UEFA Champions League round-up: Real, PSG, Bayern win; United, Juventus draw
Angel Di Maria (R) celebrates with team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo after scoring their team’s third goal during the UEFA Champions League match between Real Madrid CF and FC Copenhagen at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on October 2, 2013 in Madrid, Spain. (Getty Images)
Eight games, 28 goals. Six wins, two draws and one red card.
Manchester City fielded a strong starting XI but could not withstand the constant pressure from the Bayern Munich attack, as errors from Joe Hart and Gael Clichy cost them the game, 1-3. The only consolation for Manuel Pellegrini and his men came in the form of an Álvaro Negredo goal in the 80th minute.
Franck Ribery opened the scoring for Bayern in the 7th minute, giving the visitors a comfortable 1-0 lead before going into half-time. Thomas Müller and Arjen Robben scored in quick succession of each other, leaving no scope for a City breakthrough. Jerome Boateng was handed a red card after being shown a yellow earlier and will miss the fixture against Viktoria Plzen.
In the same group, CSKA Moscow beat Viktoria Plzen 3-2. Despite Frantisek Rajtoral scoring an early 4th minute goal for Plzen, CSKA managed to pull back two goals before half-time (from Zoran Tosic and Keisuke Honda). Radim Reznik scored a third for CSKA in the 78th minute and the game looked almost sealed for the hosts, until Marek Bakos pulled one back for the visitors in the 90th minute.
Matches in Group A saw one victory and one draw: Bayer Leverkusen beat Real Sociedad 2-1, while Manchester United drew 1-1 with Shakhtar Donetsk. A goal just before half-time gave Leverkusen the lead, but not for too long, as former Arsenal striker Carlos Vela struck home for the visitors in the 51st minute. Bayer did look the more threatening team throughout the game, and substitute Jens Hegeler gave the hosts a much deserved win by scoring in stoppage time.
At the Donbass Arena, Danny Welbeck gave Manchester United the lead in the 18th minute and United looked to be the favourites to win the game. However, Taison equalised for the hosts with fourteen minutes remaining to rescue a deserved point for the hosts.
Juventus vs. Galatarasay was Roberto Mancini’s first match as Gala’s manager and having previously lost 6-1 to Real Madrid, pressure was immense on the visitors. Didier Drogba gave the Turkish giants an early lead and half-time saw them in an almost-comfortable position. The second half saw three goals – two from Juventus (Arturo Vidal scored a penalty and Fabio Quagliarella scored the other) and one from Umut Bulut, ending the game on a 2-2 note.
Angel Di Maria was the star last night as Real Madrid comfortably beat FC Copenhagen 4-0. A brace and an assist for the Argentinean international saw him almost outshine Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored two of his own. Gareth Bale missed the game through injury, while Luka Modric got a yellow just before half-time.
From two goals in nine games to two goals in half an hour, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was PSG’s saviour against Benfica. Marquinhos scored the second goal for the hosts, and Benfica somehow, never managed to get close to the PSG goal.
Konstantinos Mitroglou scored a hat-trick as Olympiacos defeated Belgian side Anderlecht in the other group game.