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Real Madrid held by Tottenham; Sevilla routed; Man City stay perfect (Roundup)

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IANS Madrid/Manchester/Berlin
Last Updated : Oct 18 2017 | 6:13 PM IST

Real Madrid could do no better than a 1-1 draw at home against Tottenham Hotspur in the third round of the 2017-2018 Champions League group stage, Manchester City and Besiktas stayed perfect and Sevilla crashed to a 1-5 away defeat against Spartak Moscow.

Two other football clubs who were expected to be impact makers in the continental competition, Borussia Dortmund and 2016-2017 semi-finalists Monaco, remained without a victory on Tuesday, reports Efe.

The outcome at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid leaves the defending champions Real and Tottenham tied atop Group H with seven points apiece and identical goal differentials of plus 5.

Tottenham took the lead on a goal by Harry Kane and Real Madrid pulled level just before half-time when Cristiano Ronaldo converted from the spot after Toni Kroos was fouled in the area.

The goalkeepers, Keylor Navas for the hosts and Hugo Lloris for the visitors, made key stops to keep it 1-1.

The other Group H match also ended in deadlock, as Dortmund and Apoel drew 1-1 in Nicosia to gain their respective first points of the tournament. Michael Pote's 62nd-minute strike for the hosts was cancelled out five minutes later by Greek centre-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos.

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Sevilla, who reached the round of 16 last season, suffered a 5-1 beating in Moscow. The teams ended the first half level at 1-1. But Spartak scored four unanswered goals in the second period to climb to five points and second place in Group E, one point ahead of the Spanish side.

Quincy Promes (18th and 90th minutes), Lorenzo Melgarejo (58th), Denis Glushakov (67th) and Luiz Adriano (74th) scored for the Russian capital outfit, while Simon Kjaer struck one for the visitors Sevilla.

Liverpool claimed the top spot in E with a 7-0 thrashing of hosts Maribor. The visiting Reds jumped out to a commanding lead with three goals in the space of 19 minutes and went on to add another four. Roberto Firmino and Mohammed Salah scored a brace each for Liverpool in Maribor.

Though tied with Spartak on points, the English club have the better goal differential.

In Manchester, City led Napoli 2-0 after the first 15 minutes on goals by Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus, but the visitors battled back to make it a contest.

Dries Mertens missed from the penalty spot and Amadou Diawara's subsequent successful conversion wasn't enough to overcome the deficit.

With nine points from nine matches, City lead Group F by three points over Shakhtar Donetsk, who defeated last-place Feyenoord Rotterdam 2-1 on Wednesday. Napoli are third with three points.

Steven Berghuis (seventh minute) gave early lead for Feynoord in Rotterdam. Brazilian Bernard (24th and 54th) was Shakhtar's saviour.

Likewise perfect are Group G leaders Besiktas, who came from behind to prevail 2-1 away to Monaco, now in last place. Cenk Tosun got a brace to nullify the early goal by Radamel Falcao.

Five points back from Besiktas sit RB Leipzig, who saw off Porto 3-2. The Portuguese side have three points.

Willi Orban (eighth minute), Emil Forsberg (37th) and Jean-Kevin Augustin (40th) scored the goals for the German club in Leipzig, while Vincent Aboubakar (18th) and Ivan Marcano responded for Porto.

--IANS

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First Published: Oct 18 2017 | 6:06 PM IST

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