Gervinho hit a first-half double as AS Roma marked their return to the Champions League in stunning fashion on Wednesday with a 5-1 rout of CSKA Moscow.
Roma had last featured in the competition in the 2010/11 season when they reached the last 16.
But after a three-year wait, and having finished runners-up to Juventus in the Serie A title race last season, Rudi Garcia’s men have underlined their intention to claim one of the two coveted qualifying places from a Group E which also includes Bayern Munich and Manchester City.
Roma can now look forward to a trip to Manchester on September 30 to face a City side who started with a 1-0 defeat to Bayern in Germany.
“When you take three points at the start of a six-game mini-championship like the Champions League (group stage), it’s an important step,” Garcia told Sky Sports.
“I don’t think the scoreline truly reflects how good a side CSKA are. But we’ve started well and I hope we can continue.”
Garcia had rested a number of key players for the club’s visit to Empoli last weekend and his strategy paid off, with Argentine Juan Iturbe, who sat out the 1-0 win in Tuscany, firing Roma into a 1-0 lead in the sixth minute after a mazy run that left him in a one-on-one with Igor Akinfeev.
Russian champions CSKA had travelled to the Italian capital with several players absent due to injury and suspension and they looked off the pace throughout.
Algeria midfielder Yacine Brahimi scored a hat-trick to help Porto crush blunder-prone Bate Borisov 6-0 in the Champions League, their biggest-ever win in the competition.
The performance sent a warning to Group H rivals Athletic Bilbao and Shakhtar Donetsk, although the Belarus champions proved feeble opposition and contributed to their own downfall with a series of defensive errors.
Porto, Champions League winners 10 years ago under Jose Mourinho, have quickly been revitalised by former Spain Under-21 coach Julen Lopetegui, winning six and drawing one of their seven matches this season.
Lopetegui was brought in after a relatively poor last season when Porto finished third in the league and fell in the Champions League group stage.
Brahimi, making his Champions League group debut, took full advantage of Bate’s generosity, starting with a gift from Bate goalkeeper Sergei Chernik in only the fifth minute.
He miscued a throw straight to Brahimi, who ran into the penalty area and hit the ball high into the net from a narrow angle.
Brahimi, who represented France at all age levels from Under-16 to Under-21 before declaring for Algeria, added a fine solo goal after 32 minutes, running from the halfway line and veering inside before shooting in off the far post.
Brahimi curled in a superb free-kick for his hat-trick after 57 minutes and four minutes later substitute Adrian Lopez, who appeared in last season’s final for Atletico Madrid, scored the fifth.
“For a first match it is incredible,” Brahimi, who helped Algeria reach the second round at the World Cup, said after the first hat-trick of his career.
“This was also the first time I scored three goals. We played very well and we must go on like this. I’m very happy. I have to thank all.”
Athletic Bilbao failed to mark their Champions League return with a victory when they were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Shakhtar Donetsk in their Group H opener.
The contest at Bilbao’s impressive new San Mames stadium was evenly-matched, with both sides creating plenty of chances and the home side perhaps narrowly having the upper hand.
Bilbao goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz was nonetheless voted man of the match after the 33-year-old denied Darijo Srna in the first half and Douglas Costa in the second to help secure a point for the Basque side.
“A draw was a fair result,” Bilbao midfielder Mikel Rico said to Uefa’s website.
“We struggled a bit in the second half and we were unable to get on the end of crosses but a point is positive,” he added.
“Shakhtar are very quick in attack, they are like bullets. We all wanted to win, but Shakhtar are a great team. They have been playing this way for 15 years.”
Shakhtar midfielder Taras Stepanenko said his team had “controlled the game in the first half and most of the second”.
“We got one point and didn’t concede which is the most important,” he told Uefa.
“We analysed them. The coach told us how they would play in attack and we were able to shut them out.”
Maribor substitute Luka Zahovic pounced on an embarrassing defensive blunder from Sporting to rescue a 1-1 draw in stoppage time against the Portuguese club in their Champions League Group G opener on Wednesday.
The 18-year-old Slovenian forward headed home a loose ball in the second minute of injury time after Sporting’s centre-back pairing fluffed clearances in a panicked attempt to hold on to a lead given them by Nani’s devastating strike.
The Manchester United outcast had cut in from the right in the 80th minute and drilled a left-foot shot into the bottom corner in the game’s one moment of outstanding quality.
It looked enough to give Sporting the points before the Slovenian champions hit back on their return to the Champions League group stages after 15 years away.
Sporting dominated possession and territory but were wasteful going forward – epitomised by Nani’s mixed overall performance – and Maribor will feel as though they deserved something out of the game.
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