European football greats Francesco Totti and Xavi Hernandez set Champions League records for oldest goal-scorer and appearances on Tuesday but neither could cap that personal landmark with victory for their sides Roma and Barcelona respectively.
Totti turned 38 last weekend and he made sure he would remember it as he scored against Manchester City to level the game at 1-1 — Sergio Aguero having given the host the lead with a penalty — to break Ryan Giggs’s record set when he was 37 years and 289 days old.
The game finished 1-1, a result that is of more help to the Italian side than the English champion.
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Bayern Munich tops the group with six points from two matches, Roma is on four and City struggling to avoid bowing out in the group stage for the third time in four years.
Xavi, now no longer first choice after a career at Barcelona that has brought him three Champions League trophies among many other winners’ medals, broke compatriot Raul’s appearance record of 142 when he came on as a substitute in the second-half of its game with Paris Saint Germain.
However, the 34-year-old was unable to help turn around a gripping encounter as the French champion prevailed 3-2. PSG tops the group on four points with Barcelona a point back while Ajax, which was held 1-1 by APOEL Nicosia, is third on two points.
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The results :
On Wednesday: Group C : Zenit St. Petersburg 0 drew with Monaco 0.
On Tuesday: Group E : Manchester City 1 (Aguero 4-pen) drew with Roma 1 (Totti 23).
Group F: APOEL Nicosia 1 (Manduca 32-pen) drew with Ajax 1 (Andersen 28); Paris Saint Germain 3 (Luiz 10, Verratti 26, Matuidi 54) bt Barcelona 2 (Messi 11, Neymar 56).
Group G : Schalke 04 1 (Huntelaar 56) drew with Maribor 1 (Bohar 37); Sporting Lisbon 0 lost to Chelsea 1 (Matic 34).
Group H: Shakhtar Donetsk 2 (Teixeira 52, Adriano 85) drew with Porto 2 (Martinez 89-pen, 90+3); BATE Borisov 2 (Polyakov 19, Karnitskiy 41) bt Athletic Bilbao 1 (Aduriz 45).