Chelsea striker Michy Batshuayi came off the bench to snatch a 2-1 win at Atletico Madrid on Wednesday with the last kick of the game. The result took Antonio Conte’s side top of Champions League Group C. France international Antoine Griezmann rammed a penalty kick beyond former Atletico goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to give the home side a barely-deserved lead in the 40th minute.
He was scoring the first European goal at their new stadium after striking the first Liga goal there this month. Former Real Madrid forward Alvaro Morata, who also spent time in Atletico’s youth system, pulled Chelsea level by glancing in Eden Hazard’s cross in the 60th minute.
This was after the visitors had failed to make their first-half dominance count. Batshuayi replaced Morata with seven minutes remaining and inflicted a first home defeat on Atletico since September, 2015.
Elsewhere, Romelu Lukaku struck twice to lead Manchester United to an emphatic 4-1 away win over CSKA Moscow in the UEFA Champions League Group A on Wednesday. The Belgian striker headed home after four minutes and tapped in just before the interval for his 10th goal of the season to put the English Premier League side 3-0 ahead at halftime.
Lukaku took advantage of CSKA’s porous defence, tapping in a cross by Anthony Martial that bounced past central defender Vasily Berezutsky. Patient and energetic with the ball, United capitalised on a string of mistakes by CSKA’s backline, creating space and opportunities to attack.
Martial had slotted home a penalty kick in between Lukaku’s goals and Henrikh Mkhitaryan added a fourth in the second half. The result gives United, three-times European champions, a maximum six points from their opening two matches.
Konstantin Kuchaev grabbed a late consolation for CSKA in the 90th minute, depriving United of a second successive Champions League shutout. CSKA‘S defensive woes outweighed the few dangerous chances they had, including a powerful strike by Fedor Chalov that was punched over the bar by United goalkeeper David de Gea.
In other results, the big game in Group B saw Paris-St Germain host Bayern Munich but it was a pretty one-sided affair. Goals from Dani Alves, Edinson Cavani and Neymar Jr secured a comfortable 3-0 win for PSG. There were also victories for Barcelona, FC Basel, Roma and Juventus.
