The UEFA Champions League adopted a new format ahead of the 2024-25 season, and that switch was front and center on Tuesday as, for the first time, the first round of the world’s most prestigious club competition spilled into the new year.
The first Matchday 7 in tournament history didn’t disappoint. Liverpool picked up right where it ended 2024, with a win that kept the Reds perfect heading into the final round of the novel “league” phase.
Last year’s runner-up, Borussia Dortmund, entered the day with a chance to jump as high as second place in the 36th team table only to squander a 1-0 halftime lead in Italy and lose to Bologna, while Barcelona stormed back from a multi-goal second half deficit to take all three points in rain-soaked Lisbon.
Here are three big takeaways from Tuesday’s nine matches.
Barcelona comeback stuns Benfica in 9 goal thriller
It says plenty about Barcelona’s play in the Champions League this season that even with a defeat on Tuesday, the five-time European champs would have stayed in second place in the 36-team standings no matter the results on Wednesday, when the back half of Matchday 7 wraps up.
For much of Tuesday’s game away to Benfica, defeat seemed inevitable. The visitors fell behind less than two minutes after kickoff. It was 3-1 before the first half was even finished.
Barça made it 3-2 after the break, only for the hosts to regain their two-goal advantage with only 22 minutes of regular time remaining. Then all hell broke loose.
In what will surely go down as one of the most memorable non-knockout endings in competition history, Hansi Flick’s side stormed back to tie on goals by Eric Garcia and Robert Lewandowski. And with Benfica desperately pressing forward for a late winner, Barcelona sprang a lightning quick counterattack spearheaded by the fleet-footed Raphinha. The Brazilian forward took the chance himself, sending Barça’s fifth tally of the evening past home keeper Anatoliy Trubin to complete the remarkable comeback.
First place Liverpool finds a way to win once again
New year, same old story for the Reds. While Arne Slot’s previously unstoppable side has a merely so-so record of 2W-1L-2T across all competitions since the beginning of January — including ties in two of their last three Premier League outings — Liverpool has been lights out in the Champions League all season. That continued at Anfield on Tuesday with a 2-1 triumph over French outfit Lille.
That’s not to say it was easy. While Mohamed Salah put the hosts ahead with the opening goal about 10 minutes before halftime, Lille’s star Canadian striker Jonathan David canceled it out against the run of play and the momentum just after the hour mark; the visitors had been reduced to 10 men moments earlier, when right back Aïssa Mandi was shown his second yellow card of the contest.
But as they’ve done all season in European play, Liverpool found a way to win. The decisive strike came from youngster Harvey Elliott in the 67th minute.
After that, the hosts expertly killed off the game to improve to 7-0. Already qualified for the round of 16, the Reds conclude the first round away to Dutch power PSV Eindhoven on Jan. 29.
More misery for sputtering Dortmund
The Champions League has served as a retreat from the Black & Yellow’s struggles in the German Bundesliga this season. Sure enough, a morale-boosting victory over Bologna in Italy seemed to be in the cards on Tuesday with the visitors still leading 1-0 in the 70th minute thanks to Serhou Guirassy’s first half strike from the penalty spot.
Then everything changed in the blink of an eye. First, Bologna leveled through Thijs Dallinga. Less than 60 seconds later, the hosts pulled ahead for good when Samuel Iling-Junior converted his chance with a fine left-footed finish:
The defeat is the latest setback for under-fire BVB boss Nuri Şahin, who might not be around when Dortmund meets Shakhtar Donetsk later this month in its first round finale.
As for Bologna, while the victory won’t be enough to boost the Italians into the playoff places no matter what happens at Sporting Lisbon on Matchday 8 (they have just five points from seven games), the triumph over 2023-24’s losing finalist was enough to make history: It marked the club’s first ever Champions League win.
Doug McIntyre is a soccer writer for FOX Sports who has covered the United States men’s and women’s national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him at @ByDougMcIntyre.
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