Title holders Real Madrid fought back at the death for a 2-1 comeback victory against Sporting Lisbon at the start of the new Champions League campaign.
Cristiano Ronaldo curled an 89th-minute free-kick into the top right corner against his former club and Alvaro Morata stole the winner four minutes into stoppage time to reverse Sporting's lead from Bruno Cesar.
Real had a hard time against Sporting from the outset, and the visitors' lead shortly after the restart came as no surprise, Cesar scoring into the far left corner after a clumsy defensive attempt from Real captain Sergio Ramos.
Ronaldo was denied by the left post from point-blank range late in the game but then did better on the free-kick to spare Real blushes. The whites continued to attack and even got an improbable winner from Morata against a shocked Sporting team.
But first place in this Group F went to Borussia Dortmund who returned from a one-year absence in the elite event with a 6-0 triumph at Legia Warsaw. Mario Goetze, Sokratis and Marc Bartra put Dortmund 3-0 up after 17 minutes. Raphael Guerrero, Gonzalo Castro and Pierre-Emerick got the other goals.
DPA
