After a four-month break, Europe's top tournament is back and there were some intriguing ties played out on the opening matchday
And they're off. An entertaining round of games on matchday one in the Champions League sees many of the same contenders lay down significant markers but more of the traditional clubs were made to work hard for their points.
Last season's winners Real Madrid had no problem against Basel but finalists Atletico Madrid slipped up away at Olympiakos.
Semi-finalists Chelsea stuttered at home against Schalke while Bayern Munich needed a deflected 89th-minute goal to finally see of Manchester City.
Borussia Dortmund were convincing winners against Arsenal while Barcelona laboured against a spirited APOEL.
Elsewhere, Juventus made light work of Malmo and Zenit impressed against Benfica.
Returning to the Champions League, Roma and Liverpool made winning starts while Porto were arguably the best performing team across the opening two nights.
Billionaires Paris Saint-Germain could only draw in Amsterdam against Ajax while stalemates around the continent will make matchday two difficult for the likes of Sporting, Shakhtar Donetsk, Athletic Bilbao and Galatasaray.
Here is the story of matchday one.
| Garcia and Gervinho off to a flyer |
Much has changed for Roma since they last surveyed the landscape from these heights in 2010. Francesco Totti, their emblem, remains of course but there are new owners, a new coach and a whole host of new players. It is, however, an old connection that helped them start their Champions League campaign in stunning fashion.
Rudi Garcia and Gervinho is a coach-player dynamic forged at Le Mans in 2007. Garcia then took the Ivorian with him to Lille, where they earned a Ligue 1 title and Coupe de France double against all the odds, before Gervinho departed for Arsenal.
It is truly a shame that the 27-year-old is remembered more for those unhappy two years in London than he is for his thriving career under Garcia.
Those paying attention would have noticed a playmaker of distinction playing football exactly how his coach likes it. He excelled in his first season in Serie A, helping Roma to a Champions League place, and has taken up where he left off. He was a scorer against Fiorentina in the first game of the season before signing a new contract which will see him through to 2018.
Gervinho was the best player on the pitch as Roma comfortably outclassed CSKA Moscow in the Italian capital. They were 4-0 up inside half an hour with Gervinho to the fore. He scored twice and laid on another for Juan Iturbe to demonstrate his class and send a warning sign to fellow group contenders Bayern Munich and Manchester City.
| Bizarre Oblak debut creates problems for Simeone |
It was the worst possible debut for Jan Oblak in Atletico Madrid's resounding loss to Olympiakos in Piraeus. The Slovenian came into the side for his first start since joining for €16 million in the summer from Benfica. Despite Miguel Angel Moya's strong start to the season, Atletico coach Diego Simeone opted to give his more expensive acquisition the nod in Greece and paid for it with defeat.
Replacing Thibaut Courtois in the Atletico goal was always going to be a tall order but Moya's form this campaign - three goals conceded in five matches - suggested that all would be fine in the Atletico goalmouth. It was a strange decision from Simeone and one which backfired and left him facing awkward questions in the aftermath of the loss.
He spoke of selecting his goalkeeper "game by game" which should have Moya raising his eyebrows. That his performances thus far have convinced Simeone to take a look at Oblak is questionable judgement on the part of the Argentine.
Oblak's signing is a strange one all round. He could not play or train properly with the first team in the off-season due to a long-standing back complaint. Benfica president Luis Filipe Vieira then claimed that Atletico had tried to sell the 21-year-old back to them on the cheap after he failed to convince.
The deal, thought to be brokered in part by Jorge Mendes, has left Simeone with a very expensive puzzle to solve. It is totally out of his character to change his team unnecessarily given that he spent last season with pretty much the same line-up, save the odd tactical tweak further up the pitch. Moya, it must be reasoned, will be back in goal this weekend after pulling off save after save against Real Madrid last time out but time will tell if Oblak will come to be regarded as Atletico's Champions League goalkeeper.
| AVB rebuilding reputation with relentless Zenit |
When Andre Villas-Boas pitched up in Russia in order to gather the pieces of his career following two high-profile sackings in England, it would have been easy to figure that the Portuguese would coast and maybe pick up the odd title before something more attractive came along back in the west.
