Champions League: Real Madrid overcome Stuttgart bump, Juventus achieves a deserved victory over Eindhoven

The title holder, Real Madrid, defeated its guest, Stuttgart, Germany (3-1), in the first round of the league stage of the Champions League competition on Tuesday at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, the home of the royal team.

Despite an excellent first half, Carlo Ancelotti's team failed to score against German goalkeeper Alexander Nubel.

Kylian Mbappe scored his 50th goal in European competitions with all the clubs he played for.

At the beginning of the second half, Real Madrid opened the scoring through its French star Kylian Mbappe, who scored his first goal in the most prestigious cup with the royal team, after a perfect cross from the Brazilian Rodrigo.

Endrick scores Real Madrid's third goal after a quick counterattack 🏃‍♂️⚽️ #ChampionsLeague | #RealMadridStuttgart pic.twitter.com/pzOEWNcUik

- beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) September 17, 2024

But Stuttgart equalized after successive attacks, with a header from Deniz Undav in the 67th minute.

In the 83rd minute, the Royal Team defender, German Antonio Rudiger, put his club back in the lead with a header that he followed up from a corner kick that was expertly raised by Croatian substitute Luka Modric.

A few seconds before the end, the young Brazilian Endrick - who came on as a substitute in the second half - led a counterattack for the royal team and with great courage he shot the ball from outside the penalty area, a strong and deceptive ground shot with his left foot. The goalkeeper tried to block it, but it went into the net 90+5.

Juventus deserved victory

Italian club Juventus struck hard after beating its guest, Dutch club PSV Eindhoven (3-1) on Tuesday evening in the first round of the UEFA Champions League.

Juventus settled the match in their favor within 6 minutes in the first half, with two goals by the Turkish Kenan Yildiz (21) and the American Weston McKennie (27), and added the third goal in the second half through the Argentine Nicolas Gonzalez (52). The Moroccan substitute Ismail Saibari scored the goal for Eindhoven (90+3).

At 19 years and 136 days, Kenan Yildiz became the youngest player to score for Juventus in the current Champions League since the 1992/93 season.

Ismail Saibari also became the second Arab player to score against Juventus in the Champions League after his compatriot Marouane Chamakh in November 2009.

The new season of the Champions League will witness a radical change, as participation has expanded from 32 teams to 36, with a single group system in which each team plays eight matches against eight different teams, four at home and four away.

The top eight teams in the final standings will qualify for the round of 16, while the next 16 teams will advance to a play-off round and the remaining teams will be eliminated without moving on to the Europa League, unlike what used to happen previously.

Source: beIN Sports