Real Madrid rally to victory; Manchester United lose

NAPLES: Real Madrid fought back to secure a barnstorming 3-2 win at Napoli in their Champions League Group C clash on Tuesday, with the Italian side's keeper Alex Meret scoring an unfortunate own goal to hand the Spaniards victory late in the second half.

Vinicius Jr and Jude Bellingham were both on target for Real in the first half to cancel out a Leo Ostigard header for Napoli, but a Piotr Zielinski penalty early in the second half drew the Italian side level.

Real scored the winner in the 78th minute as a stunning long-range shot from Federico Valverde cannoned off the crossbar straight onto the back of the flailing Meret's head before deflecting into his own goal.

Real are top of Group C on six points from two games, three ahead Napoli and Braga. Union Berlin are bottom with no points.

Bellingham put Real ahead in the 34th minute with a dazzling effort, dribbling past three Napoli defenders, before guiding a tidy finish out of the goalkeeper’s reach and into the bottom left corner.

But Napoli came back into the game early in the second half and levelled in the 54th minute with Zielinski's penalty, awarded for a handball by defender Nacho after a VAR check.

Real's players and coach Carlo Ancelotti were furious with the decision and complained vociferously to referee Clement Turpin, who had first turned down the penalty appeals and waved play on, with the ball seemingly deflecting off Nacho's boot before hitting his left hand as he slid in to tackle.

Manchester United’s misery continues

Manchester United's miserable season continued with a 3-2 home defeat by Galatasaray as Casemiro was sent off giving away a penalty which Mauro Icardi missed before scoring the winner to leave the hosts bottom of Champions League Group A.

Looking to put a fourth Premier League defeat of the season against Crystal Palace on Saturday to the backs of their minds, United flew out of the traps in the Manchester rain, racing into a 17th-minute lead through Denmark striker Rasmus Hojlund.

Their advantage lasted less than six minutes however as Wilfried Zaha, playing against his former club, scooped home the equaliser after poor defending from the hosts.

After the break, Hojlund brilliantly capitalised on a slip from Galatasaray defender Davinson Sanchez to clip United back in front in the 67th minute, only for Kerem Akturkoglu to level four minutes later and stun Old Trafford into silence.

A mistake from United goalkeeper Andre Onana forced Brazilian midfielder Casemiro to conceded a penalty, which saw him sent off after receiving a second yellow card.

Icardi let United off the hook as he drilled his spot kick wide but the Argentine picked himself up and slotted home a fine winner nine minutes from time to send Galatasaray up to second in the group on four points and leave United pointless.

Mueller magic gives Bayern Munich victory

Thomas Mueller came off the bench to set up the winning goal for fellow substitute Mathys Tel as Bayern Munich came from a goal down to beat Denmark's FC Copenhagen 2-1 in their Champions League Group A clash at the Parken Stadium on Tuesday.

With his side struggling to create against the Danish champions, the 34-year-old Mueller entered the game in the 77th minute and used his vast experience to first outrun the defence and then out-muscle it before teeing up Tel to take all three points.

Bayern did not manage a shot on target until late in the first half as Copenhagen's compact defence neutralised the threat offered by the pace of Kingsley Coman and Leroy Sane on the Munich flanks.

That allowed the home side to take a shock lead in the 56th minute when Bayern failed to clear Viktor Claesson's shot, and midfielder Lukas Lerager followed up with a clever bouncing drive to put the Danish champions in the driving seat.

Bayern struck back in the 67th minute as Jamal Musiala jinked left and right on the edge of the area before dispatching a low shot into the corner of the net beyond the dive of Kamil Grabara.

Making his 144th appearance in the Champions League, Mueller wasted no time getting involved as he crossed for Leon Goretzka, but the midfielder's header drifted wide of the target.

Undeterred, Mueller embarked on a lung-busting run to track down Harry Kane's flick-on, and he firmly stood his ground before passing for Tel to fire home the winner two minutes later.

Copenhagen substitute Jordan Larsson almost snatched a point for his side in the fifth minute of stoppage time as his header was steered goalwards by Eric Choupo-Moting, but Sven Ulreich pulled off a tremendous diving save to keep the lead intact.

The victory left Bayern top of the group on six points, two ahead of Galatasaray, who beat Manchester United 3-2 at Old Trafford to leave United bottom.

Bayern captain Joshua Kimmich paid tribute to both their squad strength and their goalkeeper as they stretched their unbeaten run away from home in the Champions League group stage to 18 games.

Inter beat Benfica

Marcus Thuram made his mark in the Champions League to help Inter Milan get its campaign up-and-running with a 1-0 win over Benfica on Tuesday.

Thuram scored in the 62nd minute for his first goal in the competition for the Nerazzurri. He has two goals and six assists in Serie A in a fantastic start at Inter for the 26-year-old player, who is the son of former Parma and Juventus defender Lilian Thuram.

The goal came shortly after Inter’s top scorer Lautaro Martínez hit the woodwork twice in the space of six minutes.

The result lifted Inter — last season’s runner-up — level on points with Group D leader Real Sociedad, which won 2-0 at Salzburg. Benfica was bottom with zero points from two matches.

Lens beat Arsenal

Striker Elye Wahi scored one goal and expertly created the other as Lens rallied to beat Arsenal 2-1 on Tuesday.

The northern French side moved top of Group B with four points and handed Premier League high-flyer Arsenal its first defeat of the season.

The 20-year-old Wahi’s 19 league goals for Montpellier last season earned him a move for 35 million euros ($38 million). He even turned down Premier League big spenders Chelsea to join a Lens side which finished second in the French league last season behind Paris Saint-Germain.

In the other Group B game, PSV drew 2-2 at home to Sevilla. Agencies

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