A big talking point from last night was the first Real Madrid penalty award. An outrageous call from referee Ivan Bebek where a shot hit Darijo Srna on the back but was deemed handball, go figure.
Real Madrid were helped by a generous Shakhtar side with first Andriy Pyatov handing Benzema a tap-in before Taras Stepanenko decided he had enough of the game and got himself sent-off ridiculously.
Group B
Luke Shaw suffered a horrible injury last night when making a dash towards the PSV goal. He was stopped in his tracks by Hector Moreno but unfortunately appeared to have his studs caught in the ground as the Mexican made the challenge. Suggestions are today that Shaw will be sidelined for at least six months which will do United no favours but also has England sweating on his fitness for next summer's European championships.
The Shaw injury overshadowed the result which saw United lose 2-1 in Eindhoven despite taking the lead through former PSV winger Memphis Depay. PSV rallied to comeback and secure the three points on a horrible night for Manchester.
Wolfsburg's new recuit Julian Draxler got off to a scoring start against CSKA as the Germans started with a win.
Group C
Atlético got off to a great start with a victory away at Galatasaray. Antoine Griezmann showed his class for the first goal and was helped by Godín's clever header for the second. Galatasaray weren't up to much apart from a flurry of chances early in the second half but its a poor start from them in the group.
Astana played their first ever group stage game and for a while it was looking like ending all square but goals from Nico Gaitan and Kostas Mitroglu gave Benfica the three points.
Group D
Manchester City's champions league hoodoo continued last night when the fell to defeat against Juventus. The runaway leaders of the premier league took the lead through a dubious own goal from Giorgio Chielini with Vincent Kompany clearly impeding the Italian. Mario Mandzukic levelled before Álvaro Morata's delightful curling shot off the post sealed a 2-1 win for the old lady.
Sevilla made light work of Borrusia Monchengladbach in the other game which had a flurry of penalties. Kevin Gamerio scored the first one, crashed the second off the bar and let Éver Banega convert the third before a fortuitous goal from Yevhen Konoplyanka sealed a memorable night for the Andalucians.
Tonight:
Group EBayer Leverkusen will be looking to edge ahead of Roma in the race for 2nd in the group when they host BATE Borisov. The Belarussians endured a horrible group stage last campaign and will be coming to improve on that showing. In any case Leverkusen to nick this game.
Roma face Barcelona at home and I fully expect Barcelona to hit a few past them tonight.
Group F
Dinamo Zagreb host Arsenal in a pretty predictable game. Arsenal to win comfortably.
Olympiacos will be hoping their partisan home crowd can earn them some valuable points against Bayern Munich but the quality that the Germans have will be too much. An easy Bayern win.
Group G
Porto face a tricky assignment in Kyiv tonight and it could be a massive indicator of who might finish 2nd behind Chelsea in the group. Porto are a decent side but so are Dynamo and can see this being a score draw.
Chelsea at home to Maccabi Tel-Aviv is a no contest. Chelsea to knock a few past the Israeli side.
Group H
Valencia host Zenit in what looks like will be a good match-up between two sides with designs on making 1st place their own. Valencia are back in after a few years away and Zenit have to be honest underachieved in this competition. However the unrest with the André Villas-Boas situation could be a distraction so a narrow Valencia win for me here.
Lyon and Gent make up the group and both will be looking for a positive start. Lyon have made an indifferent start domestically and Gent won a first ever Belgian title last season and are 6th currently. Lyon are without Nabil Fekir until the new year and hitman up front Alexandre Lacazette isn't in flying form. Score draw.
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