Paris: Angel Di Maria and Edinson Cavani were on target as Paris Saint-Germain began their Champions League campaign with an ultimately comfortable 2-0 win against Malmo at the Parc des Princes yesterday.
Di Maria scored less than four minutes into his Champions League debut as a PSG player to set the French champions on their way, but they missed a succession of opportunities before finally extending their advantage when Cavani headed home in the 61st minute.
It was Cristiano Ronaldo’s day who moved in front of Lionel Messi as the top goal scorer in Champions League history with a hat-trick as Real Madrid opened their European campaign with a 4-0 win over 10-man Shakhtar Donetsk.
Ronaldo scored twice from the penalty spot before heading home to complete his second hat-trick in four days and take his tally in the competition to 80, three ahead of his Barcelona rival.
Karim Benzema had opened the scoring thanks to a massive error from goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov in the first-half before Taras Stepanenko was sent-off for a second bookable offence just five minutes into the second period.
However, the victory was soured by an injury to Gareth Bale as the Welshman limped off suffering from a calf muscle problem after just half an hour.
In Manchester, Italian champions Juventus cast their early-season woes aside by beating in-form Manchester City 2-1 in their opening Champions League Group D fixture at the Etihad Stadium yesterday.
Last season’s beaten finalists, Juve have lost two and drawn one of their first three Serie A games and went behind in the 57th minute when Vincent Kompany pressured Giorgio Chiellini into scoring an own goal.
The Juventus centre-back protested with justification that he had been fouled, but his side drew level 13 minutes later through Mario Mandzukic before Alvaro Morata curled home a fine 81st-minute winner.
In the Netherlands, Luciano Narsingh scored a second-half winner as PSV Eindhoven came from a goal down to beat Manchester United 2-1 on a night of setbacks for the English side in the Champions League opening day.
United left back Luke Shaw suffered what appeared to be a serious injury and was taken off on a stretcher with an oxygen mask strapped to his face in the early stages of the Group B game of the event.
United’s Memphis Depay returned to the club where he made his name and reminded spectators at the Philips Stadium of his prowess with a stunning 41st-minute opener.AGENCIES
