Bore draw but City grab vital late win

CRISTIANO RONALDO and Zlatan Ibrahimovic struggled as Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid played to a lacklustre 0-0 draw in the Champions League yesterday, while Manchester City found a way to earn a late 2-1 victory in a thrilling finish against Sevilla.

Atletico Madrid, Wolfsburg and Galatasaray all won, while Manchester United could not manage more than a 1-1 draw at CSKA Moscow and Juventus was held to a scoreless home draw with Borussia Moenchengladbach.

There was a lot of talk about Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic ahead of the high-profile match in Paris, but neither player made an impact and the teams left with a point each to remain comfortably ahead in group A.

Anthony Martial gave away an early penalty and then scored the equaliser as Manchester United came back to draw 1-1 with CSKA Moscow.

Wolfsburg’s 2-0 win over PSV Eindhoven in the night’s other group game leaves the German team top with six points at the halfway point of the group stage, two points ahead of United and CSKA, with PSV last on three points.

In group C, Saul Niguez, Jackson Martinez and substitute Oliver Torres scored a goal each as Atletico Madrid easily defeated Astana 4-0 to take the group lead with six points from three matches.

Atletico’s other goal came when Astana defender Denys Dedechko turned the ball into his own net just before the final whistle at the Vicente Calderon Stadium.

Benfica, which lost 2-1 at Galatasaray, also has six points but trails the Spanish club on goal difference. Galatasaray reached four points with its first victory, while winless Astana remains in last place with only one point.

In Manchester, Kevin De Bruyne scored an injury-time winner as City continued their recovery in the group.

Playing as a lone striker in the final minutes, the Belgium playmaker collected a pass from Yaya Toure, cut inside and drove a low left-footed shot inside the far post in the first of four minutes of stoppage time.