LONDON: With one point from their opening two games, Real Madrid are facing another fight to preserve their proud record of qualifying for the knockout stage in all of their seasons in the Champions League.

It could have been a whole lot worse for the record 13-time European champions on Tuesday, though. Heading into the 87th minute against Borussia Moenchengladbach, Real were losing 2-0 and on course for four straight losses in the Champions League for the first time as Marcus Thuram netted twice, either side of half-time.

However, goals by Karim Benzema and then Casemiro in the third minute of stoppage time rescued a 2-2 draw for the Spanish champions, who opened with a 3-2 loss at home to Shakhtar Donetsk last week.

Next up for Real is a double-header against Inter Milan, the team who were supposed to be their toughest rivals in Group ‘B’ but who are also still without a win. A 0-0 draw at Shakhtar, during which Inter hit the crossbar twice, came a week after a 2-2 draw with Gladbach.

Real are in bigger trouble, though, in their 25th campaign in the Champions League, in which they have never been eliminated in the group stage.

Last season, Zinedine Zidane’s side started in almost identical fashion, losing their opener 3-0 to Paris St Germain and then drawing 2-2 in their second match against Club Brugge. The overall standard of its group is tougher this time round.

“This is going to be a difficult year for everyone,” Zidane said.

Defending champions Bayern Munich are having no such trouble, with a 2-1 victory at Lokomotiv Moscow extending their winning run in the Champions League to 13 games.

Also on a maximum of six points are Manchester City after a 3-0 win at Olympique de Marseille, as the English team continue their latest bid to become European champions for the first time.

Liverpool are the other team to have won both of their games so far, with Diogo Jota scoring the club’s 10,000th goal of their 128-year history to set up a 2-0 home win over FC Midtjylland.

Bayern went unpunished for a sloppy performance in Moscow as Joshua Kimmich prolonged the German team’s winning streak in the competition with a brilliantly taken 79th-minute goal.

Leon Goretzka put Bayern ahead in the 13th, but the champions gave up plenty of chances before Anton Miranchuk tucked in an equaliser for Lokomotiv in the 70th.

But Bayern were not to be denied as Kimmich controlled a Javi Martinez pass and volleyed home low from outside the box 11 minutes from time.

“We had to work hard for the victory,” Kimmich admitted.

Bayern opened with a 4-0 win over Atletico Madrid, who got their Group ‘A’ campaign back on track by rallying to beat RB Salzburg 3-2 with Joao Felix grabbing their late winner.

The Portuguese starlet had hit the bar with a stunning overhead kick before Marcos Llorente put Atletico ahead in the Spanish capital.

Dominik Szoboszlai levelled before the break and then a Felipe own goal put Salzburg ahead just after half-time.

However, Joao Felix equalised on 52 minutes and then won it five minutes from the end.

Pep Guardiola’s City eased to a second straight win in Group ‘C’ with Kevin De Bruyne setting up Ferran Torres for the early opener against Marseille after the hosts had carelessly ceded possession at the Stade Velodrome.

Ilkay Gundogan and Raheem Sterling added late goals, leaving Marseille without a point.

Guardiola was confident City could build on their victory after an indifferent start to the Premier League season which has seen them come in for criticism.

“Part of the criticism was right, but you’ve got to accept it. It’s part of our job,” Guardiola remarked. “It’s about where we’ve come from in the last month, with lack of preparation, injuries and Covid-19, but the Champions League is in a good place now.”

In the same group Porto beat Olympiakos 2-0 in Portugal with Fabio Vieira and Sergio Oliveira on target. It was the 100th victory for Porto in the European Cup and Champions League.

Liverpool built on their 1-0 victory at Ajax last week by defeating Danish champions Midtjylland in a low-key game behind closed doors at Anfield in Group ‘D’.

Jota finished off a fine move to give Jurgen Klopp’s team the lead early in the second half, before Mohamed Salah made sure of the points with a late penalty.

Klopp rested Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino from his starting line-up but his defensive worries deepened as Fabinho went off with an apparent hamstring injury.

The Brazil midfielder has been filling in at centre-back for Virgil van Dijk, who is likely out for many months after damaging cruciate knee ligaments. With Joel Matip currently struggling for fitness, Liverpool have just one fit senior centre-half in Joe Gomez.

A 19-year-old, Rhys Williams, replaced Fabinho and Liverpool were shaky at times against the competition newcomers from Denmark.

“It was a tough night,” Klopp commented. “It’s a bit like in a marriage, there are good and bad times. It’s not a bad time but it’s a tricky time. It was a hard game to play. But winning 2-0 is completely fine so that’s it — let’s carry on.”

Liverpool now have a double-header against Atalanta, who came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at home to Ajax.

A Dusan Tadic penalty put the visitors ahead on the half-hour and Lassina Traore made it two, only for Duvan Zapata to save Atalanta with two goals in the space of seven second-half minutes.

Atalanta are two points behind Liverpool in second place.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2020