Bayern Munich started their UEFA Champions League campaign on a high note after scoring a 1-0 win against Manchester City on Wednesday at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany.
Jerome Boateng haunted his former team as he netted a late goal to give Bayern Munich the crucial victory in their Group E match where the two teams went toe-to-toe for the entire game.
Manchester City, the reigning Barclays Premier League champions, managed to stop Bayern Munich on their tracks as goalkeeper Joe Hart frustrated Thomas Muller, Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski with excellent saves, but Boateng had the last laugh with his 90th minute goal.
"We fought hard all night against a really good team and had chances as well -- we played well but just a nasty deflection at the end has done us and Jerome Boateng comes back to haunt us," Hart said in a statement posted on the club's official website.
But despite losing in their Champions League opener, Hart is confident that they will respond to the challenge in their upcoming matches against CSKA Moscow and AS Roma, who scored a 5-1 win against the Russian club on Wednesday.
"We showed that we can match Bayern Munich but we have some very tough games now and we have to play well against CSKA and Roma now," Hart said. "Last year we had a poor start against Bayern but we won the rest of our games and qualified -- we're confident we can do that again this time."
Meanwhile, FC Barcelona also jumped start their campaign on the right foot as they scored a 1-0 win against Apoel Nicosia at Camp Nou.
Gerrard Pique was the man of the match for Barcelona as he netted a header in the 28th minute of their Group F match off a free kick from Lionel Messi.
Complete results of Wednesday's Champions League matches are as follows:
- Chelsea 1 -1 Schalke 04
- Porte 6 - 0 BATE
- Roma 5 - 1 CSKA Moscow
- Bayern Munich 1 - 0 Manchester City
- FC Barcelona 1 - 0 Apoel Nicosia
- Ajax 1 - 1 Paris
- Maribor 1 - 1 Sporting Lisbon
- Athletic Bilbao 0 - 0 Shakhtar Donetsk
Complete scores, results and schedule are available on this link, while match highlights can be viewed here.
