Ciro Immobile shoots past Laurent Koscielny, of Arsenal, to put Borussia Dortmund ahead.Holders Real Madrid chased away some of their early-season blues when Gareth Bale scored the pick of the goals in a 5-1 rout of FC Basel in their Champions League opener last night.
But there was disappointment for last year’s finalists Atletico Madrid who went down 3-2 at Olympiakos.
At the Bernabeu, after a deflected Nacho effort put Real 1-0 ahead in the 14th minute, Bale raced on to a Luka Modric pass and dinked the ball brilliantly over onrushing Basel goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik before volleying into an empty net.
A minute later, Bale found space on the right of the area and sent over a low cross for Cristiano Ronaldo to tap in at the far post.
New Real signing James Rod-riguez made it 4-0 in the 37th minute before Derlis Gonzalez almost immediately pulled a goal back for the visitors when he sped clear and beat Iker Casillas with a low strike.
Karim Benzema completed the scoring in the 79th minute when he lashed a left-foot shot into the net off the underside of the crossbar as Real became the first club to score 1,000 goals in European competition.
In the other Group B match, Liverpool scored a dramatic 2-1 win over debutants Ludogorets of Bulgaria with all three goals coming in the last 12 minutes of the match at Anfield.
Mario Balotelli put Liverpool ahead after 82 minutes, Dani Abalo equalised for Ludogorets as the clock struck 90 minutes before Steven Gerrard won it for Liverpool with a penalty in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
Gerrard struck from the spot after Ludogorets keeper Milan Borjan made a hash of a clearance, and brought down defender Manquillo with Gerrard making no mistake to win it.
Ludogorets almost scored before the late flurry started when Roman Bezjak hit the post after 72 minutes and.
Olympiakos got their campaign off to a surprising winning start as they recorded a 3-2 victory over Atletico Madrid in the Group A clash at Karaiskakis Stadium.
Arthur Masuaku opened the scoring for the hosts and Ibrahim Afellay doubled their lead after 31 minutes before Mario Mandzukic pulled one back for Madrid before half-time.
Konstantinos Mitroglou made it 3-1 midway through the second half before Antoine Griezmann struck for last season’s beaten finalists at the end.
Carlos Tevez scored his first Champions League goals for more than five years to give Juventus a 2-0 win over debutants Malmo.
Tevez double
The feisty Argentine flicked the ball to Kwado Asamoah in the penalty area and then ran on to the Ghanaian's back-heeled pass to slot the ball past Robin Olsen in the 59th minute.
He then secured the points by curling in a free-kick from the edge of the area in the 90th minute of the Group A match.
Tevez’s first goal bailed out Juventus who appeared to have run out of ideas as they battled a well-organised Malmo defence.
The visitors, who reached the 1979 European Cup final but had never qualified for the Champions League group stage, had the best first-half chance when Magnus Eriksson’s effort at the far post was stopped by Gianluigi Buffon’s feet.
Borussia Dortmund comfortably beat Arsenal 2-0 to launch their Group D campaign with a dominant performance that saw them overwhelm their opponents.
Italian forward Ciro Immobile, who has yet to score in the league for Dortmund, gave the hosts a deserved lead on the stroke of halftime with a solo effort after the hosts controlled possession and set the pace for much of the first half.
Pierre Emerick Aubameyang added another goal after the break as the Germans avenged last season’s home loss to the English side.
Summaries
Olympiakos 3
Masuaku 13; Afellay 31; Mitroglou 74;
Atl. Madrid 2
Mandzukic 38; Griezmann 86;
Juventus 2
Tevez 58, 90;
Malmo 0
Liverpool 2
Balotelli 82; Gerrard 90+3 pen;
Ludogorets 1
Abalo 90;
Real Madrid 5
Suchy 14 og; Bale 30; Ronaldo 31; Rodriguez 37; Benzema 79;
Basel 1
Gonzalez 38;
Monaco 1
Moutinho 61;
B. Leverkusen 0
Benfica 0
Zenit SP 2
Hulk 5; Witsel 22;
Red card: Artur (B) 18.
Galatasaray 1
Yilmaz 90;
Anderlecht 1
Praet 52;
B. Dortmund 2
Immobile 44; Aubameyang 48;
Arsenal 0
Group A
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Juventus | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Olympiakos | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| A. Madrid | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Malmo | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Olympiakos vs A. Madrid - 3-2
Juventus vs Malmo - 2-0
01/10/14: Malmo vs Olympiakos
01/10/14: A. Madrid vs Juventus
22/10/14: A. Madrid vs Malmo
22/10/14: Olympiakos vs Juventus
04/11/14: Malmo vs A. Madrid
04/11/14: Juventus vs Olympiakos
26/11/14: A. Madrid vs Olympiakos
26/11/14: Malmo vs Juventus
09/12/14: Olympiakos vs Malmo
09/12/14: Juventus vs A. Madrid
Group B
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| R. Madrid | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 3 |
| Liverpool | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Ludogorets | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Basel | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
Liverpool vs Ludogorets - 2-1
R. Madrid vs Basel - 5-1
01/10/14: Basel vs Liverpool
01/10/14: Ludogorets vs R. Madrid
22/10/14: Ludogorets vs Basel
22/10/14: Liverpool vs Real Madrid
04/11/14: Basel vs Ludogorets
04/11/14: R. Madrid vs Liverpool
26/11/14: Ludogorets vs Liverpool
26/11/14: Basel vs Real Madrid
09/12/14: Liverpool vs Basel
09/12/14: R. Madrid vs Ludogorets
Group C
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Zenit SP | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Monaco | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| B. Leverkusen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Benfica | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Monaco vs B. Leverkusen - 1-0
Benfica vs Zenit SP - 0-2
01/10/14: Zenit SP vs Monaco
01/10/14: B. Leverkusen vs Benfica
22/10/14: B. Leverkusen vs Zenit SP
22/10/14: Monaco vs Benfica
04/11/14: Zenit SP vs B. Leverkusen
04/11/14: Benfica vs Monaco
26/11/14: Zenit SP vs Benfica
26/11/14: B. Leverkusen vs Monaco
09/12/14: Monaco vs Zenit SP
09/12/14: Benfica vs B. Leverkusen
Group D
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| B. Dortmund | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Anderlecht | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Galatasaray | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Arsenal | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Galatasaray vs Anderlecht - 1-1
B. Dortmund vs Arsenal - 2-0
01/10/14: Arsenal vs Galatasaray
01/10/14: Anderlecht vs B. Dortmund
22/10/14: Anderlecht vs Arsenal
22/10/14: Galatasaray vs B. Dortmund
04/11/14: Arsenal vs Anderlecht
04/11/14: B. Dortmund vs Galatasaray
26/11/14: Anderlecht vs Galatasaray
26/11/14: Arsenal vs B. Dortmund
09/12/14: Galatasaray vs Arsenal
09/12/14: B. Dortmund vs Anderlecht
Today’s matches
Group E
Roma vs CSKA Moscow
B. Munich vs Man. City
Group F
Barcelona vs Apoel
Ajax vs Paris SG
Group G
Chelsea vs Schalke
Maribor vs S. Lisbon
Group H
Porto vs BATE
Ath. Bilbao vs S. Donetsk
All matches kick off at 20.45.