BAYERN Munich began its defense of the Champions League title in ominous fashion by crushing Atletico Madrid 4-0 Wednesday, while Liverpool and Manchester City also won but Real Madrid suffered a shock defeat.

Bayern Munich winger Kingsley Coman picked up where he left off last season with two goals.

Coman, whose header settled last season’s Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) just 59 days ago in Lisbon, scored Bayern’s opening goal, created their second and claimed their fourth behind closed doors at the Allianz Arena.

“We played very well, I am very happy with my two goals,” Coman told Sky Sports.

“The winning goal in last season’s final is a good motivator, but it’s in the past now and we have fresh goals this season.” Coman saved his best for last with a superb effort, turning the Atletico defense inside out before firing home on 72 minutes.

Goals by midfielders Leon Goretzka and Corentin Tolisso, who produced an unstoppable long-range strike from outside the box, added to Atletico’s misery in Munich.

The defeat was the joint heaviest Atletico has suffered under Diego Simeone, rivaling the 4-0 drubbing dished out at Dortmund almost exactly two years ago.

Real Madrid made an embarrassing start in the Champions League as Shakhtar Donetsk pulled off a shock 3-2 win away to 13-time winner Real Madrid in their Champions League Group B opener on Wednesday, despite the Ukrainian side missing 10 players due to injuries and COVID-19.

Strikes from Tete and Manor Solomon, either side of a Raphael Varane own-goal, gave the Ukrainian champion a shock lead at the interval and while Luka Modric and Vinicius Junior pulled goals back, Madrid fell short.

Fede Valverde thought he had grabbed an equalizer in injury time but his deflected shot was ruled out after VAR showed Vinicius was offside.

La Liga champion Madrid, meanwhile, reflected on a second consecutive home defeat after losing 1-0 at their Alfredo di Stefano stadium to promoted Cadiz on Saturday, further denting their confidence ahead of the Classico at Barcelona in three days’ time.

“In the first half we were not worthy of this competition,” said Madrid midfielder Modric.

“It’s obvious we need to improve, we lacked confidence today, especially in the first half, but we have to move on, we can’t waste any time regretting what has happened.”

Coach Zidane had insisted ahead of the game that he was not looking to the trip to Barca’s Camp Nou but rested several big names against Shakhtar, choosing not to risk captain Sergio Ramos and starting without Toni Kroos and attacking talisman Karim Benzema.

“I think Madrid underestimated us but we showed our football and our style,” said Shakhtar’s Korniienko.

Romelu Lukaku scored twice, including a last-gasp equalizer, to rescue a 2-2 draw for Inter Milan in their Champions League opener against Borussia Moenchengladbach on Wednesday.(SD-Agencies)