3 things you need to know about Wednesday's Champions League action

High-scoring matches mixed with some tight fixtures highlighted Wednesday's slate of games as 16 of Europe's top clubs kicked off their Champions League campaign. While teams such as Roma and Porto came away from their matches with resounding victories, Barcelona and Bayern Munich narrowly defeated their opponents to earn three points before the conclusion of their opening fixtures.

theScore's Gord Brunt and Carlo Campo run down the three things you need to know from Wednesday's Champions League action.

2nd-half goals cost Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain 3 points

Gordon Brunt: Both Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain were close to beginning their Champions League campaigns with three points, that is until second-half goals saw the pair of European powerhouses start the tournament with a single point.

Chelsea began their game positively, applying continuous pressure against Schalke before Cesc Fabregas found the back of the net with his first goal as a member of the Blues. However, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar's 63rd-minute goal leveled the match and left the Germans celebrating at Stamford Bridge when the referee blew the full-time whistle.

Meanwhile, a worrying trend continued as PSG's woes on the road cost them three points against Ajax when Lasse Schone's thunderous free kick buzzed past the Parisian 'keeper and leveled the match for the Dutch squad.

Carlo Campo: If Schalke's 1-1 draw away to Chelsea wasn't impressive enough, they achieved the result without nine of their senior players, all of whom were out due to injury. Also, consider that Julian Draxler - who put in an excellent performance throughout his 86 minutes on the pitch - spent the last week dealing with the flu.

Furthemore, the result was particularly surprising as Schalke had failed to score against Chelsea in any of their four previous encounters, while Jose Mourinho's side have now scored in each of their last 16 Champions League matches at home.

That being said, Chelsea still remain undefeated against German sides at Stamford Bridge.

Similarly, over in Amsterdam, Ajax's 1-1 draw against PSG will surely have turned some heads.

The current Ajax squad entered the match having scored a grand total of six goals in the Champions League, which is as many as Zlatan Ibrahimovic notched during his time at the Dutch club. You could be forgiven for thinking that Ajax would be overwhelmed.

But thanks to Schone's stunning free kick, which is posted above, Frank de Boer's side left the Amsterdam ArenA with a point that will be crucial if they're to emerge from a group that's rounded out by Barcelona and APOEL Nicosia. 

Why don't Ajax ever get a somewhat-easy group?

Jérôme Boateng's strike lifts Bayern Munich past Manchester City

GB: It took a bit of brilliance for Bayern Munich to break the deadlock and come away with a victory from their Group E encounter with Manchester City as Jérôme Boateng saved the Bundesliga champions with a beautiful strike in the 90th minute.

Although both teams traded shots throughout the match, it was Bayern who dominated the game with quality chances on Joe Hart. City had a late call for a penalty when David Silva looked as if he was brought down in the Bayern box, but appeals were ignored by the referee.

In the end, Boateng will be hailed as the hero after his volley took a kind deflection off teammate Mario Götze and found its way into the City net. Three ponts to Bayern, again.

CC: It's beginning to look a lot like two of the past three editions of the Champions League.

Remember that City missed out on progression in the 2011-12 edition of the tournament after being drawn alongside Bayern, and although both sides advanced from the same group in last year's competition, Bayern topped the group, forcing City to take on Barcelona, a series they lost 4-1 on aggregate.

Boateng's late winner marked the reigning Bundesliga champions' 800th goal in European competition, but if anyone deserves kudos for their performance in the match, it's Hart, whose seven saves are a number he's only bettered on four previous occasions in Champions League or Premier League fixtures.

While you'd imagine Hart would be fuming after Boateng rendered his exceptional performance meaningless, he was in great spirits after the game and jokingly stated: "I tend to be busy against German teams."

Also, Hart's reaction to the news that Roma had blown out CSKA Moscow 5-1 was priceless.

No one likes Ashley Cole.

Roma and Porto go off for 11 goals during their respective victories

GB: It doesn't get much better than the starts recorded by Roma and Porto during their opening matches of the tournament.

The Italians made easy work of their Group E opponents CSKA Moscow and found themselves up 4-0 after a half-hour before the match ended 5-1. Gervinho bagged two goals for the hosts and achieved something that will leave Arsenal fans quivering with frustration and anger.

Porto got off to a flying start during their Group H match against BATE Borisov, as Yacine Brahimi, making his Champions League debut, scored the game's opener inside the first five minutes and added another to help the Portuguese squad enter the halftime break with a 3-0 advantage.

Brahimi, 24, later completed a hat-trick 12 minutes into the second half, thus joining some elite company in the process:

CC: If you had Gervinho and Brahimi in your Champions League fantasy team, you're probably sitting at the top of your league.

Roma's emphatic return to Europe's most prestigious club competition was highlighted by a phenomenal performance from Gervinho, whose first half included scoring on both shots that he took, passing with 100 percent accuracy, creating one chance, and registering one assist.

However, this is a team game, so let's give Roma credit where credit is due.

The 5-1 win for Roma was unfortunately marred by crowd trouble as a CSKA supporter was reportedly taken to hospital before the match for stab wounds to the chest and abdomen. The trouble then carried over into the Stadio Olimpico, where police were forced to intervene when CSKA fans set off flares that spread to the adjacent areas of the stadium.

Over at the Estadio do Dragao, Porto coincidentally scored five goals for the first time in a Champions League match as well, putting six past Belorussian side BATE.

As mentioned above, Brahimi one-upped Gervinho with his historic hat-trick, and his free kick to complete the three-goal performance was a thing of beauty.

[Courtesy: Reddit user "AKnightWhoSaidNi"]

For a recap of Tuesday's Champions League action, click here.

To view the top five goals from Matchday 1, click here.