Sokratis strike spares blushes
BORUSSIA Dortmund’s Champions League struggles continued as they were held to a 1-1 draw at APOEL Nicosia last night.
Despite a line-up boasting stars such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mario Gotze and Christian Pulisic, Dortmund struggled to break down the Group H minnows and were stunned when substitute Mickael Pote struck for the hosts in the 62nd minute.
Cypriot side APOEL had not scored a goal in six group-stage matches and were easily beaten 3-0 by both Tottenham and Real Madrid in the first two rounds of this season’s competition.
Dortmund had also started with two losses and were already facing a battle to qualify for the knockout stages. But the goal sparked the Germans into life and five minutes later defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos headed in from a corner to salvage a draw.
Aubameyang then had a chance to win it late on but his header was pushed on to the post.
Spartak Moscow’s 5-1 win at home against Sevilla knocked the Spaniards off the top of Group E.
Quincy Promes opened the scoring with a header after 18 minutes before Simon Kjaer’s volley levelled the scores. But after the break Spartak pulled clear through goals from Lorenzo Melgarejo, skipper Denis Glushakov and Luiz Adriano before Promes’s second.
Shakhtar Donetsk are second in Group F after coming from behind to win 2-1 at Feyenoord, who have yet to score a point.
Steven Berghuis’s header after a spill from Shakhtar goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov was cancelled out by two goals from Brazilian Bernard.
In Group G, Besiktas also came from behind to beat Monaco 2-1 and take top spot, while Red Bull Leipzig are second after beating Porto 3-2.
saw him inside the eight-yard box and the ball begged to be headed in. But his effort hit Lloris’ leg as he dived.
Lloris was superb again in the 63rd minute, deflecting over a rasping half-volley from Ronaldo, who was left shaking his head. He denied him again two minutes later and Isco.
Kane and Eriksen were denied late on but it was still Spurs’ night.