Sports
Welbeck’s hat-trick is Wenger’s 18th anniversary gift
Welbeck was exceptional against Galatasaray
The England striker, Borussia Dortmund, who outclassed Arsenal in their opening game, top the group as they eased to a 3-0 win away at Anderlecht, Adrian Ramos scoring a double after Italian international Ciro Immobile had given them an early lead.
Champions Real Madrid were far from impressive in eking out a 2-1 win over Bulgarian minnows Ludogorets, Cristiano Ronaldo missing a penalty and having a goal disallowed before converting another opportunity from the penalty spot to take him to within three goals of overtaking Raul as the all-time leading scorer in the competition.
Frenchman Karim Benzema grabbed a late winner against their obdurate hosts, who had served warning of their resilience in coming within minutes of drawing away at Liverpool in the opening game.
Liverpool’s poor start to the season continued as they lost 1-0 to Basel in Switzerland.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers was left fuming by his team’s display.
Mario Balotelli put in a disappointing performance up front and with their next two Champions League games against Real Madrid, Rodgers will hope his side have rediscovered some semblance of the form that took them so close to the Premier League title last season.
“The goal we conceded was far too soft and it is not the first one,” said a frustrated Rodgers.
Real’s neighbours Atletico enjoyed a more noteworthy victory, not only putting behind them a surprise opening defeat by Olympiakos, but also becoming the first side in 11 games to breach the Juventus defence as Arda Turan scored the only goal of the game in Madrid.
Atletico’s group looks like being a really tight affair as, with Olympiakos slipping to a 2-0 defeat to Malmo in Sweden, all four sides are on three points.
Group C, too, could go down to the wire as Zenit St Petersburg and Monaco top it with four points after they played out a 0-0 draw in Russia but German side Bayer Leverkusen are in the mix after beating last season’s Europa League finalists Benfica 3-1 with Korean star Son Heung-min their inspiration.
It was also the perfect way for manager Arsene Wenger to mark 18 years to the day since he was appointed Arsenal boss, and the Frenchman certainly deserves credit for naming an attack-minded side.
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