Big spending Paris Saint Germain got their Champions League campaign off to a winning start on Tuesday as they beat Dynamo Kiev 4-1 in a group A match.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva were amongst the scorers, with Brazilian defender Alex and Javier Pastore scoring the others for the French side.
The main game of the evening saw Real Madrid twice come from behind to beat Manchester City 3-2 with two late goals in a game that only came to life in the final 20 minutes in the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in Group D.
Somewhat against the run of play Edin Dzeko opened the scoring for the Premier League side in the 69th minute, but Marcelo gave the home side a deserved equaliser seven minutes later.
Aleksandar Kolarov thought he had given the visitors the win five minutes from the end when his long range shot found the back of the net, but with three minutes remaining Karim Benzema levelled matters and Cristiano Ronaldo found a late winner for the home side in the 89th minute.
Champions League rookies Malaga secured a 3-0 victory against Zenit St Petersburg in group C.
Both Bundesliga clubs involved in the competition on Tuesday missed penalties, with Borussia Dortmund defender Mats Hummels seeing his spot kick saved by Ajax Amsterdam goalkeeper Kenneth Veermeer.
There was a happy ending for the home fans though as Polish international Robert Lewandowski scored the winner for Dortmund with three minutes to go.
In Piraeus Klaas-Jan Huntelaar hit the post with his penalty for Schalke 04 against Olympiakos, but the Dutch international had earlier scored for his side as they returned to Germany with a 2-1 victory.
The other matches on Tuesday saw two-time champions Porto win 2-0 at Dinamo Zagreb in group A, while Arsenal came from behind to win 2-1 at Montpellier in group B. In group C AC Milan were held to a goalless draw by Anderlecht.
