The wait for champions league was finally over but it wasn't a happy time for the Manchester clubs as both the clubs lost their first game. Elsewhere there was hat-trick joy for Cristiano Ronaldo as Real Madrid put four goals past Shakhthar Donetsk.
Manchester City couldn't find their European form as they stuttered against a Juventus side that was there for the taking. Manchester City started well and dominated for most part of the game. Raheem Sterling, starting the match after shrugging off fitness worries, was guilty of missing two good chances to put City in a comfortable position. City finally took the lead when Chiellini headed a corner into his own net. It was a controversial goal as there were claims that Vincent Kompany fouled Chiellini in the buildup to the goal.
You have to be ruthless in these games and City's rusty finishing came back to haunt them when Juventus' Paul Pogba found Mandzukic with a glorious pass to put it pass Joe Hart and equalize. Mangala really should have done better to mark Mandzukic though. Juventus pushed on and finally made it count when last year's Champions league hero Alvaro Morata scored a sensational goal to snatch the victory from City.
City was the better team on paper and with the Italian giants struggling domestically this was the ideal chance for City to get some confidence for their next European matches. The other match in their group ended 3-0 in favour to Sevilla as they found it all too easy to play against a Monchengladbach defence that was all over the place. Penalty goals from Gameiro and Banega put the Spanish team two goals up before Konoplyanka added one more late on to compound the misery of the German team.
Manchester United lost against PSV 1-2 but the main talking point of the game was the horrific injury suffered by in form left back Luke Shaw. It is not yet confirmed how long he will be out but it does look bad. United started brightly with lot of pace in their attacks and former PSV player Memphis Depay opened the scoring after some wonderful play. PSV replied soon after from a corner when Hector Moreno's header deflected off Daley Blind's head into the net. United had some good chances to score more and they were punished when Luciano Narsingh scored what eventually proved to be the winner in the 57th minute. United were terrible at the back and they eventually paid for it.
The other game of the group saw Wolfsburg get a pretty routine 1-0 victory over CSKA Moscow. Julian Draxler scored his first ever goal and the games only one for Wolfsburg. CSKA never looked like scoring and it was a comfortable night for Wolfsburg overall.
Group A saw Real Madrid thrash Shakhtar Donetsk 4-0. Benzema was gifted the first goal of the game after a mistake by the opposition goalkeeper. Shakhtar's misery was compounded when Taras Stepanenko was sent off in the first half. Two penalties helped Cristiano in his way to scoring yet another hattrick as Real Madrid were too hot for Shakhtar to handle.
Elsewhere, Angel Di Maria opened his account for PSG to give his club the lead against Malmo. Cavani put the game to an end after heading home from 6 yards. PSG had a lot more opportunities and if not for the Malmo goalkeeper, it could have ended in a cricket scoreline.
In group C, Benfica welcomed new boys FC Astana to Europe by beating them 2-0. The Kazhakh team, which was formed only six years ago, started well enough and held on for a 0-0 scoreline till half time. However Nicolas Gaitan and Mitroglou scored in the second half and gave the Kazhakhs a lesson in football.
Antoine Griezmann put Atletico Madrid in front against Galatasaray after turning in a cross from Juan Fran. Griezmann doubled the lead in the 25th minute after heading home his second. Galatasaray had their chances in the second half but a poor night for former Arsenal man Lukas Podolski meant they couldn't score any past Jan Oblak.
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| Manchester United lost their first game against PSV |
You have to be ruthless in these games and City's rusty finishing came back to haunt them when Juventus' Paul Pogba found Mandzukic with a glorious pass to put it pass Joe Hart and equalize. Mangala really should have done better to mark Mandzukic though. Juventus pushed on and finally made it count when last year's Champions league hero Alvaro Morata scored a sensational goal to snatch the victory from City.
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| Alvaro Morata seals stunning comeback victory for Juventus at Manchester City |
Manchester United lost against PSV 1-2 but the main talking point of the game was the horrific injury suffered by in form left back Luke Shaw. It is not yet confirmed how long he will be out but it does look bad. United started brightly with lot of pace in their attacks and former PSV player Memphis Depay opened the scoring after some wonderful play. PSV replied soon after from a corner when Hector Moreno's header deflected off Daley Blind's head into the net. United had some good chances to score more and they were punished when Luciano Narsingh scored what eventually proved to be the winner in the 57th minute. United were terrible at the back and they eventually paid for it.
The other game of the group saw Wolfsburg get a pretty routine 1-0 victory over CSKA Moscow. Julian Draxler scored his first ever goal and the games only one for Wolfsburg. CSKA never looked like scoring and it was a comfortable night for Wolfsburg overall.
Group A saw Real Madrid thrash Shakhtar Donetsk 4-0. Benzema was gifted the first goal of the game after a mistake by the opposition goalkeeper. Shakhtar's misery was compounded when Taras Stepanenko was sent off in the first half. Two penalties helped Cristiano in his way to scoring yet another hattrick as Real Madrid were too hot for Shakhtar to handle.
Elsewhere, Angel Di Maria opened his account for PSG to give his club the lead against Malmo. Cavani put the game to an end after heading home from 6 yards. PSG had a lot more opportunities and if not for the Malmo goalkeeper, it could have ended in a cricket scoreline.
In group C, Benfica welcomed new boys FC Astana to Europe by beating them 2-0. The Kazhakh team, which was formed only six years ago, started well enough and held on for a 0-0 scoreline till half time. However Nicolas Gaitan and Mitroglou scored in the second half and gave the Kazhakhs a lesson in football.
Antoine Griezmann put Atletico Madrid in front against Galatasaray after turning in a cross from Juan Fran. Griezmann doubled the lead in the 25th minute after heading home his second. Galatasaray had their chances in the second half but a poor night for former Arsenal man Lukas Podolski meant they couldn't score any past Jan Oblak.
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