Reds captain Virgil van Dijk soared to score with a header in the second minute of added time to seal a 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night when it seemed his team was going to waste a two-goal lead seized after just six minutes.
Bayern Munich and Inter Milan both won rematches of past finals — against Chelsea and Ajax Amsterdam, respectively — to start their eight-game league-phase programs, and newcomers Bodo/Glimt and Pafos impressed with hard-earned draws on the road.
PSG cruised to a 4-0 win at home over Atalanta and had the luxury of a penalty miss by Bradley Barcola not mattering much in the end.
Liverpool seemed to be sailing with early goals from Andy Robertson and a typically fine strike by Mohamed Salah but were pegged back by Marcos Llorente's goals in first-half added time and the 81st.
Llorente also scored twice at Anfield in 2020 when Atletico eliminated the then-defending champions in the round of 16.
Bayern held off Chelsea 3-1 with two goals from Harry Kane, whose England teammate Cole Palmer scored an impressive goal for the visitors. It was a very belated revenge for Bayern losing the 2012 final to Chelsea in their home stadium.
Inter got two powerful headed goals from Marcus Thuram in their 2-0 win at Ajax, who beat the Italians in the 1972 European Cup final.
Norway's champion Bodo/Glimt had a second-half penalty kick saved and trailed by two goals late at Slavia Prague, before rallying to level at 2-2 in the 90th.
Pafos grinded out a 0-0 draw at Olympiacos after playing with 10 men from the 26th minute.
Russian-owned Pafos are the first Cypriot team in the Champions League main phase since 2017, and Bodo/Glimt ended Norway's 18-year absence.
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