ROME — Juventus missed one season. Aston Villa hadn’t competed in 41 years.
Both sides hardly missed a beat in their Champions League returns on Tuesday in the debut of the competition’s new format.
The 19-year-old Kenan Yildiz broke Alessandro Del Piero’s record and became Juventus’ youngest scorer in Europe’s top club competition during a 3-1 win over PSV Eindhoven.
New Juventus coach Thiago Motta earned a victory in his Champions League coaching debut after leading Bologna to qualification last season.
Villa won 3-0 at Young Boys while mourning the death a day earlier of 1982 European Cup winner Gary Shaw.
During the league phase, all 36 teams will be ranked from top to bottom in a single standings that finishes in January. Villa and Juventus moved immediately to the top with three points each.
Later, Real Madrid was hosting Stuttgart in Kylian Mbappé’s European debut for the 15-time champion; AC Milan was facing Liverpool in a rematch of the 2005 and 2007 finals; six-time winner Bayern Munich was playing Dinamo Zagreb; and Sporting Lisbon was hosting Lille.
The first round of league matches continues with six more matches on both Tuesday and Wednesday.
Yildiz’s goal after 21 minutes was the first of the revamped competition. And what a goal it was.
The Turkey winger dribbled into the left side of the box and curled in a long shot off the far, top corner of the goal frame.
At 19 years and 136 days, Yildiz broke the club record that Del Piero established when he scored at 20 years and 308 days against Borussia Dortmund in September 1995.
With a goal reminiscent of the way Del Piero used to score, it seemed fitting that Yildiz was wearing the same No. 10 that Del Piero wore for Juventus.
United States international Weston McKennie doubled Juve’s advantage after being left unmarked to score from the center of the box on a play started by Nico Gonzalez.
Then after the break, Gonzalez was also left unmarked to finish off a counterattack.
Ismael Saibari scored for PSV in stoppage time.
Under experienced coach Unai Emery, Villa has won three of its four Premier League matches and was in control virtually throughout at Young Boys.
Youri Tielemans put Villa ahead with a bouncing shot midway through the first half and Jacob Ramsey doubled the lead 11 minutes later by taking advantage of a loose ball. Amadou Onana sealed it four minutes from time.
Emery has won the Europa League four times with two clubs — three with Sevilla and once with Villarreal. He also coached Villarreal to the Champions League semifinals in 2022 and led Villa to the Conference League semifinals last season.
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