Real claw their way back for crucial draw

GROUP B: Real Madrid fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Dynamo Kiev last night to leave Group B wide open with …

GROUP B: Real Madrid fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Dynamo Kiev last night to leave Group B wide open with two rounds remaining.

Ayila Yussuf and striker Maris Verpakovskis gave the Ukrainian champions a 2-0 lead halfway through a frantic first half.

But 15 minutes later Raul put Real back into the game with his 48th Champions League goal after an inch-perfect pass by Luis Figo.

Figo then levelled the score at 2-2 with a 44th-minute penalty after Ronaldo was tripped inside the box by Dynamo's Moroccan international Badr El Kaddouri.

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The result left three teams - Real, Dynamo and Bayer Leverkusen - level on seven points with two games remaining.

A last-gasp equaliser by striker Vincenzo Montella threw AS Roma a lifeline when they drew 1-1 with Leverkusen in a match played behind closed doors at the Olympic Stadium.

An earlier goal by Dimitar Berbatov had seemed to condemn Roma to their fourth successive defeat and elimination, but two minutes into injury time Montella latched on to a Francesco Totti pass before firing past visiting keeper Jorg Butt to rekindle his side's faint hopes of progressing.

UEFA ordered the match to be played behind closed doors after Swedish referee Anders Frisk was injured by a coin thrown from the stands in Roma's opening Champions League match against Dynamo Kiev in September.

GROUP C: Juventus booked a place in the knockout stage with a dramatic 90th-minute winner from Alessandro Del Piero at Bayern Munich.

The Italian Group C leaders preserved their 100 per cent record in Europe with a fourth consecutive 1-0 victory after Oliver Kahn failed to hold a Zlatan Ibrahimovic strike to allow Del Piero the simplest of tap-ins.

Bayern striker Roy Makaay had a glorious opportunity to equalise when he ran clear of the Juve defence in the dying seconds but goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon got the faintest of touches to his attempted lob in the last action of the match.

It was a heartbreaking loss for Bayern who dominated the play and had by far the most chances.

In the group's other game, underdogs Maccabi Tel Aviv scored an historic 2-1 win over Ajax Amsterdam to notch their first Champions League points in their debut season in the competition.

The win keeps alive the Israeli side's hopes of a third-place finish in the group.

Livewire midfielder Barukh Dago broke their duck in the 49th minute when he rifled home a shot from 10 metres after Ishmael Addo headed the ball into his path.

His second came in the 57th minute when he poached the ball from Ajax goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg and blasted the ball into the goal.

Ajax scored a late consolation through Wesley Sneijder in the 88th minute.