The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Juventus striker Cristiano Ronaldo walks off after his red card during the Uefa Champions League clash with Valencia in Spain last night.
Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off on his first Champions League appearance for Juventus as a couple of penalties from Miralem Pjanic gave the Italian giants a 2-0 win in Valencia last night.
Ronaldo, the Champions League’s alltime leading scorer with 120 goals, was dismissed after just 28 minutes following an off-the-ball incident.
The forward appeared to put his hand on the head of Valencia defender Jeison Murillo, who fell to the ground. Referee Felix Brych gave Ronaldo a straight red card after discussing the incident with his assistant behind the goal.
The Portuguese star looked baffled and kept protesting his innocence, briefly laying on the ground to express his disbelief.
He was clearly distraught as he left the pitch, still shaking his head.
It was his first red card in 154 Champions League games and means he may miss a return to Old Trafford when Juventus play his former club Manchester United next month.
Given the seemingly soft nature of the offence, Juventus could also appeal against the decision.
Valencia tried to press home their numerical advantage but it was Juventus who went in front on the stroke of halftime following a bad challenge from Dani Parejo on Joao Cancelo. Pjanic tucked away the resulting penalty.
Juventus extended their lead through another Pjanic penalty after 50 minutes. Murillo conceded the spot-kick when he hauled Leonardo Bonucci to the ground at a corner.
A bad night for Valencia was topped off deep into injury time when Parejo saw his penalty saved by Szczesny after Daniele Rugani was adjudged to have fouled Gabriel.
l Isco stepped into the void left by Ronaldo as Real Madrid began their quest for a fourth consecutive Champions League crown with a 3-0 victory over Roma.
Isco curled home a magnificent free-kick on the stroke of half-time at the Bernabeu.
Up to that point, Real had been frustrated by a combination of poor finishing and some fine saves from Robin Olsen but second-half goals from Gareth Bale and substitute Mariano gave them a winning start to the defence of their crown.
l Goals from Renato Sanches – in his first appearance since a disastrous loan spell with Swansea – and Robert Lewandowski sealed an easy 2-0 win for Bayern Munich over Benfica in Portugal.
l Ajax saw off AEK Athens – conquerors of Celtic – 3-0 while Shakhtar Donetsk drew 2-2 with Hoffenheim and Viktoria Plzen and CSKA Moscow also shared four goals.