Villa and Villarreal Hit Four, Bowler Hat-trick

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.

Barcelona	2 - 1	SL Benfica
Juventus	1 - 2	Bayern München
Manchester United	2 - 0	Genoa CFC

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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Arsenal	0 - 3	Hellas Verona
Atlético Madrid	1 - 2	Real Madrid
Borussia Dortmund	1 - 0	Chelsea

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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Independiente	0 - 2	Flamengo
Olympique Marseille	1 - 2	Bayer Leverkusen
Valencia CF	1 - 0	TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

Group D

Bragging rights for Milan in the big North vs South game in Italy in Group D.

AC Milan	2 - 0	SSC Napoli
Aston Villa	4 - 0	AS Roma
Stoke City	2 - 3	Everton

Group E

Magpies supremo Greg Bilboa was understandably over the moon with victory at Liverpool, and especially his young goalkeeper's man of the match performance.

Meanwhile, new City boss Alex McLean seems to be cracking under the pressure:

Liverpool	0 - 1	Newcastle United
RCD Espanyol	2 - 2	Sporting CP
Sevilla	1 - 0	Manchester City

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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Dynamo Kyiv	2 - 3	Sunderland
Sassuolo	0 - 3*	RSC Anderlecht
Swansea City	2 - 3	FC Basel

* 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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Hertha BSC	0 - 2	FC Augsburg
Shakhtar Donetsk	0 - 3*	Internazionale
Tottenham Hotspur	0 - 1	Fiorentina

* Shakhtar played overage team

Group H

Girondins Bordeaux	3 - 0*	Beşiktaş JK
SS Lazio	0 - 2	Club Brugge KV
Villarreal CF	4 - 0	Udinese

* Besiktas played overage player (Dompe)

Group I

1. FC Köln	0 - 3*	Celta Vigo
Lokomotiv Moskva	0 - 0	C. Palace
São Paulo FC	2 - 2	Leicester City

* Koln played overage player (Hendry)