Champions League Day 1 - Chelsea & Liverpool win

So Day One of the Champions League proper has been and gone. We've seen two English sides play and they both recorded victory to two decisively different ways.

Chelsea gave Bordeaux the expected whooping putting four past the French outfit. Goals from Frank Lampard and Joe Cole in the first half put them firmly in control before Florent Malouda and Nicolas Anelka finished off the job with goals in the second 45 minutes.

Coach Scolari though was not impressed with the performance, “We tried to attack without the ball and with no good connections,” stated the amiable Brazilian. However he did concede that it was vital to open up with a victory. Next up for Chelsea is a trip to Romania to face the relatively unknown CFR 1907 Cluj who stunned the footballing world last night with a defeat of AS Roma in the Italian capital.

The other game is the game I watched - Olympique de Marseille v Liverpool. The French side away from home was always going to be a tricky opener for the five time Champions. Both sides looked lively early on but it was the home side that took the lead mid-way through the first half. Lorik Cana broke the offside trip as Jamie Carragher played him on and was clean through before sliding the ball past Pepe Reina.

However the lead didn't last long as within three minutes Steven Gerrard had produced something even I with my cynical nature of all things Liverpool can only describe was simply sublime. A 22-yard first-time curling effort that went into the top corner and gave the goalkeeper no chance doesn't even do it justice. It was quite simply that good.

They took the lead not long after as Ryan Babel was tripped in the box and Gerrard fired up not once, but twice to put Liverpool ahead – the first having been disallowed due to encroachment into the penalty area. Liverpool had the lead that they wouldn't give up for the rest of the game.

The home side had chances – boy did they have chances – as they piled on the pressure late in the second half. Bad misses, fine tackles, great covering and top goalkeeping all came to Liverpool's rescue as they held on. The result was still in doubt well into the four minutes of added time as Marseilles came forward in waves.

It was a good and much needed result for Liverpool who notably left out £20.3million man Robbie Keane. The Irishman hasn't settled at the club and has yet to look like scoring. Peter Crouch went through a similar phase when he joined the club and Liverpool fans must be hoping that Keane will come good just like Crouch did.

So a good night for Liverpool and Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Celtic all get their Champions League campaigns going later today against Villarreal, Dynamo Kiev and AabB Aalborg respectively.