Chelsea were grateful to Eden Hazard for grabbing a 3-3 draw in a UEFA Champions League thriller against AS Roma on Wednesday, while Manchester United, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus all won.
Hazard headed in his second goal of the night from a Pedro Rodriguez cross with quarter of an hour left at Stamford Bridge to rescue Chelsea after they had blown a two-goal lead against Roma.
With former Chelsea coach and Roma player Carlo Ancelotti watching from the stands, David Luiz curled the English champions into an early lead and Hazard increased their advantage.
However, Aleksandar Kolarov pulled one back for Roma before the interval and Edin Dzeko equalized with a stunning volley on 64 minutes before his header put the visitors ahead to the disbelief of the home fans in west London.
Hazard’s leveler allowed Chelsea to hold onto the top spot in Group C with seven points, two points clear of Roma and five better off than Atletico Madrid.
“It was a difficult game against a good team,” Chelsea manager Antonio Conte said.
“We suffered in possession and it wasn’t easy in the first half, despite scoring two goals,” he added.
Beaten finalists in 2014 and last year, Atletico could only draw 0-0 in Azerbaijan against Qarabag, who claimed their first-ever Champions League point, despite having South African striker Dino Ndlovu sent off late on.
Chelsea’s draw also ensured that the five English clubs in the competition all picked up points this midweek, with United grinding out a 1-0 victory at SL Benfica to maintain their perfect record in Group A.
Jose Mourinho was returning to Lisbon to face the club he coached briefly in 2000, but it was Benfica’s teenage goalkeeper Mile Svilar who stole the headlines.
The 18-year-old Belgian was handed a start to become the youngest-ever goalkeeper in the Champions League and was at fault for the only goal of a flat game.
Svilar was caught out when Marcus Rashford delivered a free-kick from wide on the left on 64 minutes.
Benfica’s misery was completed when captain Luisao was sent off in stoppage time.
Basel, who beat pointless Benfica 5-0 last month, followed that with a 2-0 win at CSKA Moscow, with Taulant Xhaka and Dimitri Oberlin scoring.
Barcelona still have a perfect record in Group D as they beat Olympiakos 3-1, despite having Gerard Pique sent off in the first half.
Driving rain meant the mostly uncovered 99,000-capacity Camp Nou was largely empty as it opened to fans for the first time since a violent crackdown of an independence referendum in Catalonia on Oct. 1. Those who did turn out saw Pique stupidly collect a second yellow card for handling the ball into the net late in the first half.
Barca were already ahead at that point from a Dimitrios Nikolaou own-goal and they added further goals in the second half, with Lionel Messi netting a free-kick — his 100th European goal — and setting up Lucas Digne to score.
Nikolaou pulled one back for the Greeks, who are still pointless.
Juventus are second in the group after coming from behind to beat Sporting Lisbon 2-1 in Turin, Italy, with Miralem Pjanic curling in a free-kick to cancel out Alex Sandro’s own-goal and Mario Mandzukic heading in a late winner.
PSG continued their superb start in Europe this season as their “MCN” attack all scored in a 4-0 victory at RSC Anderlecht.
Kylian Mbappe opened the scoring inside two minutes and Edinson Cavani headed in the second before the interval. Neymar’s free-kick made it three in the second half, with substitute Angel di Maria completing the rout.
PSG are top of Group B with nine points, three more than Bayern Munich, who eased to a 3-0 victory over Celtic.
Jupp Heynckes, 72, was back in the Bayern dugout to see Thomas Mueller, Joshua Kimmich and Mats Hummels all score.
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