London, Oct 24 (IANS) It was a five-star performance from Germany’s Bayern Munich and France’s Paris St. Germain as they beat their respective opponents with similar 5-0 margin while England’s Manchester United and Spain’s Real Madrid had to fight hard for their victories.
At Brussels Wednesday night, the crowd witnessed a Zlatan Ibrahimovic masterpiece. The Swedish striker scored four of his team’s five goals in their 5-0 rout of Anderlecht.
Uruguay forward Edison Cavani was the other scorer for PSG. The French side have made it three wins out of three and head Group C with nine points. Olympiakos and Benfica are both on four points with the Greeks having a better goal difference.
French winger Franck Ribery starred in Bayern’s 5-0 domination over Viktoria Plzen, scoring twice.
The German record champions had 35 efforts on goal to none of the Czech champions. David Alaba, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mari Goetze also got on the scoresheet.
Bayern are the outright leaders of Group D with nine points, followed by Manchester City, who beat CSKA Moscow 2-1 in Russia. Argentine striker Sergio Aguero scored twice to give his side a crucial win, which takes them to six points.
A brace from Cristiano Ronaldo helped Real Madrid edge Italian champions Juventus 2-1 at home.
The Portuguese got the winning goal in the 29th minute after Giorgio Chiellini had wrestled Sergio Ramos to the ground.
Madrid are in the driving seat in Group B with nine points followed by Galatasaray on four and Juventus on two.
An own goal by Real Sociedad’s Inigo Martinez was all that separated English champions Manchester United from the Spanish side.
The Red Devils, who are on seven points, lead Group A by just one point. Bayern Leverkusen’s 4-0 shock win over Shakhtar Donetsk puts them in second place, leaving the Ukranians third on four points.
Champions League brief results Wednesday:
Group A:
At Leverkusen, Germany
Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) 4-0 Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)
At Manchester, England
Manchester United (England) 1-0 Real Sociedad (Spain)
Group B:
At Madrid
Real Madrid (Spain) 2-1 Juventus (Italy)
At Istanbul
Galatasaray (Turkey) 3-1 FC Copenhagen (Denmark)
Group C:
At Lisbon
Benfica (Portugal) 1-1 Olympiakos (Greece)
At Brussels
Anderlecht (Belgium) 0-5 PSG (France)
Group D:
At Moscow
CSKA Moscow (Russia) 1-2 Manchester City (England)
At Munich, Germany
Bayern Munich (Germany) 5-0 Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic)
