REAL MADRID
The Leicester City fairytale has another chapter after they
eased to a 3-0 away win in their Champions League debut on Wednesday, as Monaco
beat Tottenham at Wembley in front of a record crowd for an English club.
On a night of goals, Sergio Aguero hit a hat-trick as
Manchester City hammered Borussia Moenchengladbach 4-0 at home in a fixture
which took place 24 hours late after rain forced the game off on Tuesday, while
a rampant Borussia Dortmund smashed Legia Warsaw for six.
But the headlines will all be about Leicester, who stunned
the football world last season when they went from relegation candidates to
Premier League champions in the space of 12 miraculous months.
An away trip to Club Brugge of Belgium was not exactly the
stuff of Leicester's European dreams, but they showed some of the verve they
have been missing so far this season as Riyad Mahrez struck twice, one of them
a sumptuous free-kick and the other a penalty.
"From our first chance we scored and from that point we
had the control of the match and Brugge had the control of the ball," said
Leicester's colourful Italian manager Claudio Ranieri.
"We played our style. It was good for us to start our
story with a victory."
Much tougher tests surely await the Foxes, but this was an
accomplished, clinical performance in their first European outing since losing
to Red Star Belgrade in the Uefa Cup first round in 2000.
Also in Group G are Porto and FC Copenhagen, who played out a
1-1 draw in Portugal to leave Leicester top of the pile after the opening
fixtures.
Current French league leaders Monaco were also notable
winners on the night, stunning Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 in an incident-packed
encounter at "the home of football" in front of 85 011 fans -- a
record home attendance for an English club.
Tottenham are back in the Champions League for the first time
in five years and, with the capacity at their White Hart Lane stadium reduced
due to redevelopment, they opted to play their European matches at Wembley this
season.
The iconic Wembley arch was lit up in Tottenham's blue and
white, but that was the extent of the home comforts for Mauricio Pochettino's
side as they paid the price for a sloppy first-half display.
Goals from Bernardo Silva and Thomas Lemar put Monaco in
command and although Toby Alderweireld got one back, Tottenham were unable to
turn their second-half dominance into an equaliser in a feisty encounter.
"They had only two shots on target and scored twice. We
feel very disappointed with the result," Pochettino said.
"We improved in the second half and had chances to win.
We deserved more, but you cannot concede like we did."
RONALDO ON TARGET
In Madrid, Champions League holders Real had a big scare at
home to Sporting Lisbon, as Cristiano Ronaldo -- against his boyhood club --
and substitute Alvaro Morata struck in the closing minutes to seal a stunning
comeback and win 2-1.
Madrid looked to be heading for their first home defeat in
the competition for five years after Bruno Cesar's low effort three minutes
into the second-half handed Sporting a thoroughly merited lead.
However, in a frantic finale, Ronaldo's free-kick levelled
the game -- he refused to celebrate -- before Morata met James Rodriguez's
cross deep into stoppage time to complete a dramatic fightback.
"We started the game a little passively," Ronaldo
told BeIN Sports.
"But football is like this and Real Madrid are like
this. The comebacks form part of this legendary stadium."
In Turin, Gonzalo Higuain and Sami Khedira fired blanks as
Sevilla held dominant but wasteful Juventus to a 0-0 draw.
"I'm disappointed we had to settle for a scoreless draw
because everyone was expecting us to win three or four nil," said Juventus
coach Massimiliano Allegri.
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