Real start CL defence in style as Gerrard rescues Liverpool

Published September 18, 2014
Madrid: Real Madrid’s James Rodriguez (R) scores past Basel’s goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik during their UEFA Champions League match.—AFP
Madrid: Real Madrid’s James Rodriguez (R) scores past Basel’s goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik during their UEFA Champions League match.—AFP

PARIS: Real Madrid started the defence of their Champions League crown with an emphatic 5-1 victory over Basel on Tuesday, while Steven Gerrard was Liverpool’s hero with a stoppage-time penalty as the Reds celebrated their return to Europe’s top club competition with a dramatic 2-1 win against Ludogorets Razgrad.

Real’s win should end talk of crisis following a poor start to the club’s domestic season. Goals by Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, James Rodriguez, Karim Benzema and a Basel own-goal secured the 10-time champions’ a very comfortable victory in Group ‘B’.

Five years after their last involvement in the Champions League, Liverpool needed a penalty from Gerrard right at the death — just two minutes after Ludogorets looked to have snatched a draw — to earn all three points in their Group ‘B’ opener at Anfield.

Elsewhere, goals just either side of half-time by Ciro Immobile and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gave 2013 runners-up Borussia Dortmund a 2-0 win against Arsenal in Germany in Group ‘D’ while last season’s beaten finalists Atletico Madrid suffered a 3-2 defeat against Olympiakos in Greece in Group ‘A’.

Real’s win was much easier as Carlo Ancelotti’s players silenced their critics with a beautiful display of free-flowing football, turning the page on a poor run of form.

Real lost to Atletico in the Spanish Super Cup last month before Ancelotti’s side collapsed 4-2 at Real Sociedad in the league and followed up with a 2-1 loss to Atletico at home on Saturday.

“It’s normal that people get nervous if you lose two games at the start of the season,” Ancelotti said at a news conference. “It’s clear that not everything has been solved but I liked the reaction of the team.”

Against Basel, Real played with pace and were spectacular up front, despite the defence looking anything but solid.

Real opened the scoring in the 14th minute when Jose Fernandez’s shot was deflected in by Marek Suchy for an own-goal.

Bale then received a clever ball from Luka Modric to double his team’s lead and provided Ronaldo with a pass which the Portugal forward — the competition’s top scorer last season with 17 goals — converted a minute later.

Rodriguez added the fourth in the 37th before Derlis Gonzalez pulled one back for Basel in the 38th. Benzema made it five in the 79th after a pass from Ronaldo.

Liverpool were making their first appearance in the Champions League since 2009 and were widely expected to start with a victory against Bulgarian debutants Ludogorets.

Liverpool: Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard (R) scores on a penalty against Ludogorets at Anfield.—Reuters
Liverpool: Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard (R) scores on a penalty against Ludogorets at Anfield.—Reuters

Brendan Rodgers’ side laboured for long spells but when Mario Balotelli put them in front in the 82nd minute to open his Anfield account, they appeared to have the job done.

Spanish substitute Dani Abalo stunned the hosts when he equalised in the first minute of stoppage time, but there was to be another twist as Javi Manquillo was fouled inside the box, allowing Gerrard, so often a scorer of crucial late goals in the past, to convert a 93rd-minute spot-kick.

“We did OK but it wasn’t better than OK. There’s a lot to learn, we were caused problems on the counter-attack,” Gerrard said.

Fresh from winning the Madrid derby at the weekend, Atletico came up against an Olympiakos side coached by former Real star Michel and started their bid to reach a second successive final with a defeat.

Arthur Masuaku — with a superb strike from outside the area — and Ibrahim Afellay scored early goals for the Greek champions in Athens.

Mario Mandzukic pulled one back before Kostas Mitroglou extended the hosts’ lead. Antoine Griezmann’s late strike from close range for Atletico did not prevent Olympiakos from earning the three points.

“This is a huge win for us,” said Olympiakos captain Giannis Mantiatis, who recovered from an ankle injury to make the starting line-up. “We had to sweat the whole match. These were very valuable points we got tonight.”

Elsewhere in Group ‘A’, former Manchester United striker Carlos Tevez ended his European goal drought as he scored twice in a 2-0 win over Malmo in Turin, for his first goal in the competition since April 2009.

“It doesn’t matter I wasn’t scoring in the Champions League,” Tevez told Sky Sports after the game. “The important thing is we won tonight and took the points.”

In Group ‘D’, Arsenal were torn apart by a typically high-octane Dortmund performance at the Westfalenstadion.

The hosts had 15 attempts on goal in the opening half but had to wait until the 45th minute to get the breakthrough when Immobile ran 60 yards before slotting past Wojciech Szczesny.

Aubameyang then exchanged passes with Kevin Grosskreutz before rounding the goalkeeper and making it 2-0 in the 48th minute, and the Gabon striker hit the bar soon after as Arsenal lost their opening Champions League game for the first time in 11 years.

“We were brave, we were fast and we had everything we needed to win this game,” Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp told reporters. “I enjoyed it from the first minute to the last.”

Arsenal will look to bounce back in two weeks when they entertain Galatasaray, who came from behind to draw 1-1 at home to Anderlecht in Istanbul, Burak Yilmaz’s stoppage-time strike rescuing a point after Dennis Praet put the away side ahead.

Monaco won against the run of the play with a 1-0 victory at home to Bayer Leverkusen in Group ‘C’ courtesy of Joao Moutinho’ goal, while Benfica’s 51-match unbeaten home record in all competition came to an end.

Hulk and Axel Witsel scored first-half goals to give Zenit St Petersburg a 2-0 win against 10-man Benfica after goalkeeper Artur was sent off in the 18th for obstructing Danny.

Published in Dawn, September 18th , 2014

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