Man City bounce back
Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City succeeded where storied rivals failed in their opening Champions League games.
Even with their star forwards absent, PSG eased to a 3-0 win over 13-time European champions Real Madrid, who missed the influence of suspended defender Sergio Ramos.
The French champions relied instead on Angel Di Maria, the former Madrid winger, who scored twice with smart, first-half shots that quickly settled the outcome.
Man City were also ruthless and efficient in winning 3-0 against Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine.
Wins for two wealthy clubs with burning ambition to get a first European title came as the traditional Champions League powers struggled this week.
Of the nine clubs to have played in the final since 2011, only Bayern Munich won this week – also by 3-0 yesterday against a Red Star Belgrade team which had to come through four qualifying rounds.
Juventus and Tottenham both let twogoal leads slip away from home, before drawing 2-2 against Atletico Madrid and Olympiakos, respectively.
It’s been a tough week for the big three of Spanish football.
Madrid failed to score on the road, like Barcelona, who were lucky to take a 0-0 draw from Borussia Dortmund.
Atletico’s 2-2 draw at home showed more resolve and fight, and stopped long-time nemesis Cristiano Ronaldo – who was booed throughout by home fans – from scoring for Juventus.
Goals from Juan Cuadrado and Blaise Matuidi had Juve dominating deep into the second half.
Atletico fought back through Stefan Savic in the 70th and Mexico midfielder Hector Herrera levelled in the 90th with a header from Kieran Trippier’s cross.
Clubs from eastern Europe are often overmatched in the Champions League, and Dinamo Zagreb had lost its last 11 group-stage games, scoring just once.
Still, Zagreb gave a painful lesson to Atalanta, thrashing the Italian debutant 4-0. Mislav Orsic scored a hat-trick.
Maybe it’s the unusual kickoff time – at 6.55pm (local time) in most of Europe – but all four early evening starts produced draws this week.
Tottenham wasted a two-goal first-half lead at Olympiakos, taking control with a penalty by Harry Kane and a smart shot from Lucas Moura in Athens.
The Greek league runner-up struck back on the stroke of halftime before Mathieu Valbuena beat his former France teammate Hugo Lloris from the penalty spot.
In Belgium, Club Brugge drew 0-0 with Galatasaray, as both teams failed to make a stronger mark on Group A where PSG and Madrid are strongly favoured to advance.