Leading English football teams Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and Liverpool have put in strong performances in the latest round of Champions League group matches.
Real Madrid's Raphael Varane. Photo: Daisuke Nakashima
Spurs earned a 1-1 draw away to title holders Real Madrid of Spain on Wednesday (NZ time), while City showed their credentials by downing Italian Serie A leaders Napoli 2-1.
Tottenham opened the scoring through Raphael Varane's 28th minute own goal at the Bernabeu but Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty, his 110th goal in the competition, levelled the scores just before the break.
Ronaldo, who went third in the tournament's all-time appearance list with 143, and Karim Benzema were denied by Spurs' keeper Hugo Lloris but Keylor Navas kept out Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen.
In Manchester, the home side stormed ahead against Napoli through Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus before the visitors missed a penalty through Dries Mertens.
Amadou Diawara converted a late spot-kick for Napoli who could not find a leveller.
There was also good news for Liverpool, who embarrassed Maribor 7-0 in Slovenia to equal the biggest away win in the competition, with Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah netting doubles in the Group E drubbing.
Elsewhere, Feyenoord suffered a 2-1 home defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk and Spartak Moscow hammered visitors Sevilla 5-1 Besiktas to become the first Turkish team to start a group campaign with three wins after a 2-1 victory at Monaco.
RB Leipzig accounted for FC Porto 3-2 and Apoel Nicosia drew 1-1 with Borussia Dortmund in the other Group H game.
-AAP