A SUPERB strike by Jerome Boateng with a minute remaining earned Bayern Munich a dramatic 1-0 victory against Manchester City in their opening Champions League game of the season Wednesday.

    Boateng scored with a wonderful half-volley that took a light deflection before flying inside the far post after the visitors failed to clear Arjen Robben’s corner.

    “We had so many chances to score, but we wasted all of them until the last minute. The ball came absolutely perfectly to me and I thought to myself, this one I will hit into the roof of the net and that’s what I did,” the defender said after scoring against his former side.

    It was looking like goalkeeper Joe Hart’s inspired performance would be enough to salvage a draw for the Premier League side, which went closest through David Silva’s flying header wide of the post in the 63rd minute.

    City substitute Sergio Aguero came close to equalizing in injury time, only to poke the ball wide under pressure from Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

    It was the third meeting in four seasons between the sides, with Bayern avenging defeat at home to the City in their final group game last December, when the English side ended the 2013 champion’s competition record 10-game winning run.

    Thomas Mueller, Robert Lewandowski and David Alaba all had good chances in a frustrating first half for Bayern, but Hart thwarted their efforts with a series of brilliant stops.

    City finally enjoyed some possession after Bayern bossed the opening minutes, and Edin Dzeko tested Neuer at the near post in the 13th.

    The Bosnian striker, familiar to fans from his time at Bundesliga rival Wolfsburg, was to be a thorn in Bayern’s side until his replacement in the 74th by Aguero.

    Dzeko’s curled shot whizzed past the far post and again went close in the 29th minute. Sandwiched between his two efforts, Hart again came to the rescue for City with Mueller and Goetze denied.

    David Alaba fired narrowly wide, and then drew another stop from Hart, who was relieved to see the rebound elude a number of waiting Bayern players.

    Lewandowski then hit the side netting in a similar manner to Mueller. After rounding the goalkeeper he failed to net and those frustrations grew for the home side in the second half.

    Elsewhere, Barcelona continued its run of not losing the opening group stage match of the Champions League that started in 1997 with a win against APOEL Nicosia.

    Chelsea wasted chance after chance and had to settle for a 1-1 draw with Schalke 04 in their Group G match at Stamford Bridge.

    Gervinho hit a first-half brace as AS Roma marked its return to the Champions League in stunning fashion with a 5-1 rout of CSKA Moscow.

    (SD-Agencies)