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LONDON. — Jerome Boateng struck a last-minute goal for five-time European soccer champions Bayern Munich in a 1-0 win over Manchester City while 2012 winners Chelsea were held 1-1 by Schalke in Anglo-German duels in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Roma were rampant in a 5-1 defeat of CSKA Moscow while Yacine Brahimi scored a hat-trick as Porto went a goal better with a 6-0 hammering of BATE Borisov.
Four-time champions Barcelona meanwhile began their campaign with a 1-0 defeat of Apoel Nicosia, and Paris St Germain settled for a 1-1 draw at Ajax.
Maribor and Sporting Lisbon drew 1-1, while Athletic Bilbao and Shakhtar Donetsk finished goalless.
Bayern, the 2012-2013 Champions League winners, were up against familiar foes in Manchester City in a tight Group E game at the Allianz Arena.
City lost 2-0 in Munich in 2011 but enjoyed a 3-2 win in the stadium last season.
This time, it was Bayern’s Germany defender Boateng, a former City player, who made the difference with a drop-kick into the roof of the net in the last-minute.
City failed to clear a deep Philipp Lahm cross and Boateng lashed a shot which took a deflection off a Bayern player on the way past keeper Joe Hart.
“It was really important to win. It was hard work,” Boateng said.
“In the end we deserved to win. We had a lot of chances and some bad luck but we all believed in it.”
City keeper Joe Hart told Sky Sports: “We fought hard all night against a good team you know what you get when you come.
“A nasty deflection at the end has done us and Jerome Boateng comes back to haunt us. It would have been well deserved draw, we made them work hard for everything.”
In the same group, Roma raced into a four-goal half-time lead against CSKA Moscow with Juan Iturbe, Maicon and two from former Arsenal forward Gervinho. An own goal from Sergei Ignashevich made it five before a late consolation from Ahmed Musa.
In Group G, Chelsea, with Didier Drogba starting and Diego Costa beginning on the bench, were held by Schalke, the team they twice beat 3-0 in last season’s group stage. Cesc Fabregas looked to have won the ball with a foul on Max Meyer before combining with Eden Hazard to put Chelsea ahead in the 11th minute. But the Bundesliga side came away with a point with a goal on the break after Fabregas was dispossessed and Julian Draxler fed Klaas Jan Huntelaar for the Dutch striker to finish in the 62nd minute.
“We had more than a couple of fantastic chances to win the game but we got a point.
It is not the best result but it is a result,” Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, told Sky Sports.
“Diego Costa is not in condition to play three matches in a week,” he said of the decision to rest the Spain striker, who came on for Drogba in the 74th minute.
“He has problems when he plays one game, he needs a week to recover and now playing matches Tuesday and Wednesday he can’t do it. He was not in a condition to do more than he did.” — Soccernet.
Online Reporter