Far from any excess of confidence, this did not prevent the reigning German champions from taking control of the match against Brest, focusing above all on not making a mistake and bringing out the balls as cleanly as possible against the intense pressure from their opponents.
Lees-Melou‘s lightning bolt
First that of Jonas Hofmann whose laser pass in the heart of the field, when there was a much easier and obvious one towards Nathan Tella, all alone on the right, tore through the Brest defense to find Florian Wirtz, released for half a second by Soumaïla Coulibaly.
That of the German striker who deceived Marco Bizot (0-1, 24th) to cool Roudourou, before putting cold sweats back on the backs of the Brest supporters six minutes later by eliminating four opponents at the entrance to the surface, before triggering a strike that is too soft and too centered.
Led for the first time in C1 against an opponent who had until then kept a clean sheet, Brest once again found itself at a crossroads.
And as for almost two years and the arrival of Roy on his bench, Brest has risen to the challenge admirably because he does not lack talent either.
The lightning, or rather the thunder of Brest, obviously came from Lees-Melou who, for his first match in the “real” Champions League – he had played in the play-offs with Nice – seemed like a fish in water.
Leverkusen never found the key
On an almost innocuous and deflected cross from Mahdi Camara, he positioned himself perfectly to receive the ball in a bell and to resume with a perfect volley from the right which went into the small net of Matej Kovar (1-1, 39th ).
From there, the match was balanced, the Brestois, definitely uninhibited, even linked up sequences of passes that Leverkusen would not have denied, including one leading to a left hook/strike sequence from Lees-Melou at the entrance from the surface, a little too far away (50th).
Kenny Lala, from more than 30 meters (57th), and a recovery from Camara, in the axis at 16 meters, boxed by Kovar (75th) were the other banderillas of the Finistériens.
On the Leverkusen side, the entries of Xhaka, Terrier or Jeremie Frimpong did not really provide the key to breaking into the Brest coffer.
It was even the Ty Zefs full-back, Massadio Haïdara, who was the most dangerous for the Germans by deflecting a low cross to the far post, flush with the frame.
The VAR decision which denied Leverkusen a penalty in the 90th and the last half-volley from Wirtz, a few minutes later, which was more of a drop than a shot, were greeted almost as a second goal for Brest.
Another scoreless home match for Atalanta against Celtic
As against Arsenal on the first day, Atalanta conceded a 0-0 draw against Celtic Glasgow in the Champions League on Wednesday. Starting with the Bergamasques during the first two meetings, Charles De Ketelaere came into play (58th) while Arne Engels was part of Celtic’s three-man midfield until the 74th. In the standings, Atalanta has 5 points and Celtic one less.
Gian Piero Gasperini therefore opted for the Mateo Retegui-Ademola Lookman duo with Mario Pasalic in support. The match started intensely with Celtic trying to press all over the pitch to prevent Atalanta from playing freely. On a counter, Nicolas-Gerrit Kuhn appeared in the penalty area where he was unable to avoid the return of Ederson (10th). Shortly after, the Brazilian midfielder found Retegui in the area, who did not close (14th). Atalanta then took the upper hand but Pasalic was not decisive since his header ended up on the crossbar (18th) and his recovery was repelled by Kasper Schmeichel (24th).
The ‘Nerazzurri’, who attacked mainly from the flanks, were unable to resolve the situation. The substitutions, including that of De Ketelaere, did not change the scenario of the match and Atalanta did not score a goal against the Scots, who had conceded seven in Dortmund.
