Real Madrid got their UEFA Champions League title defense to a winning start by beating Celtic 3-0 at Celtic Park. Elsewhere, Dinamo Zagreb stunned Chelsea by beating the Blues 1-0 in front of a home crowd.
It took a while for them to get going, but Los Blancos put three goals past Scottish champions Celtic. Vinicius Jr put the visitors ahead in the 56th minute, tapping in a cross from Federico Valverde at the back post.
Four minutes later, Eden Hazard carried the ball through the middle of the pitch, creating space for Luka Modric to exploit. The Belgian passed the ball to the Croat inside the box, and he curled it past the goalkeeper with the outside of his foot to make it 2-0.
Hazard, in the 77th minute, scored on his own, turning the ball in from close range after a square pass from Dani Carvajal.
In the other Group F game, Shakhtar Donetsk thrashed RB Leipzig 4-1, with Marian Shved scoring a brace and Myhaylo Mudryk and Lassina Traore adding a goal each. Mohamed Simakan was on the scoresheet for Leipzig, but the German giants’ poor start to the season continued, with reports later claiming that head coach Domenico Tedesco might have to pay for it with his job.
In Group E, Dinamo Zagreb stunned Chelsea in front of a raucous home crowd – the Croatian side beating the 2020/21 Champions League winners by a goal to nil.
Mislav Orsic scored the only goal of the game in the 13th minute, exploiting space in behind the Chelsea backline and sliding the ball past goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
The Spaniard kept the Blues in the game with a superb save in the 56th minute, turning a Stefan Ristovski strike onto the bar, but his teammates couldn’t capitalize on their chances at the other end of the pitch.
Meanwhile, AC Milan came from a goal down to draw against RB Salzburg in the other Group E game. Salzburg, who had taken the lead through Noah Okafor’s solo effort in the 28th minute, were pegged back by the Rossoneri five minutes before the interval when Alexis Saelemaekers fired in the equalizer from a Rafael Leao cross. 1-1, it finished.
