When Real Madrid splashed the cash to make Cristiano Ronaldo the most expensive player in soccer history, it did so with the hope that Ronaldo would help lead the club to a Champions League title.
Ronaldo took the first step toward fulfilling that job on Tuesday, scoring a pair of free kick goals in Real Madrid's 5-2 win vs. FC Zurich in the UEFA Champions League opener.
There were no real shocking upsets on the first match-day, with Chelsea (1-0 vs. Porto), Manchester United (1-0 vs. Besiktas), Bayern Munich (3-0 vs. Maccabi Haifa) and AC Milan (2-1 vs. Marseille) all winning. Bordeaux tied Juventus, 1-1, in the match of the day, while Atletico Madrid suffered a surprising scoreless drawvs. Cypriot underdog APOEL Nicosia.
Wolfsburg made its Champions League debut a winning one, beating CSKA Moscow, 3-1, on the strength of a Grafite hat-trick.
What did you think of Tuesday's matches? Impressed with Ronaldo's performance? Surprised Atletico struggled against APOEL? Did Bordeaux surprise you with how well they played vs. Juventus? Amazed at Filippo Inzaghi's ability to find goals?
Share your thoughts below.
@ Erik…..OK, except why would AC Milan make that deal if everyone knows Gooch can’t cut it in Italy? So they can become net losers on a loan deal? It’s not like they’re flush with cash these days, and can throw it around for the hell of it.
Or maybe you buy into the theory that Leonardo signed Gooch to make amends to the US for bashing in Tab Ramos’ skull in ’94. ;P
Thank you, Erik!
Gooch signed with Milan for the money, not for playing time. And if you are honest with yourself, he isn’t at the level of Nesta or Thiago Silva in the least. He looks clumsy on the field next to those two… Niang and Lucho would have run circles around him last night in Marsielle.
Expect a loan in the transfer window – he won’t make it in Italy.
Milan would rather have double own goal scorer Kalahdze on the bench than Gooch. Makes total sense.
@ Quality Special…For real Bro, get a life, stay off sporting sites if you don’t want to know results. logistics of life.
Don’t sleep on the German sides in
this years CL.
I have DirecTV and flipped on to the special UEFA channels, specifically the one with the 8 way split screen. I thought “Wow this is awesome!” until I remembered that the Champions League group stages are pretty crappy until the last few games.
Grafite is a beast. Wolfsburg are the real deal.
Gooch is a squad player at Milan and he would have understood that when he joined opportunities would be few. You don’t bring a CB into a game as a sub to make an impact so it is perfectly understandable that he did not make the bench
Quality Special, you have to understand that Para Bear is a prick…with a brain that of a seed. The same goes for his girlfriend, Kpugy and co. Get the Ives blow up special, homers. Yes, I think you read him wrong,Papa Bear, because you are an idiot.
It’s not that Onyewu rode the bench; it’s that he didn’t even dress. I can understand him not starting, but I would have expected him to be a possible substitute.
for me, neither of those Cristiano Ronaldo goals were that spectacular, Timmy saves them both, more or less right at the keeper
Wow, people visit a soccer site and expect to NOT see results?! It’s not Ive’s or anyone else’s responsibility to not spoil a LIVE sporting event. The world does not cater to the West Coast work force.
@ papabear I didn’t know they made you the internet sheriff? But I guess some people have to get their kicks somehow.
Some of us are on the west coast @ work (actually a large fraction of the SBI readers). I also have SBI as my homepage. I usually don’t click on the article. The headline for this story stated the results, usually not the norm from Ives when posting game day results.
Did you guys honestly expect Gooch to play in the first CL game? Even if the opposition is weak, its an important game that the team needs to win. If Gooch isn’t playing against relegation bound Serie A teams, then we need to start worrying.
Thomas Müller is on fire lately! Fun to watch
Gooch is backup folks. He’ll get some time when the CBs need a rest or get injured.
CACuzcatlan et al:
Switzerland has strict laws against gambling advertising and Bwin is an online gambling site.
As for Milan, I know Liverpool has played without the Carlsberg sponsorship in France in the past due to the French laws restricting alcohol advertising, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they banned gambling ads too.
No Gooch on the bench? Can anybody spell loan?
I noticed no sponsor on RM jersey. I wonder what happened to Bwin? Anywone?
(SBI-Swiss law forbids advertising of gambling sites that aren’t state-owned so Real Madrid had to remove the Bwin ads.)
@CACuzcatlan
AC Milan didn’t have a sponsor on their uniforms either and they have the same sponsor as Real in bwin.
What’s with those Real Madrid jerseys in the pic. Looks like they don’t have a sponsor.
@Posted by: QualitySpecial | September 15, 2009 at 05:45 PM
Pardon me if I am reading you wrong, but if you are mad that Ives posted results, please shut up.
It’s a sports site. If you don’t wanna know scores go to Wikipedia and link jump from the article of the day and learn some new useless facts instead or something. (it’s a fun work time activity. Trust me.)
Seriously, there is no excuse.
@Posted by: Dominick | September 15, 2009 at 05:33 PM
Pretty much. I doubt anyone would be surprised to see Bayern, Man U, Milan, Real cruising. Those clubs have been doing it for 50 years now. It’s almost an art form.
Derek, I’m wondering the same thing. This could be a lost season for Gooch. I don’t get it.
So, is Onyewu just going to watch AC Milan play from the bench all season??
Great. I guess I’ll just watch the highlights now instead of the full games on my dvr.
does anyone expect any of the big boys to NOT make the knockout stages? These seem like glamourized, more intense friendlies.