As it turned out, Jerome Boateng just needed to get a little closer to goal.
The Bayern Munich defender came up with the winner against Manchester City on the stroke of 90 minutes on Wednesday night, scoring on a half-volley from the edge of the box to give the hosts a 1-0 victory in their first leg Uefa Champions League match.
Moments earlier, Boateng stretched City goalkeeper Joe Hart to the limit with a swerving, 30-yard drive. When City failed to clear a corner kick and the ball fell to the defender 18 yards out, he hit a shot that grazed Mario Gotze as it spun out of Hart’s reach and into the net.
Elsewhere, two Champions League dark horses filled the net against Eastern European opposition. Gervinho scored twice while Juan Iturbe had one goal and set up two more as Roma made an emphatic return to the Champions League with a 5-1 defeat of CSKA Moscow. The hosts also scored through Maicon and a Sergei Ignashevich own goal, with Ahmed Musa scoring a late consolation for CSKA.
In Portugal, Algeria international Yacine Brahimi scored a hat-trick to lead Porto past BATE Borisov 6-0. Jackson Martinez, Adrian and Vincent Aboubakar rounded out the scoring.
Shakhtar Donetsk salvaged a measure of pride for Eastern Europe as they ground out a 0-0 draw away to Athletic Bilbao, while Luka Zahovic’s goal in second-half stoppage time cancelled out Nani’s opener and gave Slovenian champions Maribor a 1-1 draw with Sporting Portugal.
In Amsterdam, Paris Saint-Germain’s Edison Cavani took advantage of a careless giveaway by the Ajax defence in the 14th minute to score, but Lasse Schone scored on 74 minutes to earn the Dutch side a 1-1 draw.
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