A LATE GOAL by Andre Schuerrle denied Real Madrid a Champions League away victory this evening, with the German international securing a 2-2 draw for Thomas Tuchel’s in Group F.
Ronaldo gave the visitors the lead when he rifled home a low shot after being teed up beautifully by a backheel from Gareth Bale. However, Dortmund continued to threaten and equalised thanks to some dreadful goalkeeping by Keylor Navas. The Costa Rica international made a mess of a free kick, punching it weakly, which came back off Varane and was bundled over the line by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Yet the defender was to make amends in the second half after Karim Benzema’s volley came back off the post and the crossbar the France international was on hand to knock home. However, Dortmund were not to be denied, Schurrle equalising in the 87th minute with a fine finish to seal a point.
In the night’s other Group F game, first-half strikes from Bryan Ruiz and Bas Dost ensured Sporting CP got their first points in this season’s Champions League campaign as the eased to a convincing 2-0 win over Legia Warsaw.
Tottenham picked up a crucial 1-0 away win at the expense of CSKA Moscow. Elsewhere in Group E, Kamil Glik’s brilliant injury-time strike saw Monaco snatch a point in a 1-1 draw at home to Bayer Leverkusen, who took a 73rd-minute lead thanks to former Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez.
A thunderous 30-yard Thomas Delaney strike helped FC Copenhagen to a comfortable 4-0 home victory over Club Brugge in their Champions League Group G clash. Captain Delaney’s superb left-footed effort just after the hour put hosts Copenhagen 2-0 ahead and came in the middle of a 15-minute flurry of goals in the second half.
Copenhagen went ahead courtesy of an embarrassing Stefano Denswil own goal before Delaney’s effort, a well-struck Federico Santander volley and a stoppage-time Mathias Jorgensen header ensured the Danish champions extended their remarkable unbeaten run to 21 games and collected a first group win in this season’s competition. The other game in Group G ended in a 1-0 win for Leicester City over Porto.
Miralem Pjanic scored one goal and created another as Juventus eased to victory over Group H rivals Dinamo Zagreb to move to the top of their Champions League group. Midfielder Pjanic only played 45 minutes, yet still played an influential role in helping Massimiliano Allegri’s side end a run of four games without a win in the competition that stretched back to November 2015.
The Bosnia and Herzegovina international opened the scoring with a delicate volley in the 24th minute before setting up the second for Gonzalo Higuain, who was afforded far too much space by the Zagreb defence.
Paulo Dybala broke his duck for the season with a left-footed strike in the 57th minute, while a miserable night for the hosts was rounded out by goalkeeper Adrian Semper knocking Dani Alves’ deflected free-kick into his own net.
Sevilla continued their encouraging start to Champions League Group H thanks to a 1-0 win over Lyon, as Wissam Ben Yedder silenced his doubters with the winning goal.
The close-season signing from Toulouse had been one of several new recruits to attract criticism after initially struggling to break into the team, but he made the difference for Jorge Sampaoli tonight, as Sevilla added to their point at Juventus on matchday one.
