UCL Thriller: Noah Okafor’s Salzburg Held By Brave Lokomotiv Moscow In Austria

Noah Okafor did his bit after his introduction in the 84th-minute, but it was a little too late as his Austrian side could only manage a two-all draw against their Russian guests on Wednesday evening

Salzburg and Lokomotiv Moscow played out a thrilling 2-2 draw at the Red Bull Arena in their opening group match of this season’s UEFA Champions League.

The home side were the big favourites on the day, but it was the visitors who opened the scoring through Eder after just 19 minutes.

Salzburg fought back impressively with two quick goals – one just before the interval and the other five minutes after the break – courtesy of Dominik Szoboszlai and Zlatko Junuzovic.

But Vitali Lisakovich’s 75th-minute header ensured Lokomotiv returned to Moscow with a share of the spoils, despite the late introduction of Binningen-born exciting youngster Okafor. 

Meanwhile, at the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium, Real Madrid were stunned 3-2 by visitibg Shakhtar Donetsk, in what is the worst possible start to the Champions League campaign for Zinedine Zidane’s men.

The La Liga champions paid dearly for a woeful first half that saw them concede three times to the Ukrainian giants.

A much improved second half saw Luka Modric and Vinicius Junior reduced the deficit for the home side, but there was to be no happy ending for Zidane and his men.

Federico Valverde thought he had completed the comeback in the closing stages of the encounter, but VAR ruled out his effort to offside, as Madrid suffered yet another home defeat after their recent embarrassing loss to Cadiz.