Bayern Munich and Barcelona narrowly edged past Manchester City and APOEL respectively, while Chelsea were held in a 1-1 draw by Schalke in Wednesday's round of Champions League fixtures.
The Bundesliga were expected to win their opening Champions League Group E fixture against City and they did exactly that even though they had to wait until the very last minute for the victory.
Defender Jérôme Boateng grabbed all the headlines at the Allianz Arena after he grabbed the winning goal in the 90th minute of the game.
The game started with Bayern almost opening the scoring after only 40 seconds through Thomas Muller, who managed to round up Joe Hart after receiving a good ball from Robert Lewandowski. However, Muller could not add the finishing touches as he smashed the ball into the side netting.
Bayern, who completely dominated possession in the opening stages of the game, created more chances at the halfway mark of the first half through Muller and Mario Gotze.
Joe Hart came out on top on both the situations as he brilliantly saved a powerful header from Muller, before diving low to palm away Gotze's deflected effort.
Despite the host's dominance, City nearly broke the deadlock in the 22nd minute through Edin Dzeko, whose effort, following a quick break, just narrowly missed the post.
Hart was again brought into action in the closing stages of the first half as he kept out David Alaba powerful half volley following an excellent cross from Juan Bernat.
After the break, Gotze tested Hart with another good strike from inside the box but the alert England goalkeeper once again managed to keep out the German midfielder's effort.
The 27-year-old goalkeeper was again needed as he just tipped away Bernat effort close to the hour mark.
Moments later, at the other end, David Silva made a chance to put his side in front when he raced ahead to get to the end of Jesus Navas's cross. However, in the end, his finishing was poor as he headed the ball wide.
Arjen Robben, who came on as a substitute in the 76th minute of the game, appealed for a penalty as he went down inside the box following a challenge from Fernandinho. But the referee ignored the Dutchman's protest as there had been minimal contact.
Finally just as the game looked like it was heading towards an inevitable draw, Boateng grabbed the winner in the 90th minute. City failed to clear a cross from Robben, and the ball found Boateng, who immediately fired an effort that went in after taking a deflection off Gotze.
Meanwhile, Chelsea were held in a 1-1 draw by Schalke at Stamford Bridge in their opening Group G fixture of the Champions League.
Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas opened the scoring in the 10th minute of the game, but his strike was cancelled out by Jan Huntelaar in the 62nd minute.
The game started with Chelsea dominating and the hosts soon went ahead in the 10th minute through Fabregas. The Spain midfielder nicked the ball off Max Meyer with a slide challenge (for which was fortunate not to get booked) and sent a pass towards Hazard, who immediately returned the favour, allowing Fabregas to finish from close range.
The Blues, who were dominating possession in the early stages of the game, got more chances to further increase their lead through Didier Drogba and Fabregas close to the half hour mark.
However, the scoreline remained 1-0 as Drogba's header was straight at goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann, before Fabregas missed a sitter following an excellent pass from Branislav Ivanovic.
Meanwhile, at the other end, Kevin-Prince Boateng tested Thibaut Courtois with a well struck long-range effort, before Draxler dragged his shot wide after doing brilliant to weave his way through the Chelsea defence.
After the break, Drogba missed another opportunity to further increase Chelsea's advantage, but Huntelaar made no mistakes as he levelled the scores with a clinical finish in the 62th minute following some excellent work by Julian Draxler.
Chelsea boss introduced Oscar, Loic Remy and Diego Costa in a desperate attempt to alter the scoreline but Schalke managed to keep their nerves and hold on to the draw.
Elsewhere, Barcelona recorded a narrow 1-0 win over Cypriot side APOEL Nicosia in their opening Group F fixture of the Champions League.
A first half strike from Gerard Pique proved to be enough to secure the three points for Barcelona as the Cypriot side were unable to find a reply to the goal, creating only four opportunities in the whole game.
Messi forced an early 12th minute save from goalkeeper Urko Pardo with a brilliant dipping free-kick, before Neymar curled an effort just wide of the post ten minutes later.
The Catalan club finally broke the deadlock in the 28th minute through Pique, who powered a header past Pardo after connecting with a free-kick from Messi.
The Spanish side got a very good opportunity to double their advantage in the closing stages of the first half through Messi, but the Argentine, after receving the ball from Neymar, fired straight at the Pardo.
Although Barcelona continued to be a threat after the break, they failed to break down APOEL's organised defence.
Jose Enrique brought in Andres Iniesta to improve Barcelona's flair in the midfield, but even the flamboyant midfielder failed to master mind a way through APOEL's defences.
The game became very exciting in the closing moments as Messi's effort was narrowly cleared off the line by Mario Sergio, and Gustavo Manduca forced Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen into his first save of the night at the other end.
However, despite the efforts by both the sides in the dying minutes, the game finally ended with Barcelona winning 1-0.
Other results:
Group E: AS Roma 5-1 CSKA Moscow
Group F: Ajax 1-1 Paris Saint-Germain
Group G: NK Maribor 1-1 Sporting Lisbon
Group H: Athletic Bilbao 0-0 Shakhtar Donetsk, Porto 6-0 BATE Borisov
