Cristiano Ronaldo Sent Off In First Champions League Game For Juventus

Just over 24 hours after Lionel Messi opened the Champions League group stages for this season Cristiano Ronaldo got himself in the headlines for the wrong reasons by being sent off in his opening European game for Juventus.

Cristiano Ronaldo won three Champions League finals in a row with Real Madrid and became the competitions all time top scorer in the process, and also being the first man to break 100 goals in the competition.

He soon left Real though to move to Juventus meaning the only time he'd be in direct competition with rival Lionel Messi would be in the Champions League.

Messi started his campaign in perfect fashion in one of Tuesday's early kick offs as Barcelona beat PSV 4-0 in their opening game with the Argentina forward grabbing a hat-trick that included a brilliant free kick.

Ronaldo would have wanted nothing more than equalling his rival with a goal or three of his own in his first Champions League game for Juve.

Instead, away against Valencia, he was given his marching orders for a straight red card after 29 minutes for a coming together with the Spanish side's centre back Jeison Murillo.

The red card means that Ronaldo could be suspended for three games and that would result in him missing the game against Young Boys next time out and then the two fixtures against former side Manchester United.

The 33 year old five time Ballon d'Or winner was visibly upset as he left the pitch at the Mestalla but it didn't impact the Old Lady too much in the first half as they went in at the break 1-0 up.