In the case of Manchester City, their 2-1 victory over Villarreal at the Etihad Stadium breathes life into a campaign that was in urgent need of reviving. A home draw with Napoli and away defeat at Bayern Munich had left Roberto Mancini labelling the visit of Villarreal "must-win", and that is exactly what his side achieved thanks to Aguero's 93rd-minute winner, after a Carlos Marchena own goal had earlier cancelled out Cani's opener.
City's last European outing saw off-field matters overshadow their loss to Bayern Munich as Carlos Tevez allegedly refused to enter the field of play. This time it was Adam Johnson who cut a disappointed figure on the sidelines after Mancini dragged the England winger off before half-time.
Mancini's men suffered a nightmare start, falling behind after three minutes following errors from both Nigel de Jong and Joe Hart. First De Jong made a powderpuff effort to win the ball outside his own penalty area, and then Hart spilled the resulting shot straight to Cani to tap home the opener.
City were level by the break though as Aleksandar Kolarov's devilish low cross was turned home by Marchena under pressure from Edin Dzeko. Kolarov then thought he had handed City the lead after half-time only to see the lineman's flag raised, but Aguero arrived at the back post with almost the final kick of the game to win it for City.
Victory means City are now just a point behind second-placed Napoli, who drew 1-1 with Bayern Munich in Italy. Toni Kroos opened the scoring for the Germans, but they were pegged back before half-time by an own goal from Holger Badstuber. Mario Gomez then missed a second-half penalty for Bayern.
Real Madrid continue to look like one of the teams to beat in this year's tournament after Jose Mourinho's side defeated Lyon 4-0 at El Santiago Bernabeu. Karim Benzema was the first to strike with a poacher's finish on 18 minutes, before both sides had goals disallowed.
Benzema then turned provider immediately after half-time to set up Sami Khedira, before Madrid's supremacy was cemented by an own goal from Hugo Lloris and a late strike from Sergio Ramos.
Madrid already have a five-point lead over both Lyon and Ajax, who chalked up a 2-0 victory over Dinamo Zagreb. Miralem Sulejmani gave the Amsterdam club the advantage four minutes after the interval, before Christian Eriksen made the points safe.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, Inter Milan continued their recovery following an opening day loss to Trabzonspor with a 1-0 victory over Lille. Giampaolo Pazzani ended a poor-quality opening to the match with the deadlock-breaker on 20 minutes.
And CSKA Moscow earned their first victory of the campaign with a 3-0 triumph over Trabzonspor. Seydou Doumbia opened the scoring with a left-footed drive on the half-hour, and he later completed his brace after substitute Aleksandrs Cauna had made it 2-0 with a back-post volley. (ESPN)
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CSKA Moskva 3 - 0 Trabzonspor Napoli 1 - 1 Bayern München Manchester City 2 - 1 Villarreal Lille 0 - 1 Internazionale Oţelul Galaţi 0 - 2 Manchester United Basel 0 - 2 Benfica Real Madrid 4 - 0 Olympique Lyon Dinamo Zagreb 0 - 2 Ajax
