Bayern crush City 3-1, Real & PSG score wins
PARIS: Titleholders Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Paris Saint Germain emerged from the second batch of Champions League action with comfortable wins on Wednesday while the two clubs from Manchester endured differing fates.
David Moyes’ United, after their worst start to a domestic campaign in 24 years, were held to a dour 1-1 draw by Shakhtar Donetsk in a game that went ahead without injured Wayne Rooney.
The stalemate, after Danny Welbeck’s early opener was cancelled out by Taison 14 minutes from time, left United level pegging with Shakhtar at the top of Group A, after Bayer Leverkusen beat Real Sociedad 2-1.
'That was a good point coming here and getting one isn’t easy,' said Moyes, who was handed the unenviable job of replacing the legendary Alex Ferguson when he stepped down at the end of last season.
'Shakhtar have a great record here so to get a point is no mean achievement,' the former everton boss added.
United’s veteran Welsh international Ryan Giggs came on in the second half to overtake Raul with at 145 the most appearances in Europe’s top club competition.
Back in Manchester, at the Etihad stadium, City were humbled 3-1 by brilliant Bayern, playing in England for the first time since claiming the trophy at Wembley last season, in a clash that reunited City’s manager Manuel Pellegrini with Pep Guardiola.
The pair are old foes from Spain, when they occupied the dugouts at Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively in 2009-10.
Guardiola it was who came away with the bragging rights this time after goals from Franck Ribery, Thomas Mueller and Arjen Robben – Alvaro Negredo getting a late consolation for City – pushed the German giants onto six points and firmly in command of Group D.
'We’ve got six points and we’ve taken a good step towards qualifying for the next stage. I think we dominated the game and we dominated possession,'said Guardiola.
After the victory Pep warned the rest of Europe that the Champions League holders can get even better.
'But today (Wednesday) we are so, so happy for our performance. It’s nice for Bayern, coming in this country that loves football so much and playing like we have played today.'
However, although he conceded that he had seen his side’s best performance of the season to date, Guardiola warned that his players will need to improve their defending of set pieces if they are to repeat last season’s triumphs.
'Our set-up plays was a catastrophe, was terrible. We have to improve that,' he said.
'In general I’m so happy, but it’s not the end. It’s not the final of the Champions League, it’s just the second game of our round, so we have time to improve and recover players. Little, little steps forward.'
The only disappointment for the visitors, Negredo’s goal aside, was the late dismissal of former City defender Jerome Boateng for a last-man foul on Yaya Toure, but Guardiola said he had no complaints about the decision.
For City defender Micah Richards 'it felt like they had an extra man' while Pellegrini conceded: 'I think we played really bad. It’s not the team we see every Sunday here in the Premier League and that was I think the worst thing.'
City lie second on three points with CSKA Moscow, 3-2 winners over Viktoria Plzen, in third on goal difference.
Pellegrini’s predecessor at City, Roberto Mancini, enjoyed a baptism of fire in his first game just 48 hours after being appointed coach of Galatasaray.
Didier Drogba gave Mancini the perfect start, putting the Italian’s new Turkish club into the lead – but Juventus hit back with a late double from Arturo Vidal’s penalty and Fabio Quagliarella before substitute Umut Bulut’s bagged the equaliser two minutes from time.
'There wasn’t a lot of time for me and so we went out with the idea of not giving them too much space,' said Mancini.
His opposite number, Antonio Conte, reflected: 'Of the two goals, the one that hurts most was the late equaliser. To concede a goal in the 87th minute always hurts, but that’s football.'
Galatasaray, who are bottom of Group B, had been hammered 6-1 by table toppers Real Madrid last time out and Real were at it again, drubbing FC Copenhagen 4-0 at the Bernabeu with doubles from Cristiano Ronaldo and Angel di Maria.
'We played a great match, we changed the system a bit and played with three up front,' Di Maria told Spanish TV station Canal Plus.
The nine-time European kings – without Gareth Bale (thigh strain) – are well on course for the last 16, four points ahead of Juve with the Italians next up to visit Real’s stronghold.
Real Madrid’s Wales winger and record signing Gareth Bale should have recovered from a muscle strain in his left thigh in around 15 days, Real coach Carlo Ancelotti said on Wednesday.
Bale, who became the world’s most expensive player when he joined from Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of 100 million euros in the close season, missed Wednesday’s 4-0 Champions League win at home to FC Copenhagen.
Ancelotti told a post-match news conference Bale was feeling down in the dumps but should be ready to return after next week’s international break.
'We are not worried but he was not able to play today because he has a little problem,' the Italian said.
'He had a scan, it didn’t show anything special but he has just to recover his condition.
'Now we have the time because we have 15 days. I think that in 15 days he will be ready to play with us.'
Bale is definitely out of Saturday’s La Liga game at Levante and it remains to be seen whether he joins up with Wales for their World Cup qualifiers at home to Macedonia on Oct. 11 and away to Belgium four days later.
He played the second half of Real’s 1-0 defeat at home to Atletico Madrid last weekend but was unable to train on Tuesday and was left out of the squad for the Copenhagen game.
At the Parc des Princes PSG were sitting pretty on six points and occupying the Group C summit after their 3-0 win over Benfica.
The moneyed Parisians indicated they are genuine title contenders with a stunning first-half display thanks to superbly-worked goals scored by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marquinhos and another effort by the Swede.
'They (PSG) showed the power of their financial investment,' said Benfica coach Jorge Jesus. '
Last season they were knocked out by Barcelona without losing and they will compete to win the tournament this season.'