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The UEFA Champions League of the 2018/2019 season commenced on Tuesday with some emphatic performances by the biggest clubs and players in Europe.
The first match day stuck true to the UCL's nature, delivering some surprises and shocks and giving us some pointers into how he season would turn out.
Barcelona begun their quest for European redemption with an emphatic win, while Inter Milan kicked off their first campaign in seven years with a comeback victory over Tottenham.
Later on, Liverpool delivered a statement of intent on their plans to build on the gains of last season with a pulsating 3-2 victory over PSG, and Atleti gained 2-1 win away to Monaco in their march towards the final to be played at their home stadium.
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As with any match day, this one is bound to have far reaching consequences for the participating team, and it gave us some juicy moments to talk about. Here are five observations from the first match day of the Champions League.
#5 Lionel Messi means business
Once unshaken at the top of the football hierarchy, the Argentine has been knocked off his perch in recent seasons, overtaken by Cristiano Ronaldo as the best in the world and seen his status as one of the all time greats questioned.
Lionel Messi also failed to make it into the top three of a FIFA and UEFA award for the first time in over a decade, watching on as Mohamed Salah and Luka Modrić stole his shine.
A lot of this could be traced back to Messi's lack of impact in the Champions League in the recent years. The last time he won the UCL Golden Boot was way back in 2012, and he has failed to lead Barcelona to Champions League glory in three years.
In that time, it is his eternal rival Ronaldo who has blossomed, dominating headlines with his European performances and leading Real Madrid to an unprecedented three Champions League crowns on the trot.
Lionel Messi needs to perform in the UCL to regain his lost place of pride, and based on his hat-trick performance against PSV, it seems like he means business, and this would come as sweet music to the ears of the Barcelona faithful, as when Messi means business, we know what could happen.
#4 Tottenham are paying the price for their frugality
Spurs have made tremendous gains in recent years, achieving relative success on a shoe string budget and making superstar players out of hitherto unknown quantities.
A lot of praise must go to Mauricio Mauricio Pochettino for his tactical nous in delivering results on a smaller budget than his PL rivals, however, there is a limit to where Tottenham can go with this model.
Football is big business now, and to achieve any from RM of sustained success, clubs must spend big. Atletico have realized this, same with Liverpool and Arsenal. However, Levy stubbornly refuses to adapt.
Spurs became the first Premier League club not to make a summer signing since the window officially started in 2003, as well the only club of the 32 UCL participants who didn't add to its squad.
The loss to Inter Milan made it three defeats on a row for Spurs, and they could well find themselves falling far behind their rivals, which would be a real shame for all they have achieved in recent years.
#3 Seven years later, and the PSG project is yet to truly kick off
PSG was taken over by QSI in 2011, with an aim to turn it into a domestic and continental super force much like Marina Abramović did with Chelsea.
Huge sums of money have been spent in the last seven years to achieve that aim, and while that of domestic dominance has largely been accomplished, it is in Europe where the club still struggles.
The club is still still yet to make it to the semi final of the UCL, and more shockingly fail to turn up when tested against the continent's best.
They were largely outplayed over two legs by Real Madrid last season, and once more struggled to impose themselves at Anfield against Liverpool.
World record signing Neymar set the globe abuzz following his record breaking transfer last summer, but he has largely failed to deliver in his role as PSG's messiah to UCL glory.
Despite over a billion pounds spent on player transfers, sadly PSG don't look any closer to winning the 'Big Ears' than they did in 2011.
#2 Mo Salah might be a one season wonder
After a record breaking debut season last year where he led Liverpool to the UCL final and won the EPL Golden Boot, scoring 44 goals in all competitions, Salah headed into this season as one of the stars of the continent, with all eyes focusing on him to see if he could maintain the highs of last season.
So far, the Egyptian has struggled to match those Expectations. He has scored just one? Goal in the EPL, whereas at this stage last season he had? Against PSG, he failed to truly impact the game, with Sadio Mane and Daniel Sturridge leading the Liverpool charge.
Even though it's still early days in the season, on the evidence of what have seen so far, Salah could struggle to replicate his form of last season, and this is just an extra reason to appreciate Ronaldo and Messi who have maintained their high standards for over a decade.
#1 Neymar proving to be a waste of money
The Brazilian has long been touted to be the heir to the Messi/Ronaldo throne, and the one to dominate the footballing world after the pair leave the scene.
Many felt being at Barcelona would continuously put him in Messi's shadow, and that the only way to cement his greatness would be to have his own team which he carried.
His record breaking transfer to PSG offered the platform for that to happen, as the club despite all it's spending had struggled to make an impact in the Champions League, and Neymar was seen as the player to lead them there.
A year later however, and it is looking like that would not be the case. PSG are so dominant on the French league that Neymar's presence is not needed to triumph there, but it is another matter on the continent.
It is here that the 26-year-old has failed. He went AWOL in the first leg of PSG's biggest test last season against Real Madrid, before injuring himself and being ruled out of the season.
He followed that up with a dismal World Cup campaign, making headlines only for his theatrics on the floor than for impact on the field and would have sought to use this season as a redemption campaign.
He is however veering off the script, as his performance against Liverpool towed the line his critics have pointed to. He was ineffectual over the 90 minutes, failing to make any meaningful impact in he match and being dispossessed way too easily.
With over €200m expended to get him, Neymar needs to start repaying the faith of his employers by turning up in these fixtures, as what sets Ronaldo and Messi apart from everyone else is that they perform when it really matters, and so must Neymar if not, he would go down in history as a colossal waste of money.
