The superstars of football came out to the Champions League party in some style, as Real Madrid, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich all picked up wins on Wednesday night.
Ronaldo bagged a brace to help Real Madrid past 10-man Juventus 2-1 in an enthralling encounter at the Bernabeu, while Rooney induced an own goal from Real Sociedad to help Manchester United to a 1-0 victory.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic was in supreme form as PSG thumped Anderlecht 5-0 while Bayern Munich also won by the same score against Viktoria Plzen.
At the Bernabeu, Gareth Bale got to watch a Ronaldo masterclass from the bench as Real Madrid looked to progress from Group B with three matches still remaining.
It was actually Juventus that got the chances-ball rolling, with Claudio Marchisio forcing a good save from Iker Casillas in the opening minutes with a rasping drive from distance.
However, Ronaldo put Real Madrid in the lead within four minutes courtesy a nice finish. The goal was created by Di Maria, the man preferred to Bale on the right, with the Argentine shaping to strike the ball from just outside the box with his left foot, before picking out the run of Ronaldo with a lovely reverse pass.
Ronaldo, one-on-one with Gianluigi Buffon, feinted to shoot before dribbling the ball past the goalkeeper and expertly slotting into an empty net from a tight angle.
Following the goal, however, Juventus responded really well, with Carlos Tevez a rather prickly thorn for the home side.
The former Manchester United and Man City striker threatened to find the back of the net with a couple of efforts on goal, while the likes of Paul Pogba and Fernando Llorente also looked to get into the game.
The midfield maestro that is Andrea Pirlo wasn't really having the greatest of times, it must be said, but the lack of guile was supplemented by the directness of Tevez, Juve's top goalscorer this season, in particular.
The equaliser, a deserved one, came in the 22nd minute for Juventus as Martin Caceres, playing at right fullback as Antonio Conte went for four at the back, lofted in a nice cross from the right, off a pick out from Pirlo, towards the far post. Paul Pogba met the ball with his head and forced a save from Iker Casillas, back in goal in place of Diego Lopez, with Llorente reacting quickest to fire home the rebound.
The parity did not last long, though, as seven minutes later Real went back into a one-goal lead. Giorgio Chiellini, unnecessarily, wrestled down Sergio Ramos inside the box off a freekick from Luka Modric, with the additional assistant referee, always accused of doing nothing in the game, asking referee Manuel Grafe to award Real a penalty.
Ronaldo stepped up, and confidently dispatched it past Buffon to score his 57th Champions League goal and go past former teammate Ruud Van Nistelrooy's record of 56. It was also Ronaldo's seventh goal in three games in the Champions League this season, following up a hat-trick and a brace with another double.
Chiellini's night ended in complete misery as the Italian defender was given a rather harsh straight red card for an elbow on Ronaldo. The Portuguese superstar, looking to blaze past the Juventus defence, was brought down by Chiellini with the Juventus defender's arm coming out and catching Ronaldo in the face. Referee Grafe again consulted his assistants before showing sending the experienced defender off - it was a yellow card offence at worst, and Juve will feel really hard done by with the decision, especially after again making a bright start to the second half as they went in search of the equaliser.
Karim Benzema, totally anonymous for most of the game, then should have out the game to bed on the hour mark, but missed the sitter of all sitters, failing to tap-in the easiest of chances into an empty net from two yards out off a cross from Alvaro Arbeloa.
Juve, despite being down to ten men, gave it a right old go, but the mountain just proved to be too steep as Real moved to the brink of qualification.
In the other game in Group B, Roberto Mancini's Galatasaray picked up an impressive 3-1 win over FC Copenhagen, and with it going two points clear of Juventus with four from three matches.
At Old Trafford, Manchester United went into an early lead courtesy an own goal from Inigo Martinez. Wayne Rooney scythed through the Real Sociedad defence before seeing his shot strike the inside of the post, with Martinez panicking a little and turning in the rebound into his own net.
United dominated the first half, but could not find that second goal to kill the game off, with Javier Hernandez, rightly, having a goal chalked off for offside.
Real Sociedad slowly, but surely crept back into the game late towards the first half, as United again failed to find that goal to make the game safe. The Spanish side, however, just did not have the European nous to find the equaliser in the second half, as United comfortably saw off their challenge to pick up their second win in Group A.
There was a bit of a shock in the group, with Shakhtar Donetsk, the team expected to challenge United for the top spot, going down 4-0 to an impressive Bayer Leverkusen side, making it a three-horse race for the two spots in the knockout stages.
Reigning champions Bayern Munich, expectedly, thrashed Viktoria Plzen 5-0 with a brace from Franck Ribery, and one each from David Alaba, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mario Gotze keeping the Bavarians perfect.
Manchester City had earlier beaten CSKA Moscow 2-1 to take control of second spot in Group D.
The performance of the night, though, was reserved for that great man that goes by the name of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The striker scored a stunning four goals, with three of the strikes right off the top draw as PSG cruised to a win at Anderlecht for their third victory in as many games.
Results: Group A: Manchester United 1-0 Real Sociedad, Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 Shakhtar Donetsk. Group B: Galatasaray 3-1 FC Copenhagen, Real Madrid 2-1 Juventus. Group C: Benfica 1-1 Olympiakos, Anderlecht 0-5 PSG. Group D: CSKA Moscow 1-2 Manchester City, Bayern Munich 5-0 Viktoria Plzen.
