UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2013-14 MATCHDAY 1 and 2 REVIEW

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a Hattrick against Galatasaray

Champions League has burst into life yet again with its 2013-14 campaign kicking off its group fixtures. Matchday 1 saw some big names like Real Madrid, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, PSG in action, all winning their matches comfortably and starting their champions league campaign with a much expected start. Both Manchester clubs showed appreciable performances prior to their much awaited premier league clash at the weekend. Rooney scored his 200th goal for the red devils with a brace while Van Persie and Valencia's goals contributed to their 4-2 victory over Bayer Leverkusen. Shakhtar Donestk sealed an easy 2-0 victory over the Real Sociedad in the second group A fixture. Group B saw Real Madrid smash the Turkish giants Galatasaray 6-1. Cristiano Ronaldo was the star of the day with a fantastic hattrick notched against the latter with Karim Benzema scoring a brace as well. Isco contributed to Madrid's scoreline while the new signing Gareth Bale seemed to adapt to the their playing style. Juventus were expected to take all the three points against FC Copenhagen but the Danish side managed a draw against the Serie A champions even though the Italian side seemed to dominate the whole match. Group C saw Edison Cavanni scoring off the mark for PSG in his first ever UEFA CL appearance for the French side. Zlatan Ibrahimovic missed a penalty but Olympiacos couldn't deny a 4-1 victory to PSG. Manchester City looked focused in their 3-0 victory over Plzen with goals from Edin Dzeko, Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero. Current CL champions Bayern Munich sealed a comfortable 3-0 victory over CSKA Moscow in their first CL fixture under Pep Guardiola and looked determined to defend their title this season.

Lionel Messi punches the air after another hat-trick completed a 4-0 Barcelona victory

Matchday 2 surceased with some unexpected results and quite impressing performances by a couple of teams. FC Barcelona, as expected marched into their champions league campaign with an empathic win over AFC Ajax, a match i was looking forward to eagerly. Lionel Messi proved yet again that he hasn't got four Ballan d'Ors to his name for no reason, with a fantastic hattrick which included a freekick goal that was a complete brace. This is Messi's 4th hattrick in all champions league editions. Gerard Pique netted a goal for the home team as well as they thumped the Dutch side 4-0. AC Milan faced quite a challenge from Celtic FC but two late goals in the last 10 minutes, including an unfortunate own goal by Emilio Izaguirre, saw the Italian side victorious over the Scottish Champions. Group E saw a major upset as Chelsea FC were shocked at home by FC Basel with the former facing a 2-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge. Jose Mourinho faced criticization over not playing Juan Mata as a regular starter. In another group E encounter, Schalke defeated Steaua Bucharest 3-0 with Kevin-Prince Boateng scoring on his UEFA CL debut for the german side, while Atsuto Uchida and Julian Draxler got the others. In another much awaited encounter, Napoli proved victorious over Borussia Dortmund. The Italian side defeated last season's finalists 2-1 with goals from Gonzalo Higuain and Lorenzo Insigne giving the home side the vital three points. The German side were expected to perform better considering their last season's run. Arsenal won 2-1 away at Marseille thanks for goals from Theo Walcott and in form Aaron Ramsey, taking their away win streak to 10 games in all competitions. Group G saw Atletico Madrid starting their campaign with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Zenit St.Petersburg, while Porto beat Austria Wien 1-0 away from home.

So the champions league continues its campaign with the second round of group stage commencing in the first week of October, which will see some exciting fixtures as well with Bayern Munich facing Manchester City, Arsenal playing Napoli and a lot more. So stay tuned for next update,until then, CHEERIO.