Ronaldo scores but United lose

Paris, Sept. 15: Manchester United slumped to a shock 2-1 loss at Young Boys despite a goal from Cristiano Ronaldo in their Champions League opener on Tuesday, while Chelsea kicked off their title defence by beating Zenit.

Robert Lewandowski struck twice for Bayern Munich as the German heavyweights inflicted a 30 defeat on Barcelona at Camp Nou in their first European game since the departure of Lionel Messi.

Ronaldo, the leading scorer in Champions League history, bagged his 135th goal in the competition after 13 minutes in Bern, but Swiss champions Young Boys hit back after the sending-off of Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

The United defender saw red for a dangerous tackle on Christopher Martins before half-time. Nicolas Moumi Ngamaleu equalised in the second half before Jordan Siebatcheu snatched the winner with the final kick.

“It’s the first game in the group. We’ve got many games to bounce back and we must do,” said United captain Harry Maguire.

“We’ll try and pick up three points in our next game and build momentum from there.”

United host Villarreal in two weeks. The Spaniards, who beat Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men in last season’s Europa League final, drew 2-2 at home to Atalanta in the other Group F match.

Romelu Lukaku broke the deadlock for Chelsea after 69 minutes at Stamford Bridge to earn the holders a 1-0 victory over Zenit, whose Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg is the venue for next May’s final.

Lukaku headed in Cesar Azpilicueta’s cross to give Thomas Tuchel’s team a winning start in a Group ‘H’ game. Juventus top the section after the opening round following their 3-0 win away to Malmo of Sweden. Bayern Munich stretched their record unbeaten away run in the Champions League to 19 games by sweeping aside Barcelona in the first meeting between the clubs since the Germans triumphed 82 in a one-off quarterfinal last year.