Real Madrid pulled off a stunning Champions League comeback when they twice fought back from a goal down as Cristiano Ronaldo netted a 90th-minute winner in a 3-2 Group D win at home to Manchester City last night.
Elsewhere, Paris St Germain, Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund got their Champions League campaign off to a strong start after winning their opening match.
At the Bernabeu, City stunned the hosts when substitute Edin Dzeko raced clear to make it 1-0 in the 69th minute before Marcelo equalised seven minutes later with a deflected effort.
The English champions were ahead again five minutes from time when Real goalkeeper Iker Casillas failed to deal with Aleksandar Kolarov’s inswinging free-kick but the home side snatched victory in a frenetic ending.
Karim Benzema made it 2-2 in the 87th minute with a low shot that sneaked inside the post before Ronaldo cut in from the left and his powerful drive flew into the net off goalkeeper Joe Hart to send the crowd into raptures.
“It’s not on. You can’t go 2-1 up and lose the game,” Hart told ITV.
“We can only blame ourselves. They are a very good team and so are we. We dug deep, got a lead twice and threw it away. It’s hard to come off the field after losing 3-2 and be positive.”
Ronaldo’s dramatic late winner prompted wild celebrations among the Real faithful and coach Jose Mourinho performed a celebratory knee slide onto the pitch.
“It is a good win because the DNA of my team is back,” Mourinho said.
In the other match from this group, Robert Lewandowski's late goal gave Borussia Dortmund a crucial 1-0 victory at home over Ajax Amsterdam.
After Ajax goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer had stopped Mats Hummels' spot-kick in the 57th minute, Lewandowski provided the German champions with the winner in the 87th minute.
Paris Saint-Germain’s return to the Champions League after an absence of eight years went better than their Qatari owners could have imagined, with goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, Alex and Javier Pastore helping see off Dynamo Kiev 4-1.
Ibrahimovic scores
Ibrahimovic gave the French capital outfit the lead from the penalty spot in the 19th minute of this Group A encounter, and Thiago Silva then marked his long-anticipated debut with a goal just before the half-hour mark.
Carlo Ancelotti's side put the game to bed before the interval thanks to a thumping effort from their other Brazilian centre-back Alex, although Miguel Veloso pulled one back for Dynamo late on.
But there was still time for Pastore to add a fourth and underlining PSG's status as favourites to win the group .
Arsenal came from behind to win 2-1 in an end-to-end game at Champions League debutants Montpellier, as Arsene Wenger's side made a winning start to their Group B campaign.
Younes Belhanda stunned the visitors with a ninth-minute Panenka penalty but Arsenal hit back through quick-fire goals from Lukas Podolski and Gervinho to secure only their sixth win in their last 16 group-phase away games.
Remy Cabella hit the bar for Montpellier, who gave Arsenal several uneasy moments, and despite the result, the hosts' display belied a difficult start to their Ligue 1 title defence that has seen them beaten three times already.
Group C whipping boys Anderlecht held seven-time champions Milan to a scoreless draw in a Champions League opener that will heap further pressure on the hosts' coach Massimiliano Allegri.
After two home defeats and one away win in three Serie A games, the pressure was on Allegri to deliver a win that would get Milan's European campaign up and running.
But it was whistles that rang out around a less than half-empty San Siro stadium at the end of a match in which the hosts failed to take by the scruff of the neck having been dominated in the early exchanges.
Malaga are setting the pace in Group C as two stunning goals from Isco guided them to a 3-0 win over Zenit St Petersburg at La Rosaleda.
The game was barely three minutes old when the Spain Under-21 international bent a wonderful shot in off the inside of the post and the hosts were in dreamland when Javier Saviola slid home a second 10 minutes later.
Zenit then missed a host of opportunities to get back intothe game, with Russia pair Roman Shirokov and Alexander Kerzhakov the main culprits, and their miserable evening was rounded off when Isco thumped in a third from outside the area with 14 minutes remaining.
