GENEVA—Real Madrid managed to win easily in the Champions League without Cristiano Ronaldo. So did Juventus, after its superstar signing was tearfully sent off within 30 minutes.
Three-time defending champion Madrid eased to a 3-0 win over Roma on Wednesday, with Francisco “Isco” Alarcon scoring from the kind of free kick only Ronaldo got to take in his nine years with the club.
Ronaldo, making his Juventus debut in a competition he has won five times, also had a new experience—getting a red card against Valencia for tangling with Jeison Murillo.
Seemingly frustrated that Murillo went to ground too easily, Ronaldo reached down to tug or ruffle the defender’s hair.
German referee Felix Brych did not have access to a video review but showed a red card after consulting his assistant behind the goal.
It was Ronaldo’s first sending off in 154 games in the competition and left him in tears.
Still, Juventus went on to win 2-0, scoring twice from penalties despite designated spot-kick taker Ronaldo not being there. Miralem Pjanic scored both times.
Elsewhere, one of the favorites to dethrone Madrid this season, Manchester City, lost at home and Manchester United won away to further dispel its uneasy start to the season.
City was lackluster in a 2-1 loss to Lyon, while rival United had little trouble winning 3-0 at Swiss champion Young Boys.
It could have been tricky for Real Madrid. No Ronaldo on the field, no Zinedine Zidane in the dugout, and facing Roma, a semifinalist last season.
But it was business as usual for the 13-time European champion under new coach Julen Lopetegui.
Isco, Gareth Bale—who seemed sure to leave if Zidane stayed—and Mariano Diaz got the goals.
Bale finished off an accurate pass by Luka Modric, and goalkeeper Keylor Navas kept a clean sheet after being preferred to new signing Thibaut Courtois.
Also in Group G, CSKA Moscow trailed 2-0 at halftime, but a stoppage time penalty from Nikola Vlasic made it 2-2 at Czech champion Viktoria Plzen.
A troubled opening half hour for Juventus in Valencia saw Mario Mandzukic and Sami Khedira miss clear chances before Ronaldo left the field in tears.
Just before halftime, Joao Cancelo hit the crossbar with a shot and was then fouled by a high boot to the face while chasing the rebound.
YOUNGEST COACH STARTS WITH DRAW
IN Kharkiv, Ukraine, the youngest coach in Champions League history drew his debut game on Wednesday as Hoffenheim’s game at Shakhtar Donetsk finished 2-2.
The 31-year-old Julian Nagelsmann had to wait just six minutes to see his team score a first Champions League goal as Florian Grillitsch put Hoffenheim 1-0 up.
However, Shakhtar responded with a solo effort from Ismaily in the 27th as the Brazilian charged down the left flank before leaving defender Havard Nordtveit sprawling as he cut inside and placed a shot inside the far post.
Nordtveit restored Hoffenheim’s lead with a header in the 38th after a corner and teammate Andrej Kramaric came close to scoring a third in the second half. However, Maycon’s long-range shot in the 81st minute for Shakhtar meant the teams shared the points in Group F after a frantic finish in which Hoffenheim held off a Shakhtar onslaught.
Nagelsmann, who turned 31 in July, took over at Hoffenheim in February 2016 at the age of 28 and qualified the team for the Champions League last season for the first time in its history by finishing third in the Bundesliga.
He’s a month younger than Belarusian Viktor Goncharenko was when he coached BATE Borisov against Real Madrid in the Champions League in 2008.
While Hoffenheim traces its history back to 1899, it’s a young club at the elite level. The team languished in the German amateur leagues before software billionaire Dietmar Hopp began to put large sums into the club starting from 2000, taking it to the Bundesliga in just eight years.
Image credits: AP