The new era of the Champions League started this week with matchday one of the 36-team league phase and it was a mixed opening salvo from the big guns.
Favourites Manchester City being held by Inter Milan and third favourites Arsenal needing a superb performance from goalkeeper David Raya to gain a 0-0 draw at Atalanta.
Real Madrid were victorious without playing well against Stuttgart and Bayern Munich put nine past Dinamo Zagreb, but there was a defeat for ten-man Barcelona away to Monaco.
Champions League Winner Odds
All odds are courtesy of 1xBet, correct at time of publishing and subject to change.
- Manchester City 3.00
- Real Madrid 4.00
- Arsenal 9.00
- Bayern Munich 11.00
- Barcelona 11.00
- Liverpool 13.00
- Inter Milan 23.00
- Paris St-Germain 23.00
- Atletico Madrid 26.00
- Bayer Leverkusen 26.00
Bundesliga's big three look strong
It's dangerous to read too much into one round of matches, but Germany's big three set the gold standard in the opening batch of Champions League fixtures as Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund won by an aggregate of 16-1.
Bundesliga champions Leverkusen caught the eye with a scintillating counter-attacking performance away to Feyenoord, winning 4-0 and all the goals coming in the first half.
Florian Wirtz produced a stunning Champions League debut, notching twice and coach Xabi Alonso must have been delighted with the performance in Rotterdam.
Bayern battered Dinamo and were rampant as they scored nine with Harry Kane helping himself to four goals.
Vincent Kompany will want Bayern to tighten up defensively after conceding twice, but the men from Munich dazzled in the attacking areas.
Dortmund, last season's runners-up, were on the ropes early on at Club Brugge but managed to see off the home threat and scored three times in the final 15 minutes to land a 3-0 triumph.
There was even credit in defeat for Leipzig and Stuttgart away to Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid respectively.
Leipzig lost 2-1 at Atleti after conceding in the last minute and Stuttgart were worthy of a point in the Bernabeu with the 3-1 loss to Real not a true reflection of the game.
Spanish shot-stopper saviour for Arsenal
Rewind 12 months and there was a huge debate over Arsenal's decision to drop Aaron Ramsdale in favour of David Raya, but Mikel Arteta looks to have made the right call and the Spanish shot-stopper was crucial in the Gunners 0-0 stalemate at Atalanta.
Raya saved Mateo Retegui's second-half penalty, however, it was the recovery stop from the rebound that was even better to maintain a clean sheet.
It was Raya's third straight away clean sheet of the season in difficult road matches at Aston Villa, Tottenham and Atalanta and the Gunners will need their goalkeeper to be in top form again for Sunday's Premier League trip to champions Manchester City.
Madrid not looking the Real deal just yet
There's nothing new in Real Madrid finding a way to win despite struggling to contain opponents, but Carlo Ancelotti's side look to be struggling to find the right balance after a fortunate 3-1 home win against Stuttgart.
The signing of superstar Kylian Mbappe appears brilliant on paper and he joined Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo in a front three, however, the trio failed to click and Ancelotti must find a solution with none of them wanting to play centrally.
Mbappe did eventually get his goal, but Real had less possession than their opponents and needed keeper Thibaut Courtois to be in tip-top form to claim maximum points against a Stuttgart side who lost a number of key personnel over the summer.