Champions League - Group B:Manchester City were let off the hook in their Champions League Group D clash when Mario Balotelli converted a harshly awarded penalty in the 90th minute for a 1-1 draw against Borrusia Dortmund at the Etihad Stadium.

That it was of any use to City, at all, was largely down goalkeeper Joe Hart, who produced a string of stunning saves to deny Marco Reus, in particular, before the German winger opened the scoring just after the hour mark.

Reus pounced on a poor cross-field pass from City substitute Jack Rodwell to race clear and finish past Hart and Dortmund continued to dominate only to be denied by the England goalkeeper.

The German champions paid for their inability to hit the net more than once when, in the dying seconds, Sergio Aguero struck a volley against the arm of Neven Subotic from close range.

Referee Pavel Kralovec pointed to the spot and Italian Balotelli calmly stroked the ball low into the net to give the English champions their first point in Group D.

Dortmund lie second on four points, two behind leaders Real Madrid, who beat Ajax 4-1 in Amstersdam thanks a second hat-trick in four days from Cristiano Ronaldo and a stunning overhead from Karim Benzema.

A dominant Real wasted a host of chances before Ronaldo pounced on a loose ball to score from close range in the 42nd minute and Benzema finished off a swift Real break three minutes into the second half when he smashed home a Kaka centre.

Real's vulnerability at set pieces gave Ajax hope in the 56th minute when Niklas Moisander stole in at the far post at a corner and nodded under Iker Casillas before Ronaldo scored twice in two minutes to kill off the game.