By ,
Published January 13, 2015
Turin, Italy (SportsNetwork.com) - Real Madrid seized a commanding lead atop Group B of the Champions League on Tuesday thanks to a 2-2 draw at Juventus.
The Italian side went in front three minutes before halftime after Raphael Varane was whistled for a foul on Paul Pogba in the box, which allowed Arturo Vidal to convert the ensuing penalty.
But Real Madrid regrouped after halftime and equalized just seven minutes after the restart when Karim Benzema slipped a pass into the stride of Cristiano Ronaldo, who tucked home the finish past the on-rushing Gigi Buffon.
The visitors grabbed the lead at the hour mark when Gareth Bale collected a pass from Ronaldo and fired a low shot past Buffon at the near post, but Juventus got back on level terms five minutes later when Fernando Llorente connected on a cross from Martin Caceres and nodded the delivery past a diving Iker Casillas.
The draw sees Real Madrid's lead in the group extend to six points with two matches to go.
Galatasaray remains in second place in the group despite falling in a 1-0 loss at FC Copenhagen, a result that brings both clubs up to four points. Juventus bottoms the group on three points.
Group A remained unchanged after both of Tuesday's contests finished as 0-0 draws.
Manchester United controlled much of its match with Real Sociedad but failed to take advantage of a number of clear-cut scoring opportunities - Javier Hernandez missed a sitter from five yards out in the 50th minute while Robin van Persie rattled a close-range shot off the post in the 65th minute.
The best chance of the match fell to the visitors in the 70th minute after Ashley Young was tugged down in the box by Markel Bergara, but Van Persie failed to convert from the spot.
United remains atop the group on eight points, followed closely by Bayer Leverkusen and Shakhtar Donetsk on seven and five points, respectively, following their scoreless draw on Tuesday.
In Group C, Olympiakos strengthened its bid for a place in the knockout round after Kostas Manolas' 13th-minute goal was enough to bring the Greek side up to seven points with a 1-0 defeat of Benfica.
PSG, which played to a 1-1 draw with Anderlecht at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday after Demy De Zeeuw and Zlatan Ibrahimovic exchanged goals two minutes apart, remains at the top of the group on 10 points.
And in Group D, Bayern Munich and Manchester City solidified places in the knockout round after Mario Mandzukic handed the German side a 1-0 defeat of Plzen and the English club cruised to a 5-2 defeat of CSKA Moscow behind a hat trick from Alvaro Negredo and a brace from Sergio Aguero.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/real-draws-juve-to-seize-control-of-group-b