MANCHESTER: Manchester City suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat at home to Olympique Lyon in their opening Champions League Group F game yesterday.
Lyon took the lead in the 26th minute through Maxwel Cornet, who drove home after Fabian Delph made a hash of clearing a Nabil Fekir cross from the left.
With the suspended City manager Pep Guardiola forced to watch from the stands, Fekir the made it 2-0 to the French side in the 43rd minute with a sweetly struck drive after being set-up by Memphis Depay.
It could have been 3-0 when Depay hit the post on the hour but after that let-off City earned themselves a lifeline through Bernardo Silva, who produced a smart finish after a superb jinking run from substitute Leroy Sane.
Lyon, however, smothered City’s attack well and kept chances to a minimum in the latter stages as they held on for an impressive victory.
Captain Paul Pogba produced an outstanding performance garnished by two goals to help Manchester United to a resounding 3-0 win at Swiss debutants Young Boys Bern in their Group H opener.
Pogba bossed midfield on the artificial pitch and fired United ahead in the 35th minute with a goal of the highest quality, drilling a left-foot shot into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area after side-stepping his marker.
The France World Cup winner made it 2-0 with a contentious 44th-minute penalty, harshly awarded by German referee Deniz Aytekin after Luke Shaw’s cross struck Kevin Mbabu’s arm as the defender tried to avoid contact.
A darting run by Pogba midway through the second half released Anthony Martial and the forward scored with a clinical finish from eight metres after his compatriot’s good work left him with time and space to find the back of the net.
Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo’s first Champions League appearance for Juventus lasted just 29 minutes as the competition’s record scorer was sent off against Valencia in Group H.
Fortunately, Juventus went on to win the match 2-0.
The Portuguese forward, who has netted 121 goals on his way to lifting the trophy five times, was shown a straight red card by German referee Felix Brych after a seemingly innocuous tangle with a Valencia player in the box.
It was Ronaldo’s first red card in Europe’s elite club competition in his 154th game.
He looked stunned as he was dismissed, falling to the ground, and was close to tears as he walked off.
Ronaldo joined Juventus for 100 million euros ($117 million) from Real Madrid in July.
Juventus reacted to the setback by taking the lead in the 45th minute shortly before halftime through Miralem Pjanic’s penalty after Daniel Parejo’s reckless challenge on Joao Cancelo. Parejo scored another penalty in the 51st minute.
Bayern Munich midfielder Renato Sanches made a memorable return to former club Benfica Lisbon, scoring once and helping set up the other goal in the Germans’ 2-0 Group E win.
In an early match, Brazilian youngster Maycon came off the bench to rescue Shakhtar Donetsk a 2-2 draw against group-stage debutants Hoffenheim in Kharkiv.
Paulo Fonseca’s Ukrainian champions trailed twice, but the 21-year-old Maycon’s first goal for the club in the 81st minute grabbed a point in the Group F clash.