BAYER LEVEKUSEN SCORED twice in the last 10 minutes to grab a point after initially squandering a two-goal lead in a thrilling 4-4 draw with Roma in Champions League action on Tuesday.
Goals from Kevin Kampl and Admir Mehmedi saw the hosts rally in the closing stages at BayArena, denying Roma their first away win in the competition since November 2010.
The Italians had led 4-2, with goals from Bosnian international Miralem Pjanic and Iago Falque putting them two clear after Daniele De Rossi’s brace had cancelled out Javier Hernandez’s early double for Leverkusen.
However, Leverkusen – who had knocked out Roma’s city rivals Lazio to qualify for the group stages – finished strongly as a see-saw Group E clash ended all square.
The draw leaves Leverkusen second in the group, three points behind leaders Barcelona while Roma remain propping up the table with two points from three matches
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Also in Group E, substitute Ivan Rakitic scored twice to earn Barcelona a 2-0 victory over BATE on and move the European champions three points clear at the top of the table.
Rakitic replaced the injured Sergi Roberto midway through the first half and made the difference for Luis Enrique’s side in Borisov – scoring from two second-half Neymar passes to give Barca an away win after recent defeats on the road to Celta Vigo and Sevilla.
As Arsenal sensationally defeated Bayern Munich in London, Brown Ideye scored a late goal to give Olympiacos a priceless 1-0 away win at Dinamo Zagreb.
The striker chased down a nothing ball from Dimitris Siovas and squeezed the ball home past Eduardo from a tight angle with just 12 minutes left.
Dinamo had missed the game’s best chances earlier in the second half with their captain Domagoj Antolic and Marko Rog both hitting the post.
But they could not break the deadlock and succumbed to their first defeat on home soil since a 5-1 reverse to Red Bull Salzburg in the Europa League last November.
It was smash and grab for Olympiacos, who were mostly restricted to shots from distance but made their best opening count when Ideye scored for the third match in a row to snatch the points.
The Greeks now look well placed to qualify from Group F with six points from their three fixtures and a home clash with the Croatians to follow.
Porto moved into first place in Group G with a comfortable 2-0 home victory over Maccabi Tel-Aviv..
Vincent Aboubakar and Yacine Brahimi scored in the space of four first-half minutes, before defender Bruno Martins Indi missed a glorious chance to make it three after the break, firing over from close range.
The win moves Julen Lopetegui’s men to the top of the group standings above Dynamo Kiev and Chelsea having picked up seven points from a possible nine.
Maccabi failed to record a shot on target until the 87th minute and are still waiting for their first goal after three matches in this season’s tournament.
A Stefan Mitrovic own goal denied Gent what would have been a hard-fought point as they suffered a 2-1 defeat at Valencia.
Sofiane Feghouli put the home side in front after 15 minutes, before Matz Sels produced a string of excellent saves to keep his side in contention.
Thomas Foket then pulled the Belgians level by rifling a shot high into the Valencia net five minutes from the interval.
That equaliser revitalised the visitors and Valencia were second best for much of the second period.
However, a Jose Gaya drive from the left struck Mitrovic in the six-yard box and bounced over the line to spare the hosts’ blushes in the 72nd minute.
The result sees Valencia remain three points adrift of Group H leaders Zenit – who beat Lyon 3-1 - while Gent are still without a win in this year’s competition.
Tonight’s Champions League results are here.
