Champions League: Madrid demolish Legia Warsaw 5-1

Madrid players celebrate one of their goals

Gareth Bale scored his first Champions League goal since 2014 as holders Real Madrid comfortably beat Legia Warsaw.

Moments after Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe had struck the post for the visitors, Bale cut inside and found the bottom corner.

A Marcelo shot saw Tomasz Jodlowiec deflect in for an own goal but Miroslav Radovic pulled one back from the spot.

Marco Asensio smartly side-footed in from 18 yards, and after the break substitutes Lucas Vazquez and Alvaro Morata completed the scoring.

Cristiano Ronaldo was on target as Zinedine Zidane’s side won 6-1 at Real Betis on Saturday but he remains stuck on 98 goals in Europe despite having nine shots at the Bernabeu, finding the target twice.

Ahead of kick-off in Madrid, three Polish fans were arrested for incidents in the city. The reverse fixture on 2 November will be played behind closed doors after Legia were punished for racist behaviour in their 6-0 loss to Borussia Dortmund.

Zidane admitted he hoped to improve upon the number of chances his side gave the Polish champions and Danilo’s needless foul on Radovic for the penalty perhaps summed up some of Real’s slack defensive work.

But Los Blancos are now unbeaten in 24 competitive outings and move second in Group F, level on seven points with leaders Borussia Dortmund, who won 2-1 at Sporting Lisbon.

On 1 November, Igor Akinfeev will have gone 10 years without a clean sheet in the Champions League

CSKA Moscow goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev has now gone 40 Champions League matches without a clean sheet.

He was less than three minutes away when Monaco’s Bernardo Silva curled in left-footed to equalise and send the Ligue 1 side top of Group E, a point clear of Tottenham, who drew 0-0 at Bayer Leverkusen.

Lacina Traore, a Monaco player on loan at CSKA, had opened the scoring but the Russian side are now bottom of Group E and winless in seven Champions League matches.

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