He has, however, already transformed last season's most underwhelming Russian team into the runaway leaders for the title as well as Champions League surprise package.
Zenit, this season, have been relentless. Only once have they failed to win and that match came in the early part of their Champions League qualification campaign. Villas-Boas has set about rebuilding his reputation within the Russian borders with his side winning seven out of seven in the league and conceding only four in the process.
One of his old Porto favourites, Hulk, has scored five times in the league campaign and hit the goal trail in the group stages in the 2-0 win in Benfica. After so many seasons of abject, disappointing performances, Russia's strongest team look finally ready to unleash their potential on the Champions League.
There is no question that Villas-Boas's 2011 Porto team was superior to what he has now but some shrewd additions in the summer market - Ezequiel Garay and Javi Garcia chief among them - have marked Zenit out as serious players in this Champions League campaign.
"This year we have the strongest team since I arrived," Hulk told Uefa. "We are a very focused team who like to keep the ball. Apart from that we have a great coach."
Bayer Leverkusen would have been expected to keep pace with the Russians but were surprisingly turned over by Monaco, leaving Zenit three points clear of their main rivals for the group. Group C is an open one but with a couple more positive results before the turn, Zenit could be home and dry quickly.
| Classy Aubameyang gives BVB another way to win |
It has not been a matter of simply replacing Robert Lewandowski for Borussia Dortmund this season. The Pole provided perfect lay-offs for his colleagues and involved himself well in the build-up for Jurgen Klopp's side all throughout his time at Signal Iduna Park. Klopp moulded him into the perfect striker for his high-energy system - someone to help move the ball quickly into the opposition territory but who was also there to tidy away the rebounds.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, during his first season at Dortmund, played a supporting role usually from the right. He was used as an outlet ball for Klopp's team for the most part. But now with Lewandowski gone, and the 17 Champions League goals he scored for Dortmund missing, Aubameyang has been asked to do something different.
He has an attribute which most defences simply cannot handle - pace. Aubameyang, famously regarded as faster than Usain Bolt, may not have torn Arsenal to shreds on his own on Tuesday but he played a huge part in their 2-0 defeat.
"We knew that Robert Lewandowski's departure would hit us hard, but also that we could compensate for him if we stuck together as a team," captain Sebastian Kehl told Uefa after. "We saw that tonight, we did really well. The lads up front worked really hard, mucking in with their defensive duties, and they were always dangerous going forward."
Aubameyang scored one brilliant goal on the breakaway and could have had more. It's more than his goal threat, however, that marks him out as a key component now for Klopp. The Dortmund coach has always favoured a high pressing game and now he has the option of releasing his central striker with one pass through the midfield. It makes teams very wary about crossing the halfway line, lest they be exposed to the Gabon international's speed.
With Ciro Immobile scoring and relieving his own particular burden since signing from Torino, Dortmund are now blessed with more than just the option of playing to - and for - Lewandowski. Sure, he will still be missed but Klopp's greatest challenge could become his most satisfactory - finding another way to win.
| Yacine Brahimi - Porto's next big thing |
Yacine Brahimi has started life in Porto to devastating effect. A hat-trick against BATE Borisov on matchday one in the 6-0 win, taken expertly, has made the continent sit up and take notice. Following on from an impressive World Cup, the Algeria midfielder has earned his way to a Champions League club and looks immediately at home in his surroundings.
He was the best player over the two legs as Julen Lopetegui's side despatched Lille in the qualifiers and the group stage has similarly been taken by storm. Although BATE will probably end up at the bottom of the group, they are precisely the type of side Porto would have slipped up against in their immensely disappointing European campaign last term when they gained one home point in three matches.
It has been a summer of change in Porto and to have a talisman like Brahimi capable of leading them through the tricky opening stages of the competition is invaluable.
It will not be long, however, until he departs for yet a higher level. Brahimi signed for Porto on July 22, following a good World Cup with Algeria, and two days later the Portuguese club sold 80 per cent of his economic rights to Doyen Sports - the third-party investment vehicle.
It is clear, from that transaction, that the midfielder's ultimate destination is not the Estadio do Dragao. Clearly Doyen have big deals in mind for Brahimi, who will command much more than the €6.5 million Porto initially paid to Granada for his services.
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