A busy night in the opening round of fixtures in this season’s new look Youth Cup saw 27 matches produce 24 wins, 3 draws, 65 (legitimate) goals, almost as many yellow cards (54), and 7 reds.
Biggest winners were Aston Villa and Villarreal with 4-0 wins each (biggest losers, Roma and Udinese). Sunderland’s Josh Bowler tops the scoring charts following his splendid hat-trick in Kyiv.
Four teams – Sassuolo, Shakhtar, Besiktas and Koln – fielded overage players and recorded 0-3 defeats by default.
Group A
Juventus lost their opening re-run of last season’s Youth Cup Final. The Old Lady fielded 9 of the 11 who lost to Bayern in the first leg of that final, with new signings Arana and Diop appearing to strengthen the tournament favourites. Bayern, meanwhile, lost their captain Henrichs to Arsenal, and Castagne to age (and Atletico).
An even first half saw the sides level at one each. Bayern came out all guns blazing in the second half, and could have easily been three or four one up, by the hour mark. They sat back on their 2-1 lead, and soaked up all Juve’s pressure to hold on to yet another surprise result, leaving the Turin club’s boss Dan Payne scratching his head for answers.
Group B
Great win for Hellas at The Emirates, and Doc remembered to set his team, the headlines in Group B.
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Group C
Gregg Robinson reports live from Buenos Aries:
Flamengo take the early lead in the league after an impressive 2-0 win at Independiente. Leverkusen fill second spot with a good 2-1 win at Marseille. And Valencia in third after beating Hoffenheim 1-0 at home.
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Group D
Bragging rights for Milan in the big North vs South game in Italy in Group D.
Group E
Group F
Our Group F correspondent Lee Adams updates from The Liberty Stadium:
Youth Cup Group F kicked off last night with 10 goals in 2 matches. Basel and Sunderland got decent away wins at Swansea and Kiev, both 3-2. Anderlecht though sit in pole position and get a 3-0 win after Sassuolo fielded over aged players. Anderlecht were surprise 1-0 winners anyway.
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* Sassuolo played overage team
Group G
Hertha Berlin boss Mark Stewart started the mind games early and conceded defeat before the kick-off of his team’s match against Augsburg. Claiming that he ‘forgot’ he had no eligible central defenders, he said he hoped for anything better than a 3-0 defeat, as that would feel like a victory.
H. Berlin 0-2 Augsburg: Svendsen 18′ (assist Medina), Repas 39′ (assist Svendsen).
Sander Svendsen MOTM rat. 8.
Tottenham H. 0-1 ACF Fiorentina: Allende 63′ (free kick).
Marcelo Allende MOTM rat. 7.
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Group H
* Besiktas played overage player (Dompe)
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