Late Schuerrle strike denies Real Madrid victory in Dortmund thriller

Andre Schuerrle came off the bench to snatch a late goal and earn a deserved point for Borussia Dortmund as they twice came from behind to earn a 2-2 draw with Champions League holders Real Madrid in a compelling Group F encounter on Tuesday.

The Germany international lashed high into the net from inside the area to level in the 87th minute after Raphael Varane had restored Real’s advantage in the 68th.

The France defender’s goal made up for an earlier slip that allowed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to cancel out Cristiano Ronaldo’s 17th-minute opener towards the end of the first half.

Dortmund and Real each have four points with the Germans top on goal difference, while Sporting Lisbon are third on three points after beating visitors Legia Warsaw 2-0.

The hosts made an electric start at the Westfalenstadion after Ronaldo had tested Roman Burki with an early free-kick, with Gonzalo Castro and Aubameyang each firing at Real goalkeeper Keylor Navas and Ousmane Dembele shooting over.

Real were also let off the hook when referee Mark Clattenburg failed to spot a clear handball by Ronaldo in the area while defending a free-kick.

Just as a Dortmund opener looked inevitable, Real struck first with a perfectly executed counterattack.

Karim Benzema began the move with a dart down the left before finding support in Toni Kroos, who worked the ball towards Gareth Bale. He then teed up Ronaldo to arrow into the far corner.

Ronaldo raced to the sidelines to salute Portuguese compatriots Pepe and Fabio Coentrao and coach Zinedine Zidane, signalling that Saturday’s disagreement over his substitution in a La Liga match had been quickly forgotten.

Sporting Lisbon beat Legia Warsaw 2-0 in the other Group F match.

Slimani scores to beat Porto

Leicester City forgot their domestic struggles to secure a second successive Champions League victory as Islam Slimani tormented a familiar foe by grabbing the only goal in a 1-0 win over Porto on Tuesday.

Leicester sit top of Group G with six points after Slimani headed powerfully home in the first half for his sixth goal in his last four matches against Porto, having joined Leicester from Sporting Lisbon in August.

It was the first time Leicester had tasted Champions League football at home and they came into the game on the back of a 4-1 defeat to Manchester United and a run of poor form in the Premier League, but they looked comfortable throughout against Porto.

The defeat ensured Porto, who rattled the post late on through Jesus Corona, have one point from their opening two group games and have not won in 17 games in England. 

Copenhagen needed an own-goal in the second half to kick-start a 4-0 victory over Club Brugge in Group G.

Higuain on target for Juventus

Gonzalo Higuain scored his first Champions League goal for Juventus after his 90-million euro ($99.74 million) move from Napoli as the Italian title holders drubbed Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb 4-0 in their Group H match on Tuesday.

The result put Juventus top of the section on four points from two games, ahead of Sevilla on goal difference after the Spanish side ground out a 1-0 home win over Olympique Lyon.

It was no more than the Italian title holders deserved after dominating throughout, with Bosnian playmaker Miralem Pjanic running the show in the opening period before he was substituted at halftime.

Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri was purring with delight after his team steamrolled through the lop-sided contest.

“We played well throughout the game and kept going until the end because goal difference can be very important,” he told a news conference.

“I thought Higuain and Dybala linked up superbly and the floodgates opened after we took the lead. We should have scored more in the second half but I am content.

“It was also important to keep a clean sheet, our third in a row in all competitions.”

Wissam Ben Yedder’s first Champions League goal gave Sevilla a 1-0 win over Olympique Lyon on Tuesday and put them level on points with Juventus at the top of Group H.

Son strikes again for Tottenham

Son Heung-min scored his fifth goal in as many games to give Tottenham Hotspur a 1-0 win over a limited CSKA Moscow side in their Champions League Group E clash in Moscow on Tuesday.

Despite missing five key players, Tottenham Manager Mauricio Pochettino was still able to name a strong line-up as Spurs played their first ever Champions League match in the Russian capital.

The English side started well and dominated possession but CSKA goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, who was looking for his first clean sheet in 39 Champions League encounters, was largely untroubled early on.

Zoran Tosic should have done better for the hosts just after the half-hour mark as he blazed over with his left foot from the edge of the penalty area.

Tottenham continued to press after the break, with CSKA happy to sit back on the counterattack. However, the Army Men lacked any pace to cause Spurs any significant problems when breaking.

AS Monaco’s Kamil Glik scored a fine goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time to salvage a 1-1 home draw with Bayer Leverkusen and keep them top of Champions League Group E on Tuesday.