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Wednesday UCL Rewind: Ronaldo shown red, Lyon tops Manchester City, and more

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Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League Group Stage featured plenty of the biggest clubs in Europe. Cristiano Ronaldo was shown red in his UCL debut for Juventus, Paul Pogba stole the show for Manchester United as they visited Switzerland for a meeting with Young Boys, and Real Madrid began their title defense with a comfortable win over Roma.

Elsewhere, Memphis Depay made Manchester United fans happy as he helped Lyon past Manchester City with an assist, and Ajax’s young players had an impressive second half topping AEK Athens 3-0.

Here’s a closer look at all of Wednesday’s UCL action:

Valencia 0, Juventus 2

Cristiano Ronaldo made his UCL debut for his new club on Wednesday, but things did not go according to plan. In the 29th minute, the Portuguese icon was shown a straight red card for a meeting with Jeison Murillo’s away from the ball. Cristiano was forced to leave the field in frustration.

Despite the controversial red card, things were less controversial in the 45th minute when Juventus was awarded a penalty kick. Daniel Perejo’s challenge which saw his boot near the head of Joao Cancelo gave Miralem Pjanic the chance to give his side from the penalty spot. Pjanic converted to give his side a 1-0 lead heading into halftime.

In the 51st minute, Pjanic was given another chance from the penalty spot after Jeison Murillo took Leonardo Bonucci down on a set piece. Once again, Pjanic converted. Valencia also received a penalty in the 96th minute, but Daniel Parejo did not prove to be as clinical as Pjanic.

Manchester City 1, Olympique Lyon 2

Memphis Depay stole the headlines leading up to this match when he made comments about Manchester still being red, despite City’s impressive Premier League title win last season. Memphis’ assistĀ gave United fans even more reason to smile on Wednesday.

Maxwell Cornet handed Lyon the lead in the 26th minute when he got on the end of a Nabil Fekir cross that Fabian Delph struggled to deal with. Then, Fekir contributed again in the 43rd minute as his low strike from outside the penalty doubled the visitor’s advantage.

Bernardo Silva grabbed a goal back for City in the 67th minute after some nifty footwork from Leroy Sane, but he and his teammates could not find a second goal to split the points on Matchday 1.

Real Madrid 3, Roma 0

After winning three consecutive UCL titles, Real Madrid are once again amongst the favorites to claim the crown this campaign, and they showed why on Wednesday.

With Ronaldo’s exit from the club, other players are getting their chance on set pieces, and on this occasion, Isco took advantage. In the 45th minute, Isco’s magical effort from just outside the penalty area on a free kick saw his side take a 1-0 lead.

Gareth Bale showed his power and pace in the 57th minute when he put an end to an impressive counter attack for Los Blancos. Getting on the end of a wonderful pass from Luka Modric, the Welshman slid a powerful shot past Robin Olsen to double his side’s lead.

The goal of the match came in the 90th minute when Mariano Diaz’s thunderbolt found the back of the net. A goal similar to that of Madrid’s former number 7, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Here’s the other scores from Wednesday’s UCL action:

Young Boys 0-3 Manchester United

Ajax 3-0 AEK Athens

Benfica 0-2 Bayern Munich

Shakhtar Donetsk 2-2 TSG Hoffenheim

Viktoria Plzen 2-2 CSKA Moscow

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