Summaries
D. Zagreb 0
Porto 2
Gonzalez 41; Defour 90;
Paris SG 4
Ibrahimovic 19p; Silva 30; Alex 32; Pastore 90;
D. Kiev 1
Veloso 87;
Montpellier 1
Belhanda 9 pen;
Arsenal 2
Podolski 16; Gervinho 18;
Olympiakos 1
Abdoun 58;
Schalke 2
Howedes 41; Huntelaar 59;
Missed penalty: Huntelaar 61.
Malaga 3
Isco 3, 76; Saviola 13;
Zenit SP 0
Milan 0
Anderlecht 0
B. Dortmund 1
Lewandowski 87;
Ajax 0
Missed penalty: Hummels (BD) 57.
R. Madrid 3
Marcelo 76; Benzema 87; Ronaldo 90;
Man. City 2
Dzeko 69; Kolarov 85;
Group A
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Paris SG | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| Porto | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| D. Zagreb | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| D. Kiev | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
D. Zagreb vs Porto - 0-2
Paris SG vs D. Kiev - 4-1
03/10/12: D. Kiev vs D. Zagreb
03/10/12: Porto vs PSG
24/10/12: Porto vs D. Kiev
24/10/12: D. Zagreb vs Paris SG
06/11/12: D. Kiev vs Porto
06/11/12: Paris SG vs D. Zagreb
21/11/12: Porto vs D. Zagreb
21/11/12: D. Kiev vs Paris SG
04/12/12: D. Zagreb vs D. Kiev
04/12/12: Paris SG vs Porto
Group B
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Arsenal | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Schalke | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Montpellier | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Olympiakos | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Montpellier vs Arsenal - 1-2
Olympiakos vs Schalke - 1-2
03/10/12: Schalke vs Montpellier
03/10/12: Arsenal vs Olympiakos
24/10/12: Arsenal vs Schalke
24/10/12: Montpellier vs Olympiakos
06/11/12: Schalke vs Arsenal
06/11/12: Olympiakos vs Montpellier
21/11/12: Arsenal vs Montpellier
21/11/12: Schalke vs Olympiakos
04/12/12: Montpellier vs Schalke
04/12/12: Olympiakos vs Arsenal
Group C
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Malaga | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Anderlecht | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Milan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Zenit SP | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Milan vs Anderlecht - 0-0
Malaga vs Zenit SP - 3-0
03/10/12: Anderlecht vs Malaga
03/10/12: Zenit SP vs Milan
24/10/12: Zenit SP vs Anderlecht
24/10/12: Malaga vs Milan
06/11/12: Anderlecht vs Zenit SP
06/11/12: Milan vs Malaga
21/11/12: Zenit SP vs Malaga
21/11/12: Anderlecht vs Milan
04/12/12: Malaga vs Anderlecht
04/12/12: Milan vs Zenit SP
Group D
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| R. Madrid | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| B. Dortmund | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Man. City | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Ajax | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
B. Dortmund vs Ajax - 1-0
R. Madrid vs Man. City - 3-2
03/10/12: Man. City vs B. Dortmund
03/10/12: Ajax vs R. Madrid
24/10/12: Ajax vs Man. City
24/10/12: B. Dortmund vs R. Madrid
06/11/12: Man. City vs Ajax
06/11/12: R. Madrid vs B. Dortmund
21/11/12: Ajax vs B. Dortmund
21/11/12: Man. City vs R. Madrid
04/12/12: B. Dortmund vs Man. City
04/12/12: R. Madrid vs Ajax
Playing today
Group E
S. Donetsk - Nordsjaelland
Chelsea - Juventus
Group F
Lille - B. Borisov
B. Munich - Valencia
Group G
Barcelona - S. Moscow
Celtic - Benfica
Group H
Man. United - Galatasaray
Braga - CFR Cluj