Is it delivering? First impressions of new Champions League format

The first information of Champions League games are complete - and you tin watch highlights of each crippled connected nan BBC Sport website.

The format is caller this play - pinch 1 elephantine convention of 36 teams, alternatively of 32 teams dispersed crossed 8 groups.

BBC Sport looks astatine what happened successful nan first information of games and really nan revamped title looks.

This caller 'league phase' - alternatively of tons of groups each containing 4 teams - is going to return immoderate getting utilized to.

One large array pinch 36 teams is thing we do not moreover spot successful convention football, and taking it each successful involves immoderate superior scrolling. You tin cheque retired nan afloat point here.

Remember, teams who decorativeness successful nan apical 8 will suffice automatically for nan past 16, while those who spot ninth to 24th will compete successful a two-legged knockout play-off for nan chance to subordinate them.

Whoever finishes 25th aliases little will beryllium eliminated. So only one-third of teams really spell retired aft everyone plays 8 games.

According to Opta, 16 points from a imaginable 24 gives a 98% chance of a top-eight finish.

Ten points is 99% apt to lead to a top-24 finish, truthful teams who won this week only request 2 much wins and a tie for a chance of reaching nan past 16.

Fifteen teams won their opening games (meaning 15 teams lost) which leaves six clubs successful betwixt connected 1 point.

In a nutshell, if you won you've sewage a awesome chance of going through. If you lost... you've still sewage a awesome chance of going through.

It is excessively early to publication into patterns of results... but nan apical seeds dropped much points this clip compared to nan first information of group games past year.

Last play six of nan 8 won, pinch 1 drafting and 1 losing.

This twelvemonth location were 9 apical seeds, pinch 5 winning, 2 drafting (against each other) and 2 losing.

And nan bottommost seeds fared overmuch better.

Four of nan 9 teams successful 'pot four' won - including Aston Villa. Last twelvemonth nary of nan bottommost 8 seeds won their first group game.

One of nan benefits of nan caller format is much games betwixt nan biggest teams.

Unlike successful nan past, each apical seed will look different 2 teams from nan apical cookware too.

The only lucifer betwixt cookware 1 sides this clip was Manchester City v Inter Milan... which ended goalless.

But that wasn't nan only eye-catching fixture successful nan opening round, pinch Liverpool gathering AC Milan successful a repetition of nan 2005 and 2007 finals. The Premier League broadside won 2-1 connected Tuesday.

Big matches coming up soon, not needfully each apical seeds, are Arsenal v Paris St-Germain successful nan adjacent batch of games, positive Real Madrid v Borussia Dortmund - a repetition of past year's final.

Barcelona v Bayern Munich is successful nan pursuing information of fixtures - albeit those 2 heavyweights only met successful nan group shape arsenic precocious arsenic 2 years ago.

It was a bully opening for nan 5 British teams successful nan Champions League - pinch 3 wins and 2 draws.

Celtic hit Slovan Bratislava 5-1, Aston Villa saw disconnected Young Boys 3-0 and Liverpool won 3-1 astatine AC Milan.

Manchester City and Arsenal some played retired goalless draws pinch Italian teams, Serie A champions Inter Milan and Europa League winners Atalanta respectively.

Harry Kane scored 4 goals for Bayern Munich arsenic they smashed Dinamo Zagreb 9-2. That already takes him halfway to past season's Golden Boot total.

Three different players scored 2 goals, each for German clubs - Borussia Dortmund's England Under-21 winger Jamie Gittens, Bayern's Michael Olise and Bayer Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz.

The goalkeeper pinch nan astir memorable effect successful nan first information of games was Arsenal's David Raya, who performed a stunning double prevention - including a punishment extremity - to contradict Atalanta striker Mateo Retegui.

The teams who mightiness beryllium happiest pinch their activity were Celtic, who scored 5 goals successful a Champions League crippled for nan first time, and Sparta Prague.

Sparta, successful their first main tie Champions League crippled for 19 years, hit Salzburg 3-0.

French broadside Brest, who were making their debut successful immoderate European competition, hit Sturm Graz 2-1.

Girona, besides playing a European crippled for nan first time, were seconds distant from a tie astatine Paris St-Germain earlier Paulo Gazzaniga's ain goal.

Watch highlights of each Champions League crippled from 22:00 connected Wednesday connected BBC iPlayer and nan BBC Sport website and app.

There will besides beryllium a Champions League Match of nan Day connected BBC One connected Wednesday, from 22:40 to 00:00.