Mario Balotelli scored with a last-minute penalty to earn Manchester City a Champions League lifeline in a 1-1 home draw with Borussia Dortmund last night.

In the other Group D match, Cristiano Ronaldo scored his second hat-trick in four days and Karim Benzema netted a spectacular overhead kick to give Real Madrid a 4-1 win at Ajax as Milan took advantage of two deflected goals to beat Zenit St Petersburg 3-2 in an entertaining Group C match in Russia.

German champions Borussia took the lead in Manchester when Marco Reus pounced on a poor cross-field pass from substitute Jack Rodwell to race clear and finish past City keeper Joe Hart on 61 minutes.

Dortmund continued to dominate and were thwarted on several occasions by superb saves from Hart but were made to pay in the dying seconds when Sergio Aguero struck the ball against the arm of Neven Subotic.

Referee Pavel Kralovec pointed to the spot and Balotelli calmly stroked the ball low into the net to give the English champions their first point in Group B.

Dortmund are second on four points, two behind leaders Real who wasted a host of chances before Ronaldo pounced on a loose ball to score from close range in the 42nd minute and Benzema finished off a swift Real break three minutes into the second half when he smashed home a Kaka centre.

Real’s vulnerability at set-pieces gave Ajax hope in the 56th minute when Niklas Moisander stole in at the far post at a corner and nodded under Iker Casillas before Ronaldo scored twice in three minutes to kill off the game.

With Sunday’s La Liga ‘Clasico’ at rivals Barcelona looming, coach Jose Mourinho sprung several surprises in Real’s starting line-up, deploying little-used Brazil playmaker Kaka instead of Mesut Ozil and Luka Modric.

Real and Ajax were meeting in the group stage for the third successive season, with the Spaniards winning home and away in 2010 and 2011.

Zenit fought back from two down to level before Milan scored the winner with 15 minutes remaining when a low Riccardo Montolivo shot hit Zenit defender Tomas Hubocan and slid into the near corner.

Urby Emanuelson had put the Rossoneri ahead from a free-kick that took a deflection, wrong-footing Zenit keeper Vyacheslav Malafeyev in the 13th minute.

Stephan El Shaarawy, who turns 20 this month, doubled the lead three minutes later after a mazy solo run through the Zenit de-fence, becoming the youngest player to score for Milan in Europe’s elite club competition.

Brazil striker Hulk pulled one back for the home side just before the break before setting up Roman Shirokov’s equaliser four minutes into the second half.

Milan have four points in the standings and are second behind the impressive Malaga who made it two wins from two matches after beating Anderlecht 3-0 away last night.

Paris SG silenced

In Lisbon, Colombian James Rodriguez hit a swerving left-footed winner with only seven minutes to go to hand Porto a 1-0 victory over Paris St Germain and give the Portuguese champions maximum points in Group A after two rounds.

Porto bossed PSG from the start, pressed high and controlled most of possession, relegating the Ligue 1 runners-up to occasional counter-attacks.

Although Rodriguez’s goal came late, there were plenty of chances for both sides.

Arsenal put themselves in pole position to reach the knockout rounds with a 3-1 home victory in Group B over a spirited Olym-piakos at the Emirates.

Goals either side of half-time from Gervinho and Lukas Podolksi sealed the Gunners’ second successive win in the group with Aaron Ramsey scoring the third with the final move of the game.

Arsenal have never lost to Greek opposition at home.

From the same group, Mont-pellier’s Souleymane Camara scored a 90th-minute equaliser to snatch a 2-2 draw at Schalke.

Summaries

D. Kiev 2
Gusev 3; Pivaric 33 og;
D. Zagreb 0

Porto 1
Rodriguez 83;
Paris SG 0

Schalke 2
Draxler 26; Huntelaar 53 pen;
Montpellier 2
Fana 13; Camara 90;

Red card: Bocaly (M) 52.

Arsenal 3
Gervinho 42; Podolski 56; Ramsey 90;
Olympiakos 1
Mitroglou 45;

Anderlecht 0
Malaga 3
Eliseu 45, 64; Joaquin 56 pen;

Zenit SP 2
Hulk 45; Shirokov 49;
Milan 3
Emanuelson 13; El Shaarawy 16; Hubocan 75 og;

Man. City 1
Balotelli 90 pen;
B. Dortmund 1
Reus 61;

Ajax 1
Moisander 56;
R. Madrid 4
Ronaldo 42, 79, 81; Benzema 48;

Group A


 P W D L F A Pts
Porto 2 2 0 0 3 0 6
Paris SG 2 1 0 1 4 2 3
Dynamo Kiev 2 1 0 1 3 4 3
Dinamo Zagreb 2 0 0 2 0 4 0

D. Zagreb vs Porto - 0-2
Paris SG vs D. Kiev - 4-1
D. Kiev vs Dinamo Zagreb - 2-0
Porto vs PSG - 1-0
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 2 2 0 0 5 2 6
Schalke 2 1 1 0 4 3 4
Montpellier 2 0 1 1 3 4 1
Olympiakos 2 0 0 2 2 5 0

Montpellier vs Arsenal - 1-2
Olympiakos vs Schalke - 1-2
Schalke vs Montpellier - 2-2
Arsenal vs Olympiakos - 3-1
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 2 2 0 0 6 0 6
Milan 2 1 1 0 3 2 4
Anderlecht 2 0 1 1 0 3 1
Zenit SP 2 0 0 2 2 6 0

Milan vs Anderlecht - 0-0
Malaga vs Zenit SP - 3-0
Anderlecht vs Malaga - 0-3
Zenit SP vs Milan - 2-3
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
Real Madrid 2 2 0 0 7 3 6
Bor. Dortmund 2 1 1 0 2 1 4
Man. City 2 0 1 1 3 4 1
Ajax 2 0 0 2 1 5 0

B. Dortmund vs Ajax - 1-0
R. Madrid vs Man. City - 3-2
Man. City vs B. Dortmund - 1-1
Ajax vs R. Madrid - 1-4
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

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