(Football news) Barcelona won 5-1 in their first opening UCL match against Viktoria Plzen. Xavi named a starting XI with some changes as Sergi Roberto got his first start of the season at right back. Gerard Pique also made his first appearance of the season as a 2nd half substitute while Ronald Araujo, Eric Garcia, Sergio Busquets and Raphinha were completely rested. This group stage is even more important for Barcelona as last season they faced the embarrassment of not qualifying for the knockouts. It took Barcelona only 13 minutes to get the opener as Franck Kessie scored a header from a corner. 10 minutes later Plzen looked to have earned a penalty but the decision was overturned by VAR.

Robert Lewandowski scored a goal in the 34th minute assisted by Sergi Roberto. The away side did pull a goal back in the 43rd minute but Dembele assisted Lewandowski just 4 minutes later to give Barcelona the two goal lead again. Lewandowski got his hat-trick 21 minutes into the 2nd half. The striker became the first player to score a UCL hat-trick for 3 different clubs and he managed to do it in his first game for FC Barcelona. He also went past Karim Benzema in the all-time UCL top goalscorers list. Ferran Torres added another goal to wrap things up at the Camp Nou. 

Atletico Madrid defeated Porto 2-1 after some really late fireworks. Diego Simeone once again lined up in a 3-5-2 formation with Joao Felix and Alvaro Morata up front. Antoine Griezmann was once again left on the bench and substituted after the 60th minute. The first half was a very cagey affair but both teams did have a few good chances. 4 minutes into the 2nd half captain Koke gave Atlético Madrid the lead but the goal was disallowed by VAR for an offside in the build-up. Porto stepped on the gas as they drew a couple of good saves by Jan Oblak. Mehdi Taremi was given a yellow card for a silly challenge and 10 minutes later he was sent off after diving in the penalty box as Porto went down to 10 men. 

Mario Hermoso scored in injury time after a massive deflection to give Atletico Madrid the lead. It looked like the Rojiblancos would walk away with a 1-0 win but 3 minutes later Hermoso handled the ball in his box and gave away a penalty. The spot kick was converted by Mateus Uribe and it looked like the game would end in a draw but Antoine Griezmann had other plans. Thomas Lemar's corner was flicked on by Axel Witsel after which Griezmann scored the winner.

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