Real Madrid thrash Basel, Gerrard rescues Liverpool

London: Holders Real Madrid chased away some of their early-season blues when Gareth Bale scored the pick of the goals in a 5-1 rout of FC Basel in their Champions League Group B opener on Tuesday.

After a deflected Nacho effort put Real 1-0 ahead in the 14th minute,
Bale raced on to a Luka Modric pass and dinked the ball brilliantly over onrushing Basel goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik before volleying into an empty net.

A minute later, Bale found space on the right of the penalty area and sent over a low cross for Cristiano Ronaldo, last season’s Champions League top scorer with 17 goals, to tap in at the far post.

New Real signing James Rodriguez made it 4-0 in the 37th minute when he started and finished a sweeping counter attack before Derlis Gonzalez almost immediately pulled a goal back for the visitors when he sped clear and beat Iker Casillas with a low strike.

Karim Benzema completed the scoring in the 79th minute when he lashed a left-foot shot into the net off the underside of the crossbar as Real became the first club to score 1,000 goals in European competition.

Borussia Dortmund comfortably beat Arsenal 2-0 to launch their Champions League Group D campaign with a dominant performance that saw them overwhelm their error-prone opponents on Tuesday.

Dortmund, losing finalists in 2013, took control of Group D on three points with Galatasaray and Anderlecht drawing 1-1 in Turkey in the other game in the section.

Italian forward Ciro Immobile, who until Tuesday had yet to score for Dortmund since joining in an 18 million euros ($23.33 million) move from Torino, gave the hosts a deserved lead on the stroke of halftime with a superb solo effort as they controlled possession and set the pace for much of the first half.

Winger Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, who terrorised the Arsenal defence with his speed and also hit the post, added another goal after the break as the Germans, missing several players through injury, avenged last season's home loss to the English side.

"We were brave, we were fast and we had everything we needed to win this game," Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp told reporters.

"I enjoyed it from the first minute to the last." In other matches, Champions League drama returned to Anfield after five years away like a long lost friend on Tuesday as Liverpool beat debutants Ludogorets of Bulgaria 2-1 with Steven Gerrard scoring a last-gasp penalty.