Football
ESPN staff 9y

Champions League: Bayern and Shakhtar hit seven, Chelsea bag six

In a high-scoring night of Champions League action with 40 goals in total, Bayern Munich put Roma to the sword by scoring five goals in the first half in a 7-1 win, Chelsea eased past NK Maribor 6-0, Shakhtar beat BATE 7-0 and Manchester City were held to a 2-2 draw by CSKA Moscow.

Bayern Munich struck five times in the first half en route to a 7-1 demolition of hosts Roma to make it three wins out of three in Group E of the Champions League.

The Germans dominated the early exchanges at the Stadio Olimpico and deservedly took the lead in the ninth minute thanks to Arjen Robben's trademark bending effort.

Mario Gotze doubled Bayern's advantage midway through the first half and Robert Lewandowski scored a third two minutes later. Polish forward Lewandowski then set up Robben's second on the half-hour mark to silence most of the 65,000 spectators.

After 36 minutes, Thomas Muller made it 5-0 when he converted from the penalty spot following a handball by Kostas Manolas.

Roma's Gervinho struck in the 66th minute but Franck Ribery and Xherdan Shaqiri came off the bench to add two more goals for the visitors before the final whistle.

The outcome has lifted Bayern five points clear of nearest rivals Roma, who remained in second.

Didier Drogba scored his first Chelsea goal since his decisive strike in the 2012 Champions League final as the Premier League leaders thrashed Maribor 6-0 at Stamford Bridge to strengthen their position at the top of Group G.

Drogba, whose final kick of his first spell was the last penalty in the shootout defeat of Bayern Munich which saw Chelsea win the European Cup, replaced Loic Remy after 16 minutes and converted a spot-kick seven minutes later.

The Ivory Coast striker's 158th Chelsea goal -- he netted 157 goals in 341 appearances in his eight-year first spell -- made it 2-0 after Remy's opening strike and captain John Terry swiftly added a third after sprinting the length of the field.

There were few worries on the night and Agim Ibraimi missed a penalty after Mitja Viler's own goal had made it four, before Eden Hazard converted a second Chelsea spot-kick 13 minutes from time and added a last-minute sixth with his second of the night.

Notably, Shakhtar Donetsk's Luiz Adriano became the first player to score four goals in the first half of a Champions League game when he netted in the 7-0 win against Belarusian minnows BATE Borisov.

The Brazilian striker also scored the fastest three goals (seven mins) in Champions League history and became the highest scorer in the club's history with 116 goals as he netted five in the game.

In the other game in Group H, goals from Hector Herrera and Ricardo Quaresma sandwiched a Fernandez Guillermo effort as leaders Porto beat Athletic Bilbao 2-1.

Lionel Messi drew level with fierce rival Cristiano Ronaldo in the race to become the Champions League's all-time top goalscorer as Barcelona warmed up for El Clasico with a 3-1 victory over Ajax.

Both Messi and Real Madrid's Ronaldo have now scored 69 goals in the competition after the Argentinian followed up Neymar's first-half opener at the Nou Camp on Tuesday night.

He was later withdrawn with a view to keeping him fresh for Saturday's showdown at the Santiago Bernabeu and remains, along with Ronaldo, two goals shy of former Real striker Raul's record tally.

Ajax steadily gained a foothold as the second half progressed but, shortly after Anwar El Ghazi halved the deficit, Sandro Ramirez rubber-stamped the result with a stoppage-time strike.

Edinson Cavani handed Paris St Germain a dramatic late 1-0 victory in Cyprus as APOEL were denied a hard-earned point.

The Uruguayan frontman struck in instinctive style with just three minutes remaining to break APOEL hearts on a night when the home side enjoyed the clearer opportunities with defender David Luiz having earlier cleared a Tiago Gomes header off the line.

But ultimately Cavani's intervention was enough to keep PSG, who beat Barcelona in the last round of matches, at the top of Group F.

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting scored a 92nd-minute penalty to earn Schalke a 4-3 win after they had surrendered a two-goal lead at home to 10-man Sporting Lisbon.

A grandstand second half which saw two Adrien Silva goals, the first a penalty, bring Sporting level from 3-1 down had looked set to deny Roberto Di Matteo victory in his first Champions League game in charge of the Royal Blues.

But Choupo-Moting saved his side's blushes at the death after Jonathan Silva had been penalised for handball to send the Germans second in Group G.

Earlier Manchester City surrendered a two-goal lead as they again stuttered on the Champions League stage, drawing 2-2 amid more controversy at CSKA Moscow.

City looked to have ignited their Group E campaign as they claimed a commanding lead with well-worked goals from Sergio Aguero and James Milner at the Khimki Arena. But CSKA -- who officially had no support in a game played behind closed doors but actually appeared to have 200-300 chanting fans -- hit back through Seydou Doumbia and a contentious late Bebras Natcho penalty.

Natcho struck after Doumbia appeared to go down theatrically in the box under a challenge from Aleksandar Kolarov. That left City, who had hit the woodwork when leading 2-0, hanging on for a point but the result may still have done significant damage to their hopes of progress.

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