CRISTIANO Ronaldo marked his record appearance in the UEFA Champions League with a dramatic late winner for Manchester United in their 2-1 victory against Villarreal on Wednesday night.
The 36-year-old was making his 178th UEFA Champions League appearance, the most by any player in the history of the competition.
Visitors Villareal had the better of the first half and David De Gea produced some superb saves to deny Arnaut Danjuma, Paco Alcácer and Yeremi Pino.
The Spaniards did get the opening goal they deserved early in the second half as Alcácer touched home Danjuma’s cross.
United upped the tempo afterwards and pulled level when Alex Telles fired in his first goal for the club, volleying Bruno Fernandes’ clever free-kick past Gerónimo Rulli.
Ronaldo then drilled home from close range deep into added time to secure United’s first win in Group F.
In the group’s other fixture, Atalanta defeated Young Boys 1-0 in Bergamo to go top.
Matteo Pessini scored the only goal of the tight contest.
In Group E, Robert Lewandowski scored twice in a Champions League match for the 19th time to lead Bayern Munich to a 5-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv.
Serge Gnabry, Leroy Sané and Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting scored the other goals in the rout as Bayern picked up their second win.
Bayern have now scored at least three goals in each of their last nine competitive matches and have scored in 81 games in a row in all competitions.
In the group’s other game on Wednesday night, Benfica stunned Barcelona 3-0 in Lisbon.
It is the Portuguese side’s first win over Barcelona since their first meeting in the 1961 European Cup final.
Darwin Nuñez sent them on their way in the third minute and scored the third goal from the penalty spot, with Rafa Silva netting the second goal.
Barca’s woes were compounded when Eric García received a late red card.
The Spanish giants have now lost back-to-back Champions League games 3-0, having been beaten by the same margin at home by Bayern two weeks ago.
In Group H, Federico Chiesa’s goal 11 seconds into the second half gave Juventus a 1-0 win over Chelsea in Turin.
The champions dominated for large spells but struggled to create clearcut chances and always looked vulnerable on the break.
Juventus have now won 12 of their last 13 group stage matches, and they top the group with six points.
Zenit St Petersburg dismantled Malmo 4-0 in the group’s other match on the night to join Chelsea on three points.
WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS
Atalanta 1-0 Young Boys
Manchester United 2-1 Villarreal
Wolfsburg 1-1 Sevilla
Salzburg 2-1 LOSC
Zenit 4-0 Malmö
Juventus 1-0 Chelsea
Bayern Munich 5-0 Dynamo Kyiv
Benfica 3-0 Barcelona
