A last-gasp goal from defender Jerome Boateng gave Bayern Munich a 1-0 win over Manchester City in their opening Champions League Group E clash on Wednesday. Boateng broke the deadlock with a powerful shot after the Germans controlled the game, but failed to crack open a tight defence until the 90th minute. City, who had come back from two goals down to beat Bayern 3-2 in Munich in the group stage last year, were largely on the backfoot but successfully kept the Germans at bay, with keeper Joe Hart making several crucial saves, until the last minute.
-- Wasteful Chelsea held to draw by Schalke
-- Bilbao thwarted by Shakhtar on Champions League return
This was the third time in the last four seasons the two teams have been drawn together in the group stage of the competition. Roma are top of the group after crushing CSKA Moscow 5-1. Chelsea wasted chance after chance and had to settle for a 1-1 draw with Schalke 04 in their opening Champions League Group G match at Stamford Bridge that made a mockery of both teams' early season form.
Cesc Fabregas scored his first goal for Chelsea to put them ahead after 11 minutes but the London side, who have won all four Premier League games, were pegged back when Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored a superb equaliser for Schalke, who are without a win in Germany this season.
Fabregas was fortunate Croatian referee Ivan Bebek allowed play to continue after he appeared to foul Max Meyer at the start of the move that led to his goal, which came when he fired past goalkeeper Ralf Fahrmann with a lofted angled drive. Didier Drogba wasted a great chance to seal victory for Chelsea but justice appeared to be done when Fabregas lost the ball at the start of the move that led to Schalke's 62nd minute equaliser, which Huntelaar fired in from the edge of the box. "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.
BILBAO: Athletic Bilbao failed to mark their Champions League return with a victory when they were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Shakhtar Donetsk in their Group H opener on Wednesday.
The contest at Bilbao's impressive new San Mames stadium was evenly-matched, with both sides creating plenty of chances and the home side perhaps narrowly having the upper hand. Bilbao finished fourth in La Liga last season and are making only their second appearance in the Champions League group stage and their first since the 1998-99 campaign. The club, coached by their former striker Ernesto Valverde, manage to compete at the highest level even though they only use players of Basque origin. Group H also includes Porto and BATE Borisov and the Portuguese side got their campaign off to a spectacular start when they thrashed the Belarussians 6-0 on Tuesday.