Gerrard grabs last-gasp winner for Liverpool

17 September 2014 - 02:11 By Reuters
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GAME-BREAKER: Mario Balotelli of Liverpool, right, battles with Anicet Abel of Ludogorets in the Uefa Champions League Group B match at Anfield last night. Balotelli scored the opening goal in his team's 2-1 victory over the Bulgarian champions
GAME-BREAKER: Mario Balotelli of Liverpool, right, battles with Anicet Abel of Ludogorets in the Uefa Champions League Group B match at Anfield last night. Balotelli scored the opening goal in his team's 2-1 victory over the Bulgarian champions
Image: CLIVE BRUNSKILL/GETTY IMAGES

Liverpool scored a dramatic 2-1 win over Ludogorets of Bulgaria with all three goals coming in the last 12 minutes of their Champions League Group B match at Anfield last night.

Mario Balotelli put Liverpool ahead after 82 minutes, then Dani Abalo equalised for Ludogorets as the clock struck 90 minutes, before Steven Gerrard won it for Liverpool with a penalty in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

Gerrard struck from the spot after Ludogorets keeper Milan Borjan made a hash of a clearance, and brought down defender Manquillo.

Borussia Dortmund comfortably beat Arsenal 2-0 to launch their Champions League Group D campaign with a dominant performance.

Italian forward Ciro Immobile gave the hosts a deserved lead on the stroke of halftime.

Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, who terrorised the Arsenal defence with his speed and also hit the post, added another goal after the break as the Germans, missing several players through injury, avenged last season's home loss to the English side.

The win puts Dortmund in the driving seat in Group D on three points with Galatasaray and Anderlecht drawing 1-1 in Turkey in the other game in the section.

Holders Real Madrid chased away some early-season blues when Gareth Bale scored the pick of the goals in a 5-1 rout of FC Basel in their Group B match.

After a deflected Nacho effort put Real 1-0 ahead in the 14th minute, Bale raced on to a Luka Modric pass and dinked the ball over on-rushing Basel goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik before volleying into an empty net.

A minute later, Bale found space on the right of the penalty area and sent over a low cross for Cristiano Ronaldo to tap in at the far post. New Real signing James Rodriguez made it 4-0 in the 37th minute before Karim Benzema completed the scoring in the 79th minute, making Real the first club to score 1000 goals in European competition.

Group A: Olympiakos 3, Atletico Madrid 2; Juventus 2, Malmö 0

Group B: Liverpool 2, Ludogorets Razgrad 1; Real Madrid 5 Basel 1

Group C: Benfica 0 Zenit St Petersburg 2; Monaco 1 Bayer Leverkusen 0

Group D: Borussia Dortmund 2 Arsenal 0; Galatasaray 1 Anderlecht 1.

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