Champions League talking points: Bayern Munich seize control of Group B and Atalanta crushed in Croatia
Thomas Muller became Bayern’s record Champions League appearance maker in an easy 3-0 win
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Your support makes all the difference.Bayern Munich kicked off their Champions League campaign by easing to a 3-0 victory over Red Star Belgrade on Wednesday in a one-sided Group B encounter.
Kingsley Coman headed them into the lead in the 34th minute from a fine Ivan Perisic cross and the Bundesliga's leading scorer Robert Lewandowski slid in for the second goal in the 80th.
Thomas Muller, who became the club's record Champions League appearance maker when he came on as a substitute for his 106th game in the competition, volleyed in his first goal of the season in stoppage time.
Bayern, who stretched their unbeaten run in Champions League group stage home matches to 16, carved out chance after chance and twice hit the woodwork, while the Serbs, who battled through qualifying, were largely toothless up front.
In the group's other game, Olympiakos Piraeus came from two goals down to earn a 2-2 draw against Tottenham Hotspur in Athens.
In Croatia, Dinamo Zagreb made a perfect start to their Champions League Group C campaign when a majestic performance gave them a 4-0 home win over Italian rivals Atalanta.
Midfielder Marin Leovac fired Dinamo ahead in the 10th minute before a Mislav Orsic hat-trick sent Atalanta reeling on their debut in Europe's premier club competition.
Dinamo coach Nenad Bjelica, whose adventurous yet unfamiliar 4-3-3 formation turned out to be a masterstroke as it kept Atalanta on the back foot throughout, was delighted.
"I had a gut feeling it would bear fruit and it did thanks to a perfect first half," Bjelica told a news conference.
"We were tight at the back and pressed their midfield hard, which in turn enabled us to create a lot of chances. They didn't expect that because we'd never played in this formation before."
The score did not flatter the home side, though, as they missed several chances to win by a bigger margin, having ripped into the visitors with crisp one-touch passing and darting raids down both flanks.
Atalanta barely threatened and missed their best chance after the damage had already been done, as Dinamo keeper Dominik Livakovic pulled off a magnificent save to deny Duvan Zapata.
Elsewhere, a blunder from Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky handed Lokomotiv Moscow a 2-1 win over the German side in the Champions League on Wednesday.
With the score tied at 1-1, Hradecky sent a pass straight to Lokomotiv midfielder Dmitry Barinov, who promptly scored.
Lokomotiv had taken the lead through Grzegorz Krychowiak in the 16th minute before Leverkusen leveled when Charles Aranguiz's shot took a deflection off Benedikt Howedes and was ruled an own goal.
The defeat is a big blow for Leverkusen, which had been widely considered more likely than Lokomotiv to challenge Juventus and Atletico Madrid for the qualifying places in Group D.
It was Lokomotiv's first Champions League away win since 2002 thanks to the Russian club's poor away record last season and a long gap in Champions League appearances before that.
Champions League results
Group A
- Club Brugge 0-0 Galatasaray
- Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 Real Madrid
Group B
- Olympiakos 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur
- Bayern Munich 3-0 Red Star Belgrade
Group C
- Dinamo Zagreb 4-0 Atalanta
- Shakhtar Donetsk 0-3 Manchester City
Group D
- Atletico Madrid 2-2 Juventus
- Bayer Leverkusen 1-2 Lokomotiv Moscow
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