There were just two blowouts amongst the eight UEFA Champions League matches on Tuesday’s docket, with an Edin Dzeko hat trick leading AS Roma past Viktoria Plzen and Paulo Dybala scoring three for Juventus versus Young Boys.
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The rest of the matches had more than a few eyebrows raised, with Bayern Munich and Manchester United held by Ajax and Valencia respectively, and Real Madrid failing to find the back of the net in a loss to CSKA Moscow.
CSKA Moscow 1-0 Real Madrid
Everton loanee Nikola Vlasic scored in the second minute, two weeks after recording a goal and an assist in the tournament opener at Viktoria Plzen, as Real Madrid continues to struggle in the post-Cristiano Ronaldo era.
Madrid go three games without scoring for first time since Dec 06 / Jan 07 under Capello, when opponents were Recreativo, Depor and Betis.
— Dermot Corrigan (@dermotmcorrigan) October 2, 2018
Manchester United 0-0 Valencia-- RECAP
There was very little to like from the hosts, who worked hard but found precious few chances in a scoreless struggle at Old Trafford.
Hoffenheim 1-2 Manchester City -- RECAP
Ishak Belfodil’s first minute goal sounded alarm bells for the Premier League champions, who fell to Lyon at home in the first match of the group stage.
Leroy Sane set up Sergio Aguero for an equalizer within six minutes, and City eased into control of the match. It would take until the 87th minute, however, for David Silva to win it for Pep Guardiola’s men.
Juventus 3-0 Young Boys
Paulo Dybala’s evenly-distributed hat trick (5', 33', 69') was complete by the time of Mohamed Aly Camara’s red card for the Swiss visitors (78').
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Bayern Munich 1-1 Ajax
Arjen Robben cued up Mats Hummels for a fourth minute opener, but 20-year-old Noussair Mazraoui leveled the score line for Ajax in the 22nd minute.
AEK Athens 2-3 Benfica
The first half’s 2-0 score line to the favored visitors didn’t provide a lot of hope for neutrals, as Haris Seferovic and Grimaldo scored in the first 15 minutes for Benfica, but a red card for Ruben Dias in first half stoppage sure did the trick.
Viktor Klonaridis pulled the hosts within one after halftime and scored his second in the 63rd minute to prime the pump for a dramatic final half hour.
Alfa Semedo, however, scored a late winner for the 10-man visitors.
Lyon 2-2 Shakhtar Donetsk
Junior Moraes’s first half goal was joined by another nine minutes into the second frame, but it was far from curtains for the French hosts. Moussa Dembele and Leo Dubois scored twice in three minutes to push Lyon into a deadlock at Groupama Stadium.
Roma 5-0 Viktoria Plzen
Edin Dzeko’s hat trick, the opener coming in the third minute, was more than enough for i Lupi to rebound from its loss to Real Madrid. Cenzig Under and Justin Kluivert proved Roma’s kids are more than alright with second half goals.
Hat trick! Edin Dzeko is the first Bosnian international and the first Roma player with a Champions League hat trick. 🇧🇦
— Paul Carr (@PaulCarr) October 2, 2018