bayern's nine hundredth goal in Europe's top club competition, a total only Real Madrid have passed.

Kane headed in a free-kick in the 61st minute, his fifty-fifth Champions League goal in seventy-one appearances, the third fastest to that figure by games played, after Erling Haaland in forty-nine and Ruud van Nistelrooy in seventy. Alphonso Davies hit the third from the edge of the box on 77 minutes, Michael Olise found the top corner on 83 and added the fifth in stoppage time, after Odin Bjørtuft had been sent off in the 87th minute for a foul on him. Bayern had twenty-five shots, twelve on target, to three and none.

Bodø/Glimt's best moment was a lob from halfway by Andreas Helmersen that landed on top of the net with Manuel Neuer off his line. Vincent Kompany's side reached the semi-finals last season. They go to Viking in Stavanger on 13 October.

Como waited a hundred and nineteen years for a game in Europe and needed fifteen minutes to score in one. Martin Baturina, the Croatia midfielder, recovered from a slip in the box to finish after Ridle Baku failed to clear Tasos Douvikas's cut-back, and in the 38th minute the roles swapped, Baturina playing Douvikas through to beat Maarten Vandevoordt. Assane Diao finished from a tight angle in the 54th minute, Andrija Maksimović pulled one back for Leipzig with a first-time shot from the edge of the box, and Máximo Perrone scored the fourth in the 90th.

The ground's capacity was cut to eleven thousand for the Champions League, and the club's president and several directors had announced they would give up their seats so that older supporters could attend. Cesc Fàbregas, who made his coaching debut with Como in Serie B in 2024 and took them to fourth in Serie A last season, was reported to be on Chelsea's shortlist in the summer, and stayed. Shots finished fourteen each, six on target to four.

Julien Laurens told BBC Match of the Day that the owners had invested without taking away the club's spirit and that Fàbregas is at the heart of everything. Como, bought by Indonesia's Djarum Group in 2019 and twice bankrupt in the past two decades, go to Feyenoord on 14 October; Leipzig host PSV the day before.

Slavia Prague led twice with ten men and lost. Mikulas Konečný, on at half-time, was sent off in the 49th minute, three minutes after coming on, for bringing down Abdallah Sima and denying a goalscoring chance, and in the 51st minute Danijel Šturm cut inside and bent the ball into the far corner. Sima turned in Lens's equaliser from close range on 73 minutes after Slavia failed to clear, and Šturm scored again from the edge of the box in the 88th.

Then Florian Thauvin equalised in the first minute of stoppage time and Rubén Aguilar scored the winner two minutes later. Lens had twenty-six shots to seventeen and 62.7 per cent of the ball over the game, and theirs was the only away win of the Thursday games. Lens host Sporting on 13 October at 17:45; Slavia go to Sabah at the same time.

Real Betis were back in the Champions League and twice behind in Lille. Ayase Ueda, signed from Feyenoord in the summer, headed in Ethan Mbappé's delivery in the 12th minute, Marc Bartra levelled with a diving header from Pablo Fornals's cross on 33, and Alexsandro headed Lille back in front from Gaetan Perrin's corner three minutes later. Bartra scored again in the 49th minute with a touch on Isco's free-kick, and Troy Parrott, who had scored the only goal against Real Madrid the previous Friday, hit the winner low into the far corner on 53.

Ethan Mbappé, Kylian's brother, was sent off in the 56th minute for an apparent elbow on Natan. Lille brought on Olivier Giroud and pushed, but Betis had twenty shots to six and finished with 55.4 per cent of the ball. Betis host Porto on 14 October; Lille go to Arsenal the day before.

Razvan Marin's free-kick in the 21st minute, bent over the wall from just outside the area and in around the far post, gave AEK Athens their first win in the main rounds of the Champions League since 2006. Luka Jović was denied by Lukas Jungwirth's face after three minutes and had a header disallowed for offside after the hour, Barnabas Varga wasted two chances late in the first half, and Sasa Kalajdžić, once of Wolves, headed over in stoppage time with Alberto Brignoli on the floor. LASK, in the competition proper for the first time after beating Celtic 5-4 on aggregate in qualifying, host Liverpool next. AEK had eighteen shots to eleven with possession almost level.

Serhou Guirassy scored twice, gave a goal away and was part of the night's strangest finish. Dortmund led through Renato Veiga's own goal in the 53rd minute, a deflection on Maximilian Beier's cross, Santiago Mouriño levelled with a flicked near-post header on 66, and Guirassy, on his hundredth Dortmund appearance, tapped in Fábio Silva's ball across goal in the 80th and scored a penalty five minutes later after Mouriño fouled him at a corner. In stoppage time a Gregor Kobel save bounced in off Guirassy's face for Villarreal's second, and Veiga's late effort was deflected wide.

Villarreal, who did not score in any of their four away games in last season's Champions League, had the better first half, with Georges Mikautadze scuffing a close-range chance. Konstantinos Karetsas, eighteen, left the pitch in the 27th minute with what Dortmund called circulatory problems and went to hospital for tests.

Ermedin Demirović scored a hat-trick in twelve first-half minutes. He lashed in Angelo Stiller's cut-back on 20 minutes, Zlatko Tripić, the Viking captain, equalised two minutes later, and Demirović finished Deniz Undav's pass on 26 and volleyed in another Undav pass on 32, after a VAR check for handball. Arild Østbø might feel he could have done better with the third. Viking, the Norwegian champions, were making their Champions League debut and have never won away in major European competition in twenty-four attempts. Stuttgart had seventeen shots to nine and 61.9 per cent of the ball. Viking host Bayern next.

Sporting were behind after five minutes, when their captain Gonçalo Inácio bundled Rui Silva's save over his own line, and won by two. Luis Suárez had a goal disallowed for offside before Geny Catamo's half-volley from fourteen yards levelled on 27 minutes. Suárez went round Ugurcan Çakır in the second half and was clipped by Ismail Jakobs, a long VAR check confirmed the penalty, and he scored it on 57; Rodrigo Zalazar's free-kick from twenty-two yards into the top corner six minutes later was Sporting's third goal from their fifth attempt. Galatasaray had 61.8 per cent of the ball and ten shots to eight, and host Barcelona next.

Archie Brown, born in England and brought up at West Brom and Derby without playing professionally in the country, equalised for Fenerbahçe three minutes into the second half, dinking the ball over Mile Svilar after Mason Greenwood played him in. Bryan Cristante had put Roma ahead in the 39th minute with a low shot from about twenty yards. Roma had 58.4 per cent of the ball and Fenerbahçe, with Romelu Lukaku on from the bench, the sharper breaks. The story came afterwards: Ismail Kartal, Fenerbahçe's veteran coach, announced his resignation in the post-match news conference and the club tried to get him to reverse it. Fenerbahçe go to Aston Villa and Roma host Real Madrid on 14 October.

Shakhtar scored while Sergino Dest lay on the ground in the centre circle wanting a free-kick. Halil Umut Meler played on and Gleiker Mendoza cut into the box and beat Matej Kovář in first-half stoppage time. Dest made up for it three minutes after the restart, arriving to drill in Armando Obispo's low cross. Both sides had chances to win it late and neither took one; possession was 53.6 per cent to PSV and the shots were ten to eight. Arda Turan's Shakhtar play their home games at Stamford Bridge this season and host AEK Athens there on 14 October; PSV go to Leipzig the day before.