Cristiano Ronaldo breaches 500-mark as Real Madrid, Manchester clubs win

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates scoring the opening goal against Malmo on Wednesday. (Source: Reuters)

Cristiano Ronaldo surpassed the 500-goal mark and Real Madrid hailed him as the club’s all-time leading scorer on Wednesday, while Manchester United and Manchester City rebounded from opening losses to remain in contention in the Champions League.

Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus also won their matches in the European competition and remain in a good position after two rounds of group stage matches.

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Ronaldo scored his 500th and 501st goals in Sweden, passing Raul’s mark of 323 goals according to the Spanish club, which counts a goal that has officially been awarded to Pepe. UEFA said the players are still level at 323.

“I’m very happy,” Ronaldo said. “First of all because the team won. But I won’t lie to you. I really wanted to beat Raul’s record.”

Ronaldo said Raul had sent him a message of congratulations.

The Portuguese forward took his Champions League record tally to 82 goals, five more than Lionel Messi.

“We are happy with Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals,” defender Alvaro Arbeloa said. “It’s incredible what he’s doing. He is a legend in Real Madrid. It seems there is no limit to what he can do.”

Here is a look at Wednesday’s Champions League matches:

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Group A

Ronaldo ensured Real Madrid kept its share of the Group A lead, along with Paris Saint-Germain.

The Portugal forward scored in the 29th and 90th minutes against Malmo, which played with 10 men from the 78th as left back Yoshimar Yotun was sent off with a second yellow card.

Swedish police said 20 Madrid supporters were detained for disorderly conduct before the match.

PSG eased to a 3-0 win at Shakhtar after defender Serge Aurier scored a goal and set up another.

The Ivory Coast right back headed in PSG’s opener in the seventh minute and served up a corner kick for David Luiz to make it 2-0 in the 23rd.

PSG sealed victory when Zlatan Ibrahimovic unleashed a shot that ricocheted off Shakhtar captain Darijo Srna and flew into the net as an own goal in the 90th.

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Group B

All four Group B teams are now level on three points after Manchester United defeated Wolfsburg 2-1 in England and CSKA Moscow edged PSV Eindhoven 3-2 at home.

Juan Mata scored one goal and set up another as United rallied to win its first group match. Daniel Caligiuri put Wolfsburg ahead after four minutes, but Mata won and converted a penalty to equalize before halftime and Chris Smalling slotted the ball past Diego Benaglio to seal the win in the 53rd.

In Russia, Seydou Doumbia scored twice as CSKA held off a second-half comeback by PSV. CSKA led 3-0 at halftime but PSV bounced back with two goals from Maxime Lestienne and had chances to level the score late.

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Group C

Benfica moved into a comfortable position atop Group C with the surprise 2-1 win at Atletico Madrid, opening a three-point advantage after two matches.

Benfica has six points and Atletico has three, while Galatasaray and Astana, which drew 2-2 in Kazakhstan earlier Wednesday, have one point each.

Atletico Madrid went ahead with Angel Correa in the 23rd, but Argentine midfielder Nicolas Gaitan equalized in the 36th and Goncalo Guedes put the Portuguese champions ahead in the 51st. Brazilian World Cup veteran goalkeeper Julio Cesar played well to keep the hosts from recovering.

There were three own goals in the match in Kazakhstan, including Astana’s 89th-minute equalizer. It was the first game in the main stages of the Champions League to be held in the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan, which has been considered part of Europe for football purposes since 2002.

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Group D

Juventus and Manchester City cast aside their domestic woes to pick up important wins in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Juventus stayed ahead in Group D by defeating Sevilla 2-0 in Italy, while City’s first victory came at Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Alvaro Morata equaled a Juventus club record by scoring in a fifth successive Champions League match to put last year’s runner-up three points clear atop the group. Simone Zaza sealed the victory in the end.

Manchester City moved level with Sevilla after Sergio Aguero scored a last-minute penalty to help the Premier League side snatch a dramatic 2-1 victory in Germany.

Aguero was fouled by United States defender Fabian Johnson in the 89th and sent ‘Gladbach keeper Yann Sommer the wrong way to secure the win.

Moenchengladbach was playing European Cup football at home for the first time in 37 years.