Leverkusen held to frustrating draw following CSKA fightback

LEVERKUSEN, Germany (Reuters) – CSKA Moscow came from two goals down to earn a deserved point with a 2-2 draw at Bayer Leverkusen in their Champions League Group E opener on Wednesday.

The visitors got off to the worst possible start and found themselves two down after just 15 minutes following goals from Admir Mehmedi and Hakan Calhanoglu.

The Russian champions were shell-shocked and were all at sea defensively. The hosts had chances to extend their lead further, but were denied by CSKA goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, who despite not having kept a clean sheet in the competition for almost a decade, kept his side in the match.

Two CSKA goals in three minutes towards the end of the first half then turned the game on its head.

Alan Dzagoev scored a fine individual effort before Roman Eremenko found the back of the net after slipping the ball through Leverkusen goalkeeper Bernd Leno’s legs.

Both sides looked vulnerable at the back, but neither could find a winner in the second half.

(Reporting By Dmitriy Rogovitskiy; Editing by Toby Davis)