WiNK

Champions League Recap

by: Chris Lopes & Max Rainville

The top two teams from 16 of the best European leagues each year qualify for the UEFA Champions League. Each team is randomly selected and put into one of eight groups, with each group containing four teams. Each team plays six matches in the group stage and only the top two teams from each group advance to the round of 16. In the round of 16, each team again enters a draw and is randomly selected into a pot of eight teams. No team can play a club from their previous round in the group stage or any side from their pot. Every year, big match-ups and rivalries draw billions of attention worldwide.

Tuesday's games (Chris):

Tuesday, September 13th, brought us the return of the Champions League. Throughout the day, seven matches were played, all of them close matches, except Club Brugge's 4-0 win against FC Porto. The most highly anticipated game of the day was a battle between the German superteam FC Bayern Munich and the Spanish giants FC Barcelona. The past three games between these two teams ended in a Bayern Munich win. The previous match between the two titans ended in an 8-2 win from Bayern Munich as they completely outclassed their opponents. Barcelona had made massive transfers, buying the former Bayern superstar Robert Lewandowski, Raphinia, Kounde, and Christensen. The match started with Barcelona pressuring Bayern heavily and getting a couple of shots on the net, only to be stopped by Bayern's goalie Manuel Neur. The first half consisted of a clash between the two teams as Barcelona had many more scoring opportunities but couldn't get past Neuer. Shortly after the start of the second half, Bayern scored with a massive header from Hernandez. Before Barcelona had time to strike back at the German side, Musiala flicked a beautiful pass to Sane for another Bayern Munich goal. Barcelona kept taking shots on the net but couldn't get the ball past Nuer as Bayern held on comfortably to their three points.

Wednesday's games (Max):

Wednesday's Champions League games were no different than Tuesday's, with plenty of enthralling matchups. One of the biggest upsets in last week's games was the Portuguese giants, Benfica, beating the Italian black and white striped Juventus. The game finished 2-1 with non-stop action and a high tempo throughout the 90 minutes. Juventus opened the game scoring in the first 4 minutes with a flicked header from the Polish striker, Arek Milik. That was Juventus's only goal, with Benfica dominating the rest of the game, and in the 43rd minute, Benfica won a penalty. First, the Portuguese midfielder, Joao Mario, scored. Then in the 55th minute, Benfica scored a second goal through a rebound shot off the goalkeeper, making it 2-1. David Neres scored and sealed the win for Benfica, causing the day's biggest upset.

Moving on to the second most significant match of the day between Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City, this proved to be one of the Champions League games of the season already, with Erling Haaland facing his former club. The game started slow for Manchester City, and they struggled to break down the compact, disciplined Borussia Dortmund defense. The first half ended 0-0, and Manchester City didn't register a shot on target. The second half started quickly as Borussia Dortmund scored through Jude Bellingham, a 19-year-old starlet from England. The German international, Marco Reus, delivered a superb cross into the box that Bellingham flicked on into the goal. Borussia Dortmund looked like a new team in the second half, with the energy to seemingly go on and claim the three points. But just as Borussia Dortmund thought they would win, Manchester City came barreling down and equalized through a screamer from John Stones. Then four minutes later, in the 84th minute, Erling Haaland scored an acrobatic volley that looked like something straight out of a video game. It just had to be Erling Haaland to score against his old team, and he didn't celebrate out of respect for the club that gave him so much while he was there.

We'll be writing these articles weekly and focusing primarily on games from the Premier League, Champions League, and international country games. Next week we'll be writing about exciting international games like Italy vs. England, a very anticipated rematch of the Euro 2020 final. Stay tuned!