UCL: Penalty Drama as Top Clubs Finish Goalless

The UEFA Champions League (UCL) kicked off on Tuesday, 17 September with shocking results and more penalty drama – competition favourites such as Liverpool, Chelsea, Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund finished without scoring any goals.

UCL Champions, Liverpool, began their defence of the trophy with a 0-2 defeat to Italian side, Napoli, after a late, controversial penalty award. Liverpool’s left-back, Andy Robertson made a slight foul against Jose Callejon, which saw the referee awarding Napoli with a spot-kick.

Dries Mertens converted the penalty, and Fernando Llorente added a second goal. There has been much debate whether the referee made the right decision as many are alleging that Callejon dived and went down too easily, before Robertson’s contact.

There were more penalty woes when a missed one condemned Chelsea to defeat against Valencia, and another came to Barcelona’s rescue. Chelsea missed the perfect opportunity to end the game with a draw when Ross Barkley missed a crucial spot-kick.

For Barcelona, a missed penalty by Dortmund’s captain, Marco Reus, saved them from losing the game which ended with a draw.

Wednesday’s round of thrilling UCL matches include Paris Saint-Germain against Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid against Juventus.

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