Unbeaten Juve record big win as Real Madrid endure narrow loss

October 02

23:32 2018

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The second matchday of the UEFA Champions League group stage saw champions Real Madrid lose, Bayern Munich and Manchester United were held in disappointing displays while Juventus continued their perfect start to the season.

Hoffenheim 1-2 Manchester City

Manchester City needed a late goal to earn their first win in Europe this season, a come-from-behind 2-1 win in Germany. Hoffenheim scored after 43 seconds when Ishak Belfodil evaded a static City defence to finish through the legs of goalkeeper Ederson.

The Citizens instantly squared the game through the prolific Sergio Aguero. The Argentine finished off a swift attack which culminated in Leroy Sane cutting the ball back for Aguero to poke home on eight minutes. Pep Guardiola’s boys continued to dominate and should have taken the lead through either of Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva, Sane and Aguero but Hoffenheim’s German goalkeeper, Oliver Baumann, thwarted the English champions.

Spanish playmaker, David Silva, scored the winner three minutes from time to break their host’s resolve. The 32-year-old playmaker nicked the ball from a defender before slotting home to give City a 2-1 win.

Juventus 3-0 Young Boys

Juventus made light work of Young Boys FC of Switzerland, thumping the Swiss champions 3-0 at the Allianz stadium in Turin, thanks to a Paulo Dybala hat trick. The 24 years old attacker ensured Juve did not miss the suspended Cristiano Ronaldo by opening the scoresheet on five minutes with an impressive strike.

He met Leonardo Bonnucci’s deep diagonal ball with a first-time volley. He doubled the lead after the half hour when he was left with the easy task of tucking in the rebound from Blaise Matuidi’s saved shot.

Arguably the best player on the night, Dybala missed a sitter, hit the post and had a penalty appeal turned down, but he completed his hat trick on 69 minutes when he tapped in Juan Caudrado’s cross from close range to ensure the Turin giants continue their perfect start to the season with nine wins from nine games in all competitions.

CSKA Moscow 1-0 Real Madrid

Real Madrid conceded their second fastest goal in the competition as the defending champions suffered a shock 0-1 loss at CSKA Moscow. The Russian side went ahead when Nikola Vlasic pounced on a rare Toni Kroos error to slot beyond Keylor Navas in goal after only 65 seconds into the match.

The Spanish team who have won the UCL for the past three seasons petered the Russian capital club’s goal. The trio of Mariano Diaz, Casemiro and Karim Benzema hit the bar, while Marco Asensio, Luka Modric and Raphael Varane came close.

They could not get past the goalkeeper, Igor Akinfeev, who was sent off in injury time for two bookings in the space of 10 seconds for yelling at the referee as CSKA held on for a famous victory. The loss means Julen Lopotegui’s Real Madrid are without a win in four games and have not scored in their last three matches in all competitions.