Manchester shows the way in Europe
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FOOTBALL Juan Mata scored one and set up the other as Manchester United recovered from a goal down to beat Wolfsburg 2-1 at Old Trafford. The German's took the lead after just four minutes as Daniel Caligiuri beat the offside trap to slip past David De Gea. The hosts pressed hard for an equaliser and it came just after the half-hour through a Mata penalty after Caligiuri had handled. The Spaniard then turned provider with an outrageous piece of skill for Chris Smalling to strike the winner after the break and, despite substitute Andre Schurrle's late chance, the Red Devils held on for a vital three points.
Also playing German opposition, City came from a goal down to win 2-1 at Borussia Monchengladbach. City had goalkeeper Joe Hart to thank for a string of superb stops in the first half, including a penalty save from Raffael. But he was helpless to stop Lars Stindi's 54th-minute opener. Nicolas Otamendi's volley mid-way through the half looked to have rescued a point for City,but Sergio Aguero made sure of all three points when he converted from the spot with just two minutes remaining after he was fouled by Alvaro Dominguez.
While Manchester was celebrating there were tears in the capital as Arsenal were beaten 3-2 at home by Olympiakos and Chelsea went down 2-1 at Porto.
The Gunners are without a point from their opening two games and face a double header against runaway Group F leaders Bayern Munich next.
Arsene Wenger made four changes from Saturday's five-star display at Leicester. With Petr Cech carrying a slight calf injury, David Ospina was between the sticks, while Kieran Gibbs and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were given an opportunity to impress. Both failed. The Greek outfit took a shock lead just before halftime when they worked a short corner to Felipe Pardo whose low drive took a big deflection off Oxlade-Chamberlain. Arsenal responded immediately through Theo Walcott, but the Emirates was quickly silenced again moments later when Ospina somehow failed to hang on to a Kostas Fourtounis corner, fumbling the ball over the line under no pressure from any Olympiacos attacker. The Gunners laid siege to the Olympiacos goal and were rewarded when Sanchez equalised on 65-minutes, but unbelievably the Greeks immediately restored their lead after some calamitous Arsenal defending allowed Pardo to cross for Alfred Finnbogason and he poked past Ospina to leave Arsenal with an uphill battle to make the knockout stages.
Jose Mourinho's return to Porto, the club he led to Champions League glory in 2004, was soured as the Portuguese outfit ran out 2-1 winners. Andre Andre put the hosts in front before Midfielder Willian equalised on the stroke of half-time with a superb free-kick from the edge of the area. But the Blues' defensive frailties were exposed again seven minutes after the break, with Porto centre-back Maicon getting ahead of Ramires at the near post to score and despite Chelsea bombarding the Porto, they held on for a much deserved victory.