The four English teams all won their first games in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, but they were all by one-goal margins. For all the midweek results ...
Wednesday's Results:
Group E Liverpool 1 (Kuyt 45)
Debrecen 0. Lyon 1 (Pjanic 76)
Fiorentina 0.
Group F Inter Milan 0 Barcelona 0. Dynamo Kiev 3 (Yussuf 71,
Magrao 79, Gusev 85)
Rubin Kazan 1 (Dominguez 25).
Group G VfB
Stuttgart 1 (Pogrebnyak 18)
Rangers 1 (Bougherra 77).
Sevilla 2 (Luis Fabiano 45+1, Renato 70)
Unirea Urziceni 0.
Group H Olympiakos 1 (Torosidis 79
AZ 0. Standard Liege 2 (Mangala 2, Jovanovic pen. 5)
Arsenal
3 (Bendtner 45, Vermaelen 78, Eduardo 81).
Tuesday's Results: Group A Juventus 1 (Iaquinta 63)
Bordeaux 1 (Plasil 75).
Maccabi Haifa 0 Bayern
Munich 3 (van Buyten 64, Mueller 86, 88).
Group B Wolfsburg 3
(Grafite 35, 40 pen., 86)
CSKA Moscow 1 (Dzagoev 77).
Besiktas 0 Man. United 1 (Scholes 77).
Group C FC Zurich 2 (Margairaz pen. 64, Aegerter 65)
Real Madrid 5 (Cristiano
Ronaldo 27, 89, Raul 34, Higuain 45+1, Guti 90+4).
Marseille 1 (Heinze 49)
AC Milan 2 (Inzaghi 28, 74).
Group D Chelsea 1 (Anelka 48)
Porto 0.
Atletico Madrid 0 APOEL 0.
Real Madrid will score plenty of
goals, but preventing them will be the question mark. In their first European test, Real's new Galacticos were cruising, 3-0, at Zurich when they gave up a pair of goals to
Xavier Margairaz and
Silvan Aegerter in two minutes and saw their lead reduced to one goal. Last-minute goals from
Cristiano Ronaldo (his second of the game on a free kick) and
Guti ended the fright, but the question remains. Will new
signings,
Raul Albiol and
Alvaro Arbeloa, stabilize the defense? And will Frenchman
Lass Diarra be the answer as the holding midfielder?
AC Milan can still count on its veterans Pippo Inzaghi and Clarence Seedorf.
With only four points in three Serie A games, Milan has lots of problems, but it can still count on its 33-year-olds
Filippo Inzaghi and
Clarence Seedorf. The Dutchman found Inzaghi for the first goal with a deft chip and fed Super Pippo for the second to give the Rossoneri a rather fortunate 2-1 win
over Marseille.
Juventus will struggle without Diego. Juventus' signing of Brazilian playmaker
Diego from Germany's Werder Bremen was one of the most important moves of the Serie A summer. He showed his worth, setting up the winning goal in Juve's opening game and scoring twice
himself in its second game. But he suffered a thigh injury on Saturday against Lazio and missed the Champions League opener against Bordeaux. Without Diego, Juve had to settle for a 1-1 tie.
Wolfsburg's burly Brazilian, Grafite, is the real deal. At the age of 30,
Grafite finally made
his Champions League debut -- and what a debut it was. The Brazilian had a hat trick -- one goal with his right foot, another with his left and the third on a penalty kick -- and led German
champions Wolfsburg to a 3-1 win over CSKA Moscow.
UEFA Champions League Results
The outcomes of several UEFA Champions League matches weren't decided on Tuesday until the last
quarter of an hour. Manchester United and AC Milan won thanks to late goals, while Bordeaux gained a point at Juventus with a goal a quarter of an hour before the end. For all Tuesday's results and
Wednesday's schedule with television coverage ...
Tuesday's Results: Group A Juventus 1 (Iaquinta 63)
Bordeaux 1 (Plasil 75).
Maccabi Haifa 0 Bayern
Munich 3 (van Buyten 64, Mueller 86, 88).
Group B Wolfsburg 3
(Grafite 35, 40 pen., 86)
CSKA Moscow 1 (Dzagoev 77).
Besiktas 0 Man. United 1 (Scholes 77).
Group C FC Zurich 2 (Margairaz pen. 64, Aegerter 65)
Real Madrid 5 (Cristiano
Ronaldo 27, 89, Raul 34, Higuain 45+1, Guti 90+4).
Marseille 1 (Heinze 49)
AC Milan 2 (Inzaghi 28, 74).
Group D Chelsea 1 (Anelka 48)
Porto 0.
Atletico Madrid 0 APOEL Nicosia 0.