A last-gasp goal from defender Jerome Boateng gave Bayern Munich a 1-0 win over Manchester City in their opening Champions League Group E clash yesterday.

Chelsea and Paris St Germain experienced a frustrating night after they were held by Schalke 04 and Ajax respectively while Roma enjoyed an excellent return to the competition after crushing CSKA Moscow 5-1.

At the Allianz Arena, Boateng broke the deadlock with a powerful shot after the Germans controlled the game, but failed to crack open a tight defence until the 90th minute.

City, who had come back from two goals down to beat Bayern 3-2 in Munich in the group stage last year, were largely on the backfoot but successfully kept the Germans at bay, with keeper Joe Hart making several crucial saves, until the last minute.

In the other Group E match, Roma opened their campaign in style with a 5-1 mauling of Russian side CSKA Moscow at the Stadio Olimpico.

Gervinho set up Juan Manuel Iturbe’s opener and then scored twice himself in the first half, sandwiching a goal from Maicon after the Brazilian full-back overcame an injury scare in the warm-up.

Sergey Ignashevich’s own goal extended the margin further and Ahmed Musa’s consolation was of no consequence.

An under-strength Barcelona got their Champions League campaign off to a solid if unspectacular start when a Gerard Pique header was enough for a 1-0 win at home to APOEL.

Barca predictably dominated their Cypriot visitors at the Nou Camp and after waves of attacks eventually found a breakthrough when Pique headed a Lionel Messi free-kick into the bottom corner of the net in the 28th minute.

APOEL defended solidly and did well to thwart Barca’s formidable strike force featuring four-times World Player of the Year Lionel Messi and Brazil international Neymar.

Edinson Cavani scored early for Paris St Germain but a series of wasted chances came back to haunt them as Ajax Amsterdam equalised late to deny the French a winning start on the road in a 1-1 draw.

Cavani’s goal came after 14 minutes just as the two sides were settling into the game and from a bad defensive error by Nicolai Boilesen, who let a long ball slip away from him to be caught by Lucas. His square pass to Zlatan Ibrahimovic saw the PSG captain’s shot blocked, only for Cavani to tap home the loose ball.

The French champions then squandered a series of good chances to put the game to bed before Lasse Schoene curled home a free-kick in the 74th minute after a rare Ajax attack saw Thulani Serero brought down on the edge of the box by Marquinhos.

Missed chances

Chelsea wasted chance after chance and had to settle for a 1-1 draw with Schalke 04 in their opening Champions League Group G match at Stamford Bridge that made a mockery of both team’s early season form.

Cesc Fabregas scored his first goal for Chelsea to put them ahead after 11 minutes but the London side, who have won all four Premier League games, were pegged back when Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored a superb equaliser for Schalke who are without a win in Germany this season.

Fabregas was fortunate Croatian referee Ivan Bebek allowed play to continue after he appeared to foul Max Meyer at the start of the move that led to his goal which came when he fired past goalkeeper Ralf Fahrmann with a lofted angled drive.

But justice appeared to be done when he lost the ball at the start of the move that led to Schalke’s 62nd-minute equaliser which Huntelaar fired in from the edge of the box.

Summaries

Roma 5
Iturbe 6; Gervinho 10, 31; Maicon 20; Ignasevich 50og;
CSKA Moscow 1
Musa 82;

B. Munich 1
Boateng 90;
Man. City 0

Barcelona 1
Pique 28;
Apoel 0

Ajax 1
Schoene 74;
Paris SG 1
Cavani 14;

Maribor 1
Zahovic 90;
Sporting 1
Nani 80;

Chelsea 1
Fabregas 11;
Schalke 1
Huntelaar 62;

Porto 6
Brahimi 5, 32; Brahimi 57; Martinez 37; Adrian 61; Aboubakar 76;
Bate Borisov 0

A. Bilbao 0
S. Donetsk 0

Group E

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Roma	1	1	0	0	5	1	3
B. Munich	1	1	0	0	1	0	3
Man. City	1	0	0	1	0	1	0
CSKA	1	0	0	1	1	5	0

Roma vs CSKA Moscow - 5-1
B. Munich vs Man. City - 1-0
30/09/14: Man. City vs Roma
30/09/14: CSKA Moscow vs B. Munich
21/10/14: CSKA Moscow vs Man. City
21/10/14: Roma vs B. Munich
05/11/14: Man. City vs CSKA Moscow
05/11/14: B. Munich vs Roma
25/11/14: CSKA Moscow vs Roma
25/11/14: Man. City vs B. Munich
10/12/14: Roma vs Man. City
10/12/14: B. Munich vs CSKA Moscow

Group F

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Barcelona	1	1	0	0	1	0	3
Ajax	1	0	1	0	1	1	1
Paris SG	1	0	1	0	1	1	1
Apoel	1	0	0	1	0	1	0

Barcelona vs Apoel - 1-0
Ajax vs Paris SG - 1-1
30/09/14: Paris SG vs Barcelona
30/09/14: Apoel vs Ajax
21/10/14: Apoel vs Paris SG
21/10/14: Barcelona vs Ajax
05/11/14: Paris SG vs Apoel
05/11/14: Ajax vs Barcelona
25/11/14: Apoel vs Barcelona
25/11/14: Paris SG vs Ajax
10/12/14: Barcelona vs Paris SG
10/12/14: Ajax vs Apoel

Group G

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Chelsea	1	0	1	0	1	1	1
Maribor	1	0	1	0	1	1	1
Schalke	1	0	1	0	1	1	1
Sporting	1	0	1	0	1	1	1

Maribor vs Sporting - 1-1
Chelsea vs Schalke - 1-1
30/09/14: Sporting vs Chelsea
30/09/14: Schalke vs Maribor
21/10/14: Schalke vs Sporting
21/10/14: Chelsea vs Maribor
05/11/14: Sporting vs Schalke
05/11/14: Maribor vs Chelsea
25/11/14: Schalke vs Chelsea
25/11/14: Sporting vs Maribor
10/12/14: Chelsea vs Sporting
10/12/14: Maribor vs Schalke

Group H

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Porto	1	1	0	0	6	0	3
A. Bilbao	1	0	1	0	0	0	1
S. Donetsk	1	0	1	0	0	0	1
Bate Borisov	1	0	0	1	0	6	0

Porto vs Bate Borisov - 6-0
A. Bilbao vs S. Donetsk - 0-0
30/09/14: S. Donetsk vs Porto
30/09/14: Bate Borisov vs A. Bilbao
21/10/14: Bate Borisov vs S. Donetsk
21/10/14: Porto vs A. Bilbao
05/11/14: S. Donetsk vs Bate Borisov
05/11/14: A. Bilbao vs Porto
25/11/14: Bate Borisov vs Porto
25/11/14: S. Donetsk vs A. Bilbao
10/12/14: Porto vs S. Donetsk
10/12/14: A. Bilbao vs B. Borisov