LONDON: Champions League group stage rivals Atletico Madrid and Juventus both earned narrow wins in La Liga and Serie A respectively on Saturday but fellow combatants in Europe’s premier club competition, Bayern Munich dropped their first points in the Bundesliga.

Two days after learning their Champions League fate, Spanish champions Atletico recorded their first victory of the season with a hard-fought 2-1 win over newly-promoted Eibar.

Italian champions Juve, drawn alongside Atletico in Group ‘A’, made a winning start to the season under new coach Massimiliano Allegri with a comfortable 1-0 victory at Chievo Verona.

It wasn’t smooth sailing for Bayern though after they had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Schalke 04 with Xabi Alonso, who joined the German title-holders on a two-year deal from Real Madrid, denied a win on his debut.

In France, AS Monaco continued their stuttering start to the Ligue 1 season as they drew 1-1 with Lille amid speculation striker Radamel Falcao is to leave the principality side.

FIRST VICTORY

Headed goals by Miranda and Mario Mandzukic in the 11th and 25th minutes gave Atletico a 2-0 lead in a one-sided half hour at the Vicente Calderon but Eibar refused to fold and responded in the 33rd minute with a fine curling shot by Abraham Minero from 20 metres that nestled in the top corner.

Eibar pressed Atletico in the second-half and had a great chance to level the game three minutes from time when Angel’s effort trickled inches past the far post but the home side hung on for the victory following their 0-0 draw at Rayo Vallecano in their league opener on Monday.

“Games at the beginning of the season are always difficult,” Atletico boss Diego Simeone, who was serving the second of an eight-match touchline ban, told a news conference.

“We started very well but were then unable to control the game. The anxiety to pick up the points affected us.”

Earlier, Aritz Aduriz, Ander Iturraspe and Iker Muniain were on target as Athletic Bilbao celebrated their qualification to the group stage of the Champions League with a comfortable 3-0 win over Levante, Sevilla won 2-1 at Espanyol, and Celta Vigo settled for a 1-1 draw at Cordoba.

WINNING START

Ex-Milan coach Allegri kicked off his time in charge with a victory as a sixth minute own goal from Chievo defender Cristiano Biraghi proved to be enough for Juve, who replaced three-time Scudetto winning coach Antonio Conte in the close season.

Martin Caceres headed Carlos Tevez’s corner towards goal, although it eventually went in off the back of Biraghi before Juve had several chances to extend their advantage and hit the woodwork three times in the first-half.

GELSENKIRCHEN (Germany): Schalke 04’s Benedikt Hoewedes (top) scores the equaliser against Bayern Munich during their Bundesliga match.—Reuters

“There are good signs, I’m happy enough,” Allegri said. “I was a little worried at the end because after all those chances we missed, we risked it and needed Buffon to make a great save. There is still room for us to improve despite the good performance.”

Last season’s runners-up AS Roma also began with a victory as Rudi Garcia’s team beat Fiorentina 2-0, with Radja Nainggolan and Gervinho grabbing the goals.

Belgian midfielder Nainggolan opened the scoring in the 28th minute, smashing the rebound into the bottom right corner after Gervinho’s effort was parried by Fiorentina goalkeeper Neto.

Roma wrapped up the three points in injury time with Nainggolan returning the favour to Gervinho with a perfectly weighted through ball and the Ivorian rounding Neto before slotting into the unguarded goal.

ALONSO DEBUT

Alonso, handed his first start 24 hours after he joined from Real, impressed as Bayern dominated early on but Schalke gradually improved and finished the game strongly.

Last season’s Bundesliga top-scorer Robert Lewandowski scored his first competitive goal for Bayern when he flicked in a pass from Sebastian Rode in the 10th minute.

But Schalke captain Benedikt Hoewedes equalised in the 62nd when he bundled the ball over the line as Alonso’s desperate attempt to clear came back off the World Cup winner’s left arm as the draw put Bayern on four points from two games.

“We didn’t control ball possession after the first 25 minutes and that was the problem,” Bayern coach Pep Guardiola said. “You have to have ball possession.”

Bayer Leverkusen are top on six points after conceding an own goal and twice coming from behind to beat Hertha Berlin 4-2 and make it two wins out of two games.

It was a terrible afternoon for former European champions Hamburg SV, who were crushed 3-0 at home by newcomers Paderborn.

Another promoted side Cologne also enjoyed the afternoon by snatching a 2-0 win at VfB Stuttgart while VfL Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt shared the points in a 2-2 draw.

FALCAO ABSENT

Colombia international Falcao, who has been linked with several top European clubs, was withdrawn from Monaco’s team sheet at the last minute and watched the game from the stands as Dimitar Berbatov salvaged a point against Lille.

Berbatov tapped home Yannick Ferreira Carrasco’s cross in the 61st-minute to cancel out Nolan Roux’s first-half opener for Lille at the Stade Louis II.

“We lacked intensity and aggression in the first half,” admitted Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim. “There was much more intensity in the second half but I feel that we have dropped two points. We were the superior side.”

The result left Monaco, who have already sold World Cup Golden Boot winner James Rodriguez to Real in the close season, in 12th place with four points from as many games while Lille are second on eight points.

Lorient routed Guingamp 4-0 to go level with Nantes and Rennes on seven points. Nantes beat Montpellier 1-0 with a close-range effort from Serge Gakpe while Rennes edged Caen 1-0 with a penalty from Sweden forward Ola Toivonen.

Lens outscored Reims 4-2 to move into the middle of the table with six points, the same total as Toulouse which defeated Evian 1-0 with a curling free kick from Adrien Regattin.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2014