Lacklustre Bayern stunned by Rostov, Benfica stage great comeback

Bayern Munich’s hopes of finishing top of their Champions League group were hanging by a thread on Wednesday after they lost 3-2 at Russian side Rostov who recorded their first ever win in the competition.

The German champions had already qualified for the last 16, but their chances of topping Group D are now slim with leaders Atletico Madrid needing a point from their final two games to tie up first place.

Rostov, who are merely battling to finish third and get into the Europa League, fell behind when Douglas Costa swept home after 35 minutes, but an excellent finish from livewire forward Sardar Azmoun levelled and Dmitri Poloz’s penalty put the hosts ahead.

Bayern, whose defence was frequently exposed by Rostov’s pace on the break, equalised when Juan Bernat drove the ball into the roof of the net, but Christian Noboa curled in a precise free kick to earn Rostov a famous victory.

In Wednesday’s other early kick-off, Besiktas hit back from three goals behind at half-time, scoring twice in the last 10 minutes to force a 3-3 draw with Benfica in an enthralling game.

The Portuguese champions raced to a 3-0 lead in 31 minutes, helped by a sublime effort from Nelson Semedo and a bizarre goal by Ljubomir Fejsa who scored after the ball hit the woodwork three times.

Cenk Tosun pulled Besikas back into the game with a scissors kick, Ricardo Quaresma converted a penalty seven minutes from time and Vincent Aboubakar, like Quaresma a former player for Benfica’s arch-rivals Porto, equalised in the 89th minute.

The draw left Benfica with eight points from five games in Group B and Besiktas on seven alongside Napoli who were at home to Dynamo Kiev later on Wednesday.

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