Manchester City took another step toward qualifying from its Champions League group Tuesday, taking the top spot in Group F with a 3-0 win over host Shakhtar Donetsk.
Last season, Shakhtar ended a 29-game unbeaten run for City, but it did not come close to replicating that win this time. David Silva and Aymeric Laporte’s goals had Pep Guardiola’s City team 2-0 up by halftime, and Bernardo Silva ended Shakhtar’s hopes of a comeback with a goal in the 71st.
“Now we can control our destiny in terms of the result, but what I’m pleased the most is the way we played,” Guardiola said. “Winning away, it’s so important, and now we will enjoy tonight and the next days this victory.”
City has won six of the seven games it has played since losing 2-1 to Lyon in its opening Champions League outing. After Lyon’s 3-3 draw with Hoffenheim in Tuesday’s other Group F game, City is top of the group at the halfway mark, one point ahead of Lyon and four ahead of Shakhtar and Hoffenheim.
City was in full control of the game from the start as Riyad Mahrez twice came close to scoring. David Silva put the visitors 1-0 up in the 30th minute when Gabriel Jesus’s shot took a deflection and looped into the air before landing perfectly for Silva to hit past Andriy Pyatov.
“His level and the performance the last month is incredible,” Guardiola said of Silva, who has scored two goals and assisted two more in his last four games for City. “Everything he does he’s doing perfect, so it was another incredible performance from David.”
REAL MADRID 2, VIKTORIA PLZEN 1 Real Madrid earned a narrow victory over visiting Viktoria Plzen that did little to ease the pressure on the embattled Madrid Manager Julen Lopetegui.
Karim Benzema and Marcelo scored for Madrid as the three-time defending European champions ended a five-match winless streak in all competitions, but Lopetegui’s team seemed far from its best at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
Madrid has six points in Group G after three matches. Roma, which defeated CSKA Moscow 3-0 at home in the other group match, also has six points.
Madrid had lost four of its last five matches, including a 1-0 defeat at CSKA Moscow.
BAYERN MUNICH 2, AEK ATHENS 0 Bayern Munich exploited a brief lapse in AEK Athens’ determined defense to score twice in two minutes, easing pressure on the Bundesliga champions and Manager Niko Kovac.
After a mistake-filled first half, Javi Martinez and Robert Lewandowski struck in the 61st and 63rd minutes at the Olympic Stadium for Bayern’s second victory in Group E, as AEK suffered its third defeat.
While keeping AEK’s back line busy, Arjen Robben had produced little threat until his shot helped break the deadlock. It struck a wall of defenders, and Martinez slotted in the rebound.
Lewandowski silenced the 55,000 home fans two minutes later. Standout Serge Gnabry flicked the ball to Rafinha, who set up the Poland striker for the tap-in.
IN OTHER GAMES Roma defeated visiting CSKA Moscow, 3-0, with two goals from Edin Dzeko. … Young Boys, the Swiss champion, got its first Champions League group-stage goal in club history in a 1-1 draw with Valencia … Ajax topped visiting Benfica, 1-0, with a goal in stoppage time.
Source : NYtimes
