The must-see moments of Champions League group stage opening day
After a three month, erm, summer hibernation, the UEFA Champions League, at least the 32-team group stage portion, finally returned on Tuesday. Here's all the stuff that made us feel warm inside.
[Champions League: Scores and Schedule | Group Standings | Teams]
Manchester United's Luke Shaw suffered a horror injury at the scissoring feet of PSV's Mexican international Hector Moreno. We assume that you, like us over here at FC Yahoo, aren't so good at keeping your lunch down at the sight of an ankle and a foot flopping around. So, if you really want to see what it looked like, we'll let you look it up on your own.
Shaw did, somehow, manage to almost immediately send a tweet thanking fans for their support, because we live in the future.
Thank you everyone for your messages , words can't describe how gutted I am , my road to recovery starts now, I will come back stronger.
— Luke Shaw (@LukeShaw23) September 15, 2015
OK, on to the day's best tweets and Vines …
Angel Di Maria scored a beauty for Paris Saint-Germain.
PSG's Angel Di Maria scored the first goal of the Champions League group stage. He made sure it was a good one. #UCL http://t.co/H4Sho92HlZ
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) September 15, 2015
Memphis returned to Eindhoven to face his old club PSV for the first time and scored with this deft flick.
ICYMI: Memphis Depay scored on his return to PSV to hand United a 1-0 lead at the time. 2nd half underway now! #UCL http://t.co/qGzK9w0F5T
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) September 15, 2015
Alvaro Morata nabbed a splendid winner off the far post for Juventus against Manchester City.
WATCH: Alvaro Morata curls home from distance to complete the Juventus comeback at Manchester City. http://t.co/Lwj0U7TyWN
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) September 15, 2015
Zlatan Ibrahimovic came up with a clever way to set up Edinson Cavani for PSG's second goal.
Only Zlatan. What an unbelievable assist. https://t.co/olO8UhmtFA
— ❤️=⚽️ (@Total_Futbol_) September 15, 2015
Sevilla's Yevhen Konoplyanka stunned Moenchengladbach goalkeeper Yann Sommer at his near post with this swerving shot.
But we had some world-class fails, too …
City's Wilfried Bony flipped a filthy nutmeg through a defender before blasting his shot hilariously wide.
Meanwhile, in Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov gave away the easiest goal Karim Benzema will ever score with this howler.
1:0 Benzema puts @realmadrid in the lead! (via @SocialRMadrid ) pic.twitter.com/SrngBlgwt9
— KICKTV (@KICKTV) September 15, 2015
Wolfsburg's Julian Draxler got a nice gift from CSKA Moscow's Igor Ikinfeev as well.
Goal for Draxler vs CSKA pic.twitter.com/c9FPsTI7Ip
— Premiere Football (@PremiereFootbal) September 15, 2015
Over in the dubious calls department …
Juve's Giorgio Chiellini was credited with an own goal when City's Vincent Kompany climbed his back and leaned the defender into the high ball, which dinked past Gianluigi Buffon. Probably a foul.
Confere aí o gol contra de Chiellini que abriu o placar para o @MCFC! O jogo tá imperdível! #LigaNoEIMAXX2 https://t.co/GCUrKbdU3Z
— Esporte Interativo (@Esp_Interativo) September 15, 2015
And this penalty given against Shakhtar, was rather harsh.
AWFUL penalty call in the #RealMadrid vs #Shakhtar game. #UCL https://t.co/TnqxxBfxhm
— Ben Jata (@Ben_Jata) September 15, 2015
And in our histrionics section …
We present Sergio Ramos with the flop of the day.
Ladies and gentlemen, Fallon d’Floor nominee Sergio Ramos! http://t.co/Xjq55oIKBu https://t.co/ABuM8jpewV
— SB Nation Soccer (@SBNationSoccer) September 15, 2015
And United's Ashley Young couldn't chase away the evil spirits traveling along with PSV's Mexican international Hector Moreno's headed equalizer, no matter how hard he tried by swatting at it with his arms.
Héctor Moreno heads home the equalizer for PSV just before halftime. It's 1-1 in Eindhoven at the break. http://t.co/zuhCirme7H
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) September 15, 2015
TALKING POINTS
• Cristiano Ronaldo and Antoine Griezmann were the stars of the day, scoring a hat trick and a brace, respectively. Ronaldo has now scored eight goals in his last two games.
• The Spanish clubs, as usual, did very well, with Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Sevilla winning by a combined score of 9-0.
• The English clubs, on the other hand, took another one on the chin. In spite of massive investment into their squads, Manchester United was upset away at PSV, 2-1, even though it bought its best player, Memphis, this summer. Manchester City gave away a lead at home to last year's runners-up Juventus. Yikes.
• Zlatan Ibrahimovic was victorious in his reunification with childhood club Malmo. His PSG won 2-0.
THE SCOREBOARD
Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.