Football
ESPN staff 9y

Danny Welbeck sparks Arsenal to win while Liverpool fall to Basel

Arsenal cruised to victory behind a Danny Welbeck hat-trick while Liverpool suffered defeat in Switzerland in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Welbeck enjoyed his first career 3-goal match as Arsenal overpowered Galatasaray 4-1 and survived with 10 men for the last half-hour after goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was sent off.

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Against a weak defense, Welbeck side-footed in the opener in the 22nd minute, swept in a second on the half-hour and, after Alexis Sanchez also scored, completed his hat-trick at the start of the second half.

Arsenal were gliding in the Group D encounter until Szczesny rushed off his line and brought down Burak Yilmaz, who then converted the resulting penalty.

Basel defeated Liverpool 1-0 to extend their exceptional record against English clubs in the Champions League.

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Following a corner, veteran forward Marco Streller pounced on a loose ball in the 52nd minute to earn the Swiss champions' first Group B points.

Basel are now unbeaten in seven matches against English opposition in the competition's group stage -- a run started 12 years ago when they advanced ahead of Liverpool.

Liverpool's best effort was Mario Balotelli's swerving, 60th-minute free kick from 30 yards, blocked awkwardly by goalkeeper Tomas Vaslik.

Also in Group B, Real Madrid needed a 77th-minute goal from substitute Karim Benzema to win 2-1 at newcomers Ludogorets.

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Unfazed by the star-studded visitors in their first home game in the Champions League, Ludogorets surprised the defending 10-time champions by taking the lead in the sixth minute.

Cristiano Ronaldo squandered his first chance to equalise when his penalty kick was saved by goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov in the 10th minute. But the Ballon d'Or holder didn't miss a second time from the spot in the 24th minute.

With Ludogorets holding their own, Benzema went on in the 67th and volleyed in Marcelo's cross to secure Madrid's second victory in Group B.

Arda Turan struck in the second half to inflict Juventus' first defeat of the season and get Atletico Madrid's Group A campaign up and running with a 1-0 victory.

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The Turkish midfielder scored the only goal of the game in the 74th minute at the Vicente Calderon stadium to give last season's finalists all three points.

Juve dominated possession but failed to test Atletico goalkeeper Miguel Moya throughout the match.

Adrian Ramos struck twice after forward Ciro Immobile opened the scoring in the third minute as Borussia Dortmund swept to a convincing 3-0 victory over Anderlecht in Group D in Brussels.

Dortmund immediately shrugged off their Bundesliga struggles, and when Shinji Kagawa sent Italy's Immobile through for an easy goal, the difference in class was immediately clear.

In the 65th minute, Ramos stabbed home a pinpoint deep pass from Lukasz Piszczek for the second and followed up with a show of close control in the 79th, taking the ball from the wing, turning and curling a third goal past Silvio Proto.

Bayer Leverkusen eased past Benfica 3-1 in Group C. Stefan Kiessling opened the scoring in the 25th minute after Benfica goalkeeper Julio Cesar fumbled a shot by Son Heung-Min, and Son scored in the 34th minute.

Eduardo Salvio pulled one back for Benfica in the second half, but two minutes later Leverkusen restored their two-goal lead when Hakan Calhanoglu converted a seemingly generously awarded penalty.

Markus Rosenberg scored twice as Malmo beat Olympiakos 2-0 for their first Champions League victory.

The Malmo captain capitalised on slack defending to put his team ahead four minutes before halftime in the Group A match and sealed it with a strike in the 82nd minute.

Kostas Mitroglou and Giannis Maniatis had good chances to level the score for Olympiakos in the 68th when Malmo's defense wobbled but they couldn't beat goalkeeper Robin Olsen.

Monaco held hosts Zenit St. Petersburg to a 0-0 draw in Group C after both sides failed to take their chances.

Monaco dominated possession but were denied by a string of good saves by Zenit keeper Yuri Lodygin. Zenit recovered from a poor start after the break but Monaco's defense was able to cope with the pressure.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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