Ronaldo, Morata rescue Real from Sporting upset

MADRID: Cristiano Ronaldo and Alvaro Morata struck in the closing minutes to seal a stunning Real Madrid comeback to beat Sporting Lisbon 2-1 to start their Champions League defence on Wednesday.

Madrid looked to be heading for their first home defeat in the competition for five years after Bruno Cesar’s low effort three minutes into the second-half handed Sporting a thoroughly merited lead.

However, in a frantic finale, Ronaldo’s free-kick levelled the game in normal time before Morata met James Rodriguez’s cross deep into stoppage time to complete a dramatic fightback.

The pace of Gelson Martins caused the Madrid defence no end of problems and the diminutive winger had the first effort on goal when his low shot was turned away by Kiko Casilla.

Real’s star front three of Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema started together for the first time this season, but all three looked rusty as a long-range effort from Ronaldo turned over by Rui Patricio was the only serious threat to the Sporting goal before half-time.

Leicester City’s fairytale had another chapter after they eased to a 3-0 away win in their Champions League debut, as Monaco beat Tottenham at Wembley in front of a record crowd for an English club.

On a night of goals, Sergio Aguero hit a hat-trick as Manchester City hammered Borussia Moenchengladbach 4-0 at home in a fixture which took place 24 hours late after rain forced the game off on Tuesday, while a rampant Borussia Dortmund smashed Legia Warsaw for six.

An away trip to Club Brugge of Belgium was not exactly the stuff of Leicester’s European dreams, but they showed some of the verve they have been missing so far this season as Riyad Mahrez struck twice, one of them a sumptuous free-kick and the other a penalty.

Also in Group G are Porto and FC Copenhagen, who played out a 1-1 draw in Portugal to leave Leicester top of the pile after the opening fixtures.

Current French league leaders Monaco were also notable winners on the night, stunning Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 in an incident-packed encounter at “the home of football” in front of 85,011 fans — a record home attendance for an English club.

Goals from Bernardo Silva and Thomas Lemar put Monaco in command and although Toby Alderweireld got one back, Tottenham were unable to turn their second-half dominance into an equaliser in a feisty encounter.

In Turin, Gonzalo Higuain and Sami Khedira fired blanks as Sevilla held dominant but wasteful Juventus to a 0-0 draw.

Meanwhile on Tuesday night,  Barcelona’s lethal MSN — Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar — dissected Celtic 7-0.

There was a flood of goals at the Camp Nou, where a sparkling Messi hat-trick with four assists and a goal from Neymar, Andres Iniesta and a Suarez brace humiliated Celtic.

Celtic will have to shrug off this worst ever European defeat as their next Group C outing is at home to City.

The first goal of the 2016/2017 Champions League group stages came after a mere 42 seconds from the head of Paris Saint Germain striker Edinson Cavani at the Parc des Princes against Arsenal.

The strike was PSG’s quickest in the Champions League, but the French champions, and Cavani in particular, were guilty of failing to convert a succession of golden opportunities.

The worst possible start for Arsenal hinted at a potential lopsided affair but the Gunners got out of jail with Alexis Sanchez’s leveller inside the final quarter of an hour.

Both sides ended a man down after Olivier Giroud and Marco Verratti were sent off at the death.

Arsenal’s night got better with news that Group A’s other game between Basel and Ludogorets also ended 1-1.

Guardiola’s old side Bayern Munich, under new boss Carlo Ancelotti, ran riot over Russian side Rostov 5-0.

Joshua Kimmich grabbed a second-half double, with Robert Lewandowski scoring from the penalty spot, birthday boy Thomas Mueller and Spanish defender Juan Bernat giving Bayern early custody of Group D.

Atletico Madrid won 1-0 at PSV Eindhoven as Saul Niguez did the damage with a sizzling scissor-style volley just before the break.

Napoli may have lost their prolific goal-scoring machine Gonzalo Higuain after the Argentine jumped ship to Serie A rivals Juventus, but his replacement, Arkadiusz Milik, earned them a 2-1 win at Dynamo Kiev.

Denys Garmash put Kiev in front but Milik’s pair of opportunistic headers earned Napoli a key away success against a side that ended with 10 men.

Napoli sit top of Group B after Benfica were undone by one of their own players.

Franco Cervi sent the Portuguese side into an early lead against Besiktas but the Turkish visitors got an injury time equaliser courtesy of Talisca, loaned to Besiktas by Benfica last month.