A round-up from Wednesday’s Uefa Champions League action as Roma denied Barcelona with a stunning goal and 10-man Arsenal are stunned by Dinamo Zagreb.
Florenzi stunner earns Roma draw
An Alessandro Florenzi wonder goal earned Roma a share of the spoils as Barcelona’s Lionel Messi celebrated his 100th Uefa Champions League appearance without a goal in a 1-1 draw at the Stadio Olimpico.
Roma, dominated throughout by the reigning champions, looked to be on their way to a sound defeat after Luis Suarez rose at Wojciech Szczesny’s back post after 21 minutes to head home Ivan Rakitic’s delivery.
But the hosts were given a huge treat when Florenzi struck from just over the halfway line to catch Marc-Andre ter Stegen way out of his goal with a shot that bounced off the post and into the net.
Barcelona went on to spurn a series of great chances but a determined Roma produced a solid defensive performance to ultimately frustrate Luis Enrique’s men.
Hernandez off the mark for Leverkusen
Javier Hernandez scored on his first start for Bayer Leverkusen in their 4-1 rout of Bate Borisov on as the Germans topped Group E ahead of Barcelona.
Turkey midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu netted twice in the rout as Leverkusen put the Belarus side to the sword in their opening tie.
Swiss striker Admir Mehmedi gave Leverkusen an early lead, but Serbia midfielder Nemanja Milunovic headed Bate level on 13 minutes. Calhanoglu then put the hosts 2-1 up after the break before Mexico’s Hernandez scored Leverkusen’s third.
Calhanoglu netted a late penalty as the hosts dominated, using their 65 per cent possession to fire in 20 shots on goal to BATE’s paltry two efforts.
Ten-man Arsenal stunned in Zagreb
Dinamo Zagreb piled further misery on English sides in Europe as they stunned 10-man Arsenal 2-1 in Croatia to record their first Champions League group stage win in 16 attempts.
Making their 18th straight group phase appearance in the competition, Arsenal were hoping to fare better than both Manchester clubs, who lost their opening games on Tuesday, but instead suffered a chastening defeat of their own in their Group F curtain-raiser.
Arsene Wenger’s men fell behind on 24 minutes when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain put through his own net and their troubles were compounded with Olivier Giroud dismissed for a second yellow card just before half-time.
Junior Fernandes added a second for Dinamo just before the hour and although substitute Theo Walcott pulled one back the Croatian champions held on to extend their unbeaten run in all competitions to 42 matches.
Kiev strike late to grab draw
Vitaly Buyalskiy scored a last minute equaliser to rescue a point for Dynamo Kiev in a 2-2 draw with Porto in Ukraine.
Midfielder Oleh Gusev had opened the scoring for the Ukrainian champions in the Group G encounter at the National Olympic Complex, but a brace from Cameroon international forward Vincent Aboubakar turned the tie on its head.
The point left Dynamo and Porto joint second in the group behind favourites Chelsea, who thrashed Maccabi Tel-Aviv 4-0.
Hulk fires Zenit to victory
Two stunning strikes from Brazilian international Hulk guided Zenit St Petersburg to a 3-2 win at Valencia despite a spirited fightback by the Spanish side.
Hulk thumped home two powerful efforts to give the Russians a 2-0 half-time lead before Joao Cancelo and Andre Gomes hauled Valencia level after the break.
However, the home side’s good work was undone when Axel Witsel struck the winner moments later to give Andres Villas-Boas’s men the perfect start in Group H.
Zenit lead Gent and Lyon by two points after the Belgians salvaged a point with nine men in a 1-1 draw in the other match in the group.
Bayern breeze past Olympiakos
A Thomas Mueller brace and a Mario Goetze snap shot lifted Bayern Munich to a 3-0 win over Olympiakos in their Group F opener as tensions boiled over on the terraces.
Mueller’s first was a long range fluke in the 52nd minute and a nervy Bayern had been watching the clock before a late Goetze shot and Mueller penalty in time added on clinched the three points.
Olympiakos won all three home games in the group phase last season, but this revamped side with a new coach — 38-year-old former Sporting Portugal man Marco Silva — saw an 11 games unbeaten run rudely stopped.
Mueller’s opener will cause great debate after his miss-hit cross bamboozled Olympiakos ‘keeper Roberto, who raced desperately back to his line and had to watch in horror as the ball hit the top corner.
Lacazette miss costs Lyon
Lyon missed the chance to open their Champions League campaign with a win after striker Alexandre Lacazette missed a late penalty against Gent.
Christophe Jallet scored the opener for Lyon in the 58th minute only for Gent to equalise 10 minutes later through Danijel Milicevic.
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