[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] After winning seven straight league titles, French club Lyon finished third in 2008-09, requiring it to enter the UEFA Champions League in the qualifying stage, where it crushed Belgium's Anderlecht, 5-1, in the first leg on Wednesday. After Lyon lost Karim Benzema to Real Madrid and veteran Juninho to Qatari club Al-Gharafa, there were concerns about its attack, but a trio of new players came up big against Anderlecht.

Newcomers Argentine Lisandro Lopez, Brazilian Michel Bastos and Bafetimbi Gomis accounted for four of the five goals.

The fifth goal -- a well-taken free kick -- was scored by 19-year-old playmaker Miralem Pjanic, who has switched his allegiance from Luxembourg, which he represented at the youth level, to Bosnia, the country of his birth.

Lyon-Anderlecht Highlights:



FIRST LEG
Aug. 19
Levski Sofia (BUL) 1 (Bardon 51) Debrecen (HUN) 2 (Bodnar 12, Czvitkovics 76)
Lyon (FRA) 5 (Pjanic 10, Lisandro 15-pen, Bastos 40, Gomis 42, 63) Anderlecht (BEL) 1 (Suarez 58)
Red Bull Salzburg (AUT) 1 (Zickler 57) Maccabi Haifa (ISR) 2 (Ghadir 22, Arbeitman 84)
FK Ventspils (LAT) 0 FC Zurich (SUI) 3 (Vonlanthen 12, Aegerter 55, Djuric 75)
Panathinaikos 2 (Salpingidis 47, Leto 74) Atletico Madrid 3 (Maxi Rodriguez 36, Forlan 63, Aguero 70)
Aug. 18
Celtic (SCO) 0 Arsenal (ENG) 2 (Gallas 43, Caldwell 71-og)
Sporting Lisbon (POR) 2 (Vukcevic 58, Miguel Veloso 66) Fiorentina (ITA) 2 (Vargas 6, Gilardino 79)
Copenhagen (DEN) 1 (Pospech 54) Apoel Nicosia (CYP) 0
Sheriff (MDA) 0 Olympiakos (GRE) 2 (Dudu 46, Mitroglou 81)
Timisoara (ROM) 0 Stuttgart (GER) 2 (Gebhart 28-pen, Hleb 30)