Football
ESPN staff 9y

Real Madrid cruise at Liverpool while Arsenal rally for late victory

Real Madrid cruised to a win at Liverpool, while Arsenal rallied for a late win and Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund posted big shutouts in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Cristiano Ronaldo's 70th Champions League goal and a double from Karim Benzema guided Real Madrid to a 3-0 win over Liverpool as the reigning champions notched a third straight victory in Group B.

All the goals came in a devastating 18-minute spell in the first half at Anfield, with Ronaldo moving to within one goal of Raul's record tally in the competition by flicking in a superb opener in the 23rd minute.

The goal punctured Liverpool's bright start and Real took control, with Benzema heading in the second in the 30th minute and then making it 3-0 from close range.

Mario Balotelli's miserable start to his Liverpool career continued as he was substituted at halftime -- and swapped shirts with an opponent while walking to the dressing room.

Kieran Gibbs and Lukas Podolski scored in the final minutes to give Arsenal a stunning 2-1 victory over Anderlecht and a birthday present to manager Arsene Wenger.

Anderlecht sensed victory after midfielder Andy Najar gave the Belgian champions a 1-0 lead with a powerful header that wrong-footed Arsenal's third-choice goalie Emiliano Martinez in the 71st minute.

With defeat seeming assured, Gibbs brought Arsenal back into the game in the 89th minute with a low volley. Podolski followed up from close range in stoppage time after a goalmouth scramble to keep the London side second in Group D.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice as Borussia Dortmund exploited poor defending to win at Galatasaray 4-0.

Dortmund's third victory in three matches strengthened their grip on Group D with nine points.

Aubemayang opened the scoring in the sixth minute, when he tapped in a cross from Marco Reus, and doubled the lead in the 18th minute with another simple strike from close range. Reus scored the third in the 41st by curling in a spectacular shot from more than 20 yards.

Adrian Ramos added the fourth in the 83rd, one minute after coming on for Shinji Kagawa.

Atletico Madrid overcame a sluggish start to score five second-half goals in a 5-0 rout of Malmo and move top of Group A.

Koke turned home Arda Turan's threaded cross in the 48th minutes, opening the floodgates.

Mario Mandzukic made it 2-0 in the 61st minute, Antoine Griezmann found the net two minutes later and Diego Godin headed home in the 87th before Alessio Cerci scored in injury time.

Also in Group A, Pajtim Kasami scored in the first half as Olympiakos beat Juventus 1-0.

The Swiss midfielder shot past Gianluigi Buffon in the 36th minute. Alejandro Dominguez found striker Kostas Mitroglou who expertly passed the ball backward to set up the goal.

Dominguez cut open the Italian defense all evening at Karaiskaki stadium, missing two scoring chances himself and setting up Kasami in the 60th, when his shot rolled past the post.

Goalkeeper Roberto heroically maintained Olympiakos' lead as Juventus piled on pressure in the last 25 minutes, twice stopping goal-bound shots from Alvaro Morata and also denying Carlos Tevez.

Giulio Donati and Kyriakos Papadopoulos scored in a five-minute span in the second half as a 10-man Bayer Leverkusen held on to beat Zenit St Petersburg 2-0.

Donati scored in the 58th minute and defender Papadopoulos sealed the win in 63rd.

Papadopoulos headed in off a free-kick cross from Hakan Calhanoglou, who also had a role in the Donati's goal.

Leverkusen defender Wendell was sent off in 79th minute for handling the ball, his second booking.

Leverkusen leads Group C with six points after Monaco drew 0-0 with Benfica to jump to second place with five.

Benfica had defender Lisandro Lopez sent off in the 76th minute for a second yellow card after a reckless tackle on Portugal midfielder Joao Moutinho.

After striker Dimitar Berbatov limped off with a hamstring injury in the 32nd minute, Monaco lacked a cutting edge in attack. Berbatov looked sharp early on, setting up Lucas Ocampos for a chance that the Argentine midfielder fired high. 

Yordan Minev's last-gasp strike lifted Ludogorets to a historic 1-0 victory over 10-man Basel.

The full-back fired low into the net from distance in the first minute of stoppage time to ensure Ludogorets became the first side from Bulgaria to take a point in the group stage of the Champions League.

Basel started well but were hit by the sending off of Geoffroy Serey Die in the 18th minute.

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