Title holder Paris Saint-Germain roared to victory in the opening game of their Champions League defence, and Liverpool found yet another late winning goal in its stunning start to the season.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk soared to score with a header in the second minute of stoppage time to seal a 3-2 win against Atletico Madrid when it seemed his team was going to waste a two-goal lead seized after just six minutes.
Bayern Munich and Inter Milan both won rematches of past finals – against Chelsea and Ajax, respectively – to start their eight-game league-phase programmes, and newcomers Bodo/Glimt and Pafos impressed with hard-earned draws on the road.
PSG cruised to a 4-0 win at home over Atalanta and had the luxury of a penalty miss by Bradley Barcola not mattering much in the end.
Liverpool seemed to be sailing with early goals from Andy Robertson and a typically fine strike by Mohamed Salah, but was pegged back by Marcos Llorente’s goals in first-half stoppage time and the 81st.
Llorente also scored twice at Anfield in 2020 when Atletico eliminated the then-defending champion in the round of 16.
“We need to maybe get back to winning a bit simpler and easier,” Liverpool’s Robertson told TNT Sports after the game.
“It’s a great thing to be able to go to the end, but when you are 2-0 up, it should have been a more comfortable night.”
Bayern held off Chelsea 3-1 with two goals from Harry Kane, whose England teammate Cole Palmer scored an impressive goal for the visitors.
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