While the merits of the new Champions League format must be discovered over time, it has so far produced goals.
There is also significant Premier League interest with Liverpool, Aston Villa and Manchester City having played their first game. Arsenal will take on Atalanta in Bergamot on Thursday night.
Aston Villa have sterner tests like Bayern Munich and Juventus on the horizon, so nobody is getting carried away. However, their return to Europe’s top table was as jubilant as any Villa fan would have wished.
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Away to BSC Young Boys and their artificial pitch, Aston Villa won their first Champions League game 3 – 0. The fact they also had two goals disallowed illustrates their dominance of the game.
In truth, they face better opponents in the Premier League weekly but three points on the board is three points on the board. With Unai Emery in charge, they would be a tricky tie for anyone in the Champions League knockout phase.
In Italy, A.C Milan raced out to a 3rd minute lead over Liverpool thanks to Christian Pulisic. They couldn’t capitalise on it though, and Liverpool were deserved 3 – 0 winners. Two corner goals from Konate and van Djik gave them the lead before Szoboszlai made it 3 -1 in the second half.
It was another case of a Premier League team being that bit more tactically and physically imposing than their European counterparts.
That didn’t stop Inter Milan getting a valuable point away at Manchester City on Wednesday. A draw at the Etihad is more than credible and thanks to the new format, they don’t have to play them again.
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Even without Martin Odegaard, Arsenal should have too much for Atalanta. Although, if they’re not at their best this game is a potential banana skin. Atalanta are an awkward, high risk – high reward team who beat Liverpool at Anfield last year on the way to winning the Europa League. With a difficult run of fixtures and a depleted squad, Mikel Arteta will hope to get a win as early as possible.
