Dortmund frustrates Real; Leicester wins

PARIS — Andre Schuerrle smashed in a late equalizer as Borussia Dortmund held Real Madrid in the Champions League Tuesday, while Leicester City claimed another famous European victory. Premier League champion Leicester made it two wins from two in its debut Champions League campaign as Islam Slimani’s first-half goal secured a 1-0 win against FC Porto, and it was a good night all round for English clubs as Tottenham Hotspur beat CSKA Moscow in Russia. Reigning champions Real twice surrendered the lead as it settled for a 2-2 draw against Dortmund to extend its poor record on German soil. In a tremendous Group F game played at breathless pace, Zinedine Zidane’s side went in front in the 17th minute when Gareth Bale’s back-heel came off Matthias Ginter and fell for Cristiano Ronaldo to fire home. It was the Portuguese superstar’s 98th European goal but Dortmund had been in fearsome form ahead of this showdown and they drew level just before the interval. Making his first appearance of the season after injury, Real goalkeeper Keylor Navas opted to punch a Raphael Guerreiro free-kick and the ball struck the face of his teammate Raphael Varane before rebounding into the net. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was standing in close quarters, and he was officially credited with the goal by UEFA. However, French center-back Varane made up for that by restoring Real’s advantage midway through the second half, following in to score after Karim Benzema’s attempt had hit both the post and bar. But there was to be no first win in Dortmund for Real as substitute Schuerrle rifled a shot into the roof of the net after a Christian Pulisic cross fell to him on the edge of the box. In the other game in the section, first-half goals by Bryan Ruiz and Bas Dost gave Sporting a 2-0 victory against Legia Warsaw in Portugal. Leicester has maximum points after two matches in Group G after edging out two-time European champion Porto at the King Power Stadium. Algerian striker Slimani, a club record £28 million ($36.3 million, 32.3 million euros) summer signing from Sporting, struck on 25 minutes, heading past Iker Casillas from a Riyad Mahrez cross. Next up for Leicester will be FC Copenhagen, which was impressive 4-0 winner at home to Club Brugge in the Danish capital. All the goals came in the second half, with a Stefano Denswil own-goal setting the home side on its way before Ludwig Augustinsson had a penalty saved, but further counters came from captain Thomas Delaney, Federico Santander and Mathias Jørgensen. Tottenham bounced back from a 2-1 defeat to Monaco in its Group E opener by beating CSKA 1-0 in Moscow to claim three points from an awkward trip to the Russian capital. Mauricio Pochettino’s side was without Harry Kane, Mousa Dembele, Eric Dier, Danny Rose and Moussa Sissoko against the Russian champion but the in-form Son Heung-min was there and he made the difference. The South Korean winger netted the only goal of the game on 71 minutes at the Arena CSKA, his shot squirming under ‘keeper Igor Akinfeev and in. It is Monaco which tops the section, though, after Kamil Glik volleyed home in injury time to cancel out Javier Hernandez’s opener and secure a 1-1 home draw with Bayer Leverkusen. Meanwhile, 2015 runner-up Juventus notched its first win in Group H, ruthlessly dispatching Dinamo Zagreb 4-0 in Croatia. Sevilla, which had held Juve in Turin last time out, beat Lyon 1-0 in Spain as French striker Wissam Ben Yedder headed in the only goal of the game in the second half. Luciano Vietto later blazed a penalty over, although Nabil Fekir and Corentin Tolisso both hit the bar for the visitors. — AFP