Brahimi hits three as Porto crush BATE
ByReuters
Updated 17/09/2014 at 21:26 GMT
Algerian international Yacine Brahimi scored three times as former European champions Porto crushed BATE Borisov 6-0 in their opening Champions League Group H match on Wednesday.
Yacine Brahimi scored a hat-trick as Porto beat BATE Borisov 6-0 (AFP)
Image credit: AFP
The Belarusian visitors never recovered from a dreadful mistake by goalkeeper Sergei Chernik in the fifth minute.
He miscued a throw straight to midfielder Brahimi, who ran into the penalty area and scored from a narrow angle.
Brahimi added a fine solo goal after 32 minutes, running from the halfway line, and Colombian international Jackson Martinez, who also hit the post and bar, scored the third goal in the 37th minute.
Brahimi, Adrian Lopez and Vincent Aboubakar completed the rout in an equally one-sided second half to give Porto their biggest win in the competition.
Athletic Bilbao failed to mark their Champions League return with a victory when they were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Shakhtar Donetsk.
The contest at Bilbao's impressive new San Mames stadium was evenly-matched, with both sides creating plenty of chances and the home side perhaps narrowly having the upper hand.
Bilbao finished fourth in La Liga last season and are making only their second appearance in the Champions League group stage and their first since the 1998-99 campaign.
The club, coached by their former striker Ernesto Valverde, manage to compete at the highest level even though they only use players of Basque origin.
Maribor substitute Luka Zahovic pounced on an embarrassing defensive blunder from Sporting to rescue a 1-1 draw in stoppage time.
Eighteen-year-old Zahovic headed home a loose ball after Sporting's centre-back pairing fluffed clearances in a panicked attempt to hold on to a lead given them by Nani's devastating opener.
The Manchester United outcast had cut in from the right in the 80th minute and drilled a left-foot shot into the bottom corner to apparently give the visitors the points.
It looked enough before the Slovenian champions hit back to celebrate their return to the Champions League group stages after 15 years away with a hard-earned point.
Gervinho and 37-year-old captain Francesco Totti produced virtuoso performances to help AS Roma maul a shambolic CSKA Moscow 5-1 against an ugly backdrop of crowd violence
Gervinho scored twice and set up another goal for new signing Juan Iturbe as Roma raced to a four-goal lead in just over half an hour against the Russians, who were well out of their depth at the Stadio Olimpico.
Totti, starting his 23rd season at his only professional club, orchestrated the win, spraying passes around effortlessly from midfield in the Group E match.
There were ugly scenes in the second half as CSKA fans let off flares in the stands and fought with stewards, before riot police were called in to stop the trouble.
Ahmed Musa pulled one back with eight minutes left, the first goal Roma have conceded this season.
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