Striker scores goal and sets up another; Ronaldo equals Real record
Manchester City forward Sergio Aguero (left) celebrates his goal with teammates during their Uefa Champions League Group ‘D' match against Borussia Monchengladbach in Monchengladbach, Germany, on Wednesday. City won 2-1. (Photo: AFP)
Paris: The two Manchester clubs enjoyed victories in a happier night for England in the Champions League on Wednesday while the individual performance of the evening came, not for the first time, from Cristiano Ronaldo. Manchester United and City were made to work hard for 2-1 wins against German clubs Wolfsburg and Borussia Moenchen-gladbach respectively, 24 hours after Chelsea and Arsenal had both crashed to defeats.
Former United star Ronaldo, meanwhile, scored his 500th career goal and then equalled Raul Gonzalez Blanco’s club record tally of 323 goals for Real Madrid as the Spaniards won 2-0 against Malmo in Sweden. Both Manchester sides were looking to bounce back from defeats in their opening Champions League group games two weeks ago and United got their campaign back on track in Group ‘B’, although only after falling behind.
Daniel Caligiuri put Wolfsburg in front after just five minutes at Old Trafford, but Juan Mata won and converted a penalty to pull United level before the break, and the Spaniard then produced a superb flick to set up Chris Smalling, who scored the winner early in the second half. The Premier League leaders now find themselves in a four-way tie on three points in Group ‘B’ after CSKA Moscow defeated PSV Eindhoven 3-2 in Russia in the night’s other game.
PSV had beaten United in the Netherlands a fortnight ago but they were taken apart in the first half at the Arena Khimki, Ahmed Musa opening the scoring before Seydou Doumbia headed in a second and then scored a penalty. Doumbia might have had a hat-trick, only to blaze another spot-kick over the bar, and PSV were given hope when Maxime Lestienne scored a second-half brace. However, the visitors finished with 10 men after Santiago Arias was sent off.
Meanwhile, City had Sergio Aguero to thank for winning and then scoring a last-gasp penalty as they beat Gladbach 2-1 at Borussia-Park in Group D, securing a precious victory after they lost at home to Juventus in their first outing. It was a happy ending to a difficult evening, with the Bundesliga side missing the chance to open the scoring in the first half when Raffael won a penalty only to see his kick saved by Joe Hart.
They did go in front through Lars Stindl nine minutes after the restart, but City equalised when a Nicolas Otamendi shot took a decisive deflection off Andreas Christensen before Aguero swung into action. It is Juventus who top the section, though, after Alvaro Morata and Simone Zaza netted to clinch a merited 2-0 win over Sevilla in Turin. In Sweden, Mateo Kovacic and Isco combined to set up Ronaldo for the opener, his 500th career goal in 753 games, in the first half of Madrid’s clash with Malmo.
( Source : AFP )
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