The Liga side took another step towards the last 16 of the Champions League with a hard-fought home win over the Belgians on Tuesday night

A Stefan Mitrovic own goal denied Gent what would have been a hard-fought point as they suffered a 2-1 Champions League defeat at Valencia on Tuesday.

Sofiane Feghouli put the home side in front after 15 minutes, before Matz Sels produced a string of excellent saves to keep his side in contention.

Thomas Foket then pulled the Belgians level by rifling a shot high into the Valencia net five minutes from the interval.

That equaliser revitalised the visitors and Valencia were second best for much of the second period.

However, a Jose Gaya drive from the left struck Mitrovic in the six-yard box and bounced over the line to spare the hosts’ blushes in the 72nd minute.

The result sees Valencia remain three points adrift of Group H leaders Zenit – who beat Lyon 3-1 – while Gent are still without a win in this year’s competition.

Valencia dominated the early stages, but wild efforts from Andre Gomes and Santi Mina saw their initial pressure go unrewarded.

Sels arrived at the feet of Mina to deny the hosts a simpler shot at goal from close range after nine minutes, before Shkodran Mustafi – almost completely unmarked in the box – headed narrowly over from a corner.

Valencia eventually made the breakthrough when Feghouli bundled the ball over the line after Paco Alcacer had got a touch to Joao Cancelo’s cross from the right.

And the Spanish side would have been further in front had Sels not produced a superb double save – diving to his left to keep out a Gomes strike before recovering to turn Dani Parejo’s follow-up behind.

The resulting corner led to a chance for Aderlan Santos in the centre of the box, but Sels was again on hand to make the save from the defender’s low drive.

Although Gent did make the occasional foray into the opposition half, their threat was limited.

That was until Foket got on the end of a delightful Renato Neto ball over the top and powered a left-footed effort high beyond home goalkeeper Jaume Domenech.

Alcacer lifted the ball over Sels and the crossbar early in the second period, but Valencia’s first-half dominance seemed to have deserted them.

Indeed, Gent had Valencia rattled and looked capable of pulling off an upset against their more fancied La Liga opponents.

But Valencia got lucky. Cancelo’s cross from the right bounced off the top of the crossbar and fell to Gaya, whose effort went in off the unfortunate Mitrovic.

Domenech made a strong diving save to deny Thomas Matton as Gent attempted to restore parity and, though they continued to press, Hein Vanhaezebrouck’s men were left to reflect on a missed opportunity to claim a memorable point – a dismissed stoppage-time penalty shout for a Danilo challenge on Kenny Saief rubbing salt in the wound.

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Both sides were guilty of squandering two goal leads in a Champions League encounter which produced plenty of drama

Bayer Leverkusen scored twice in the last 10 minutes to grab a point after initially squandering a two-goal lead in a thrilling 4-4 draw with Roma in Champions League action on Tuesday.

Goals from Kevin Kampl and Admir Mehmedi saw the hosts rally in the closing stages at BayArena, denying Roma their first away win in the competition since November 2010.

The Italians had led 4-2, with goals from Miralem Pjanic and Iago Falque putting them two clear after Daniele De Rossi’s brace had cancelled out Javier Hernandez’s early double for Leverkusen.

However, Leverkusen – who had knocked out Roma’s city rivals Lazio to qualify for the group stages – finished strongly as a see-saw Group E clash ended all square.

The draw leaves Leverkusen second in the group, three points behind leaders Barcelona while Roma remain propping up the table with two points from three matches.

There was little sign of the drama to come when the German side raced into an early 2-0 advantage, Hernandez getting their first from the penalty spot after just three minutes.

Vasilis Torosidis was adjudged to have blocked Hakan Calhanoglu’s left-wing cross with his arm, allowing Hernandez to send Wojciech Szczesny the wrong way from 12 yards.

The former Manchester United forward did not have to wait too long for his second, though he was helped out by some shoddy Roma defending on 19 minutes.

Lucas Digne was guilty of losing the ball near his own goal and, with Antonio Rudiger playing him onside, Hernandez managed to beat Szczesny at the second attempt after his initial shot rebounded kindly.

Roma cut the deficit in half when De Rossi grabbed his first of the night on the half-hour, Kostas Manolas’ header to the far post allowing the midfielder to slot the chance underneath Bernd Leno.

Hernandez then wasted a glorious chance to complete a first-half hat-trick, heading over on the stretch after Szczesny had failed to get anywhere near a cross from the left.

And De Rossi punished that miss to level before the break, directing home Pjanic’s right-wing cross from close range with his knee.

Having set up the second, Pjanic scored the away side’s third himself, his free-kick floating over the wall and into the top right corner in the 54th minute.

When substitute Falque converted Gervinho’s square pass after 73 minutes, drawing Leno off his line before lifting the ball over the top of the goalkeeper, the game seemed to be up for Leverkusen.

But Kampl curled home a stunning effort with his left foot to make it 4-3 and, with four minutes remaining, Mehmedi arrived at just the right time at the far post to tap home an equaliser.

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Real Madrid’s blockbuster ‘BBC’ forward line and Barcelona’s devastating ‘MSN’ trio are set to go head-to-head for the 2015 Ballon d’Or award after all six were named on the 23-man shortlist by FIFA on Tuesday.

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo kisses his fourth Golden Boot trophy before their Spanish First Division soccer match against Levante at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, October 17, 2015.

Real’s Cristiano Ronaldo, who set a club scoring record with his 324th goal on Saturday, will be going in search of his third consecutive World Player of the Year award.
He faces competition from his team mates Karim Benzema of France and Welshman Gareth Bale who make up the Spanish side’s ‘BBC’ frontline.
Joining them are four-times winner Lionel Messi, the Argentine great, and his fellow South American strikers Neymar and Luis Suarez who form Barcelona’s feared MSN frontline that fired a combined 122 goals last season.
Barcelona, who won La Liga, the Champions League and domestic cup last year, have the most players on the shortlist with Spanish midfielder Andres Iniesta, Argentine defender Javier Mascherano and Croatian Ivan Rakitic joining their front three on the award.
Real have five with Colombian James Rodriguez and German World Cup-winner Toni Kroos also named.
German champions Bayern Munich also have five representatives with Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Mueller, Arjen Robben, Arturo Vidal and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
Vidal is joined by Chilean compatriot Alexis Sanchez after their Copa American success in July.
Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure, winner of the last four African Player of the Year awards, is the only non European or South American to make the list.
The list was composed by the FIFA Football Committee and a group of experts from France Football. The winner will be announced in Zurich on Jan. 11.

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