UCL: Real Win Late, Leicester And City Win
Champions League holders Real Madrid earned a last-gasp 2-1 victory over Sporting Lisbon in their opening Group F match at the Bernabeu thanks to late goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Alvaro Morata.
Bruno Cesar’s goal in the 47th minute gave the visitors the lead over the defending champions, but an 89th minute free kick from Ronaldo and a stoppage time header from Morata secured the late win.
Boss Claudio Ranieri had warned against expecting another fairytale but it was dream night in Belgium after Leicester scored twice inside the first half an hour.
Marc Albrighton netted the Foxes’ first-ever Champions League goal, and first in Europe since 2000, before Riyad Mahrez crashed in a brilliant free-kick.
Mahrez made it 3-0 with a second-half penalty with Leicester, who dominated at the Jan Breydel Stadium, top of Group G after Porto and Copenhagen drew 1-1.
Manchester City kept up their perfect start to the season and began their Champions League campaign with a win, at the second attempt, by beating Borussia Monchengladbach 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium courtesy of a Sergio Aguero hat trick.
Aguero turned in a low cross from Aleksandar Kolarov after eight minutes, added a 28th-minute penalty when debutant Ilkay Gundogan was fouled, and completed his treble on 77 minutes when Raheem Sterling’s through-ball allowed him to round Gladbach goalkeeper Yann Sommer and tap in.
Kelechi Iheanacho came off the bench to add a late fourth. That result puts City second in Group C, behind Barcelona on goal difference.
It wasn’t a good start for Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley on their Champions League return, however, as they crashed to a 2-1 defeat against AS Monaco.
Bernardo Silva opened the scoring for Monaco in the 15th minute before Thomas Lemar doubled the Ligue 1 side’s lead in the 31st minute.
Toby Alderweireld rose to head home an Erik Lamela corner kick at the near post to give them hope at the break but Spurs were unable to complete the turnaround.
Juventus played out a frustrating 0-0 draw with Sevilla, Gonzalo Higuain’s second half header, which struck the crossbar, their best chance against the three time Europa League winners.
Headers from Mario Gotze and Sokratis and a close range tap-in from Marc Bartra had a rampant Borussia Dortmund three goals ahead against Legia Warsaw inside 20 minutes as they ran out 6-0 winners in Poland. Raphael Guerreiro added a fourth early in the second half after Ousmane Dembele’s blocked shot fell kindly to him in front of goal before substitute Gonzalo Castro and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang completed the rout late on.
CSKA Moscow fought back from two goals down to earn an unlikely 2-2 draw against Bayer Leverkusen. The Bundesliga side controlled the opening exchanges, and took a two-goal lead through Admir Mehmedi and Hakan Calhanoglu inside the opening 15 minutes, but against the run of play Alan Dzagoev and Roman Eremenko pulled the Russian champions level and earned a point.
Andreas Cornelius netted a second-half equaliser as 10-man FC Copenhagen fought hard to earn a 1-1 draw at Porto in Champions League Group G.
The former Cardiff striker netted from close range shortly after the interval to cancel out Otavio Monteiro’s fine early opener for the hosts.
Copenhagen were then forced to hold on for a point despite having to play the final 25 minutes with 10 men after Jan Gregus was harshly sent off for a second yellow card.
Lyon eased the pressure on coach Bruno Genesio with a comfortable 3-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb to open their Champions League campaign.
Corentin Tolisso’s first-half opener was followed by goals from Jordan Ferri and Gnarly Cornet after the break to end a two-game losing run that had raised some questions about Genesio’s future.
Source: espnfc
No comments
Your comments and Encouragement are welcome