Bayern, Atlanta win big as Shakhtar Donetsk stun Real Madrid

Holders Bayern Munich began their Champions League defence with a stylish 4-0 Group A victory over Atletico Madrid yester night thanks to an eye-catching display from Kingsley Coman. Coman scored the decisive goal when Bayern beat Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 to claim their sixth European crown in Lisbon in August. The France winger was prominent for […]

Holders Bayern Munich began their Champions League defence with a stylish 4-0 Group A victory over Atletico Madrid yester night thanks to an eye-catching display from Kingsley Coman.

Coman scored the decisive goal when Bayern beat Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 to claim their sixth European crown in Lisbon in August.

The France winger was prominent for Bayern again on Wednesday with the opening goal and a fine assist for Leon Goretzka in the first half against a sluggish Atletico.

Corentin Tolisso added a third after the break with a long-range strike before Coman put the gloss on the result with a brilliant individual goal.

In Amsterdam, Liverpool got their campaign off to a successful start as Nicholas Tagliafico’s own goal handed the English champions a hard-fought 1-0 win over Ajax.

Another English side, Manchester City recovered from an early setback to beat Porto 3-1 in their opening Champions League Group C fixture.

However, Real Madrid made an embarrassing start by losing 3-2 at home to a depleted Shakhtar Donetsk, their second consecutive defeat ahead of the Clasico against Barcelona on Saturday.

Strikes from Tete and Manor Solomon, either side of a Raphael Varane own-goal, gave the Ukrainian champions a shock lead at the interval and while Luka Modric and Vinicius Junior pulled goals back, Madrid fell short.

Salzburg also let Lokomotiv Moscow off the hook when they were held to an entertaining 2-2 draw at home by the Russian side.

The Austrian champions were leading 2-1 and completely in control only to be pegged back by an equaliser from substitute Vitali Lisakovich, who scored six minutes into his Champions League debut

Elsewhere, towering Colombian striker Duvan Zapata scored one goal and set up two more as Atalanta cruised to a 4-0 victory over Midtjylland.

It was a tough debut for the Danish side as they created little up front and were under constant threat in defence, with Papu Gomez, Luis Muriel and debutant Aleksey Miranchuk also on target for the Italians..