Champions League round-up

15 September 2009 21:42
// A bit of a hack but it works// The article snippet is wrapped onto a second line, even when #article-sub is emptyif( $("div#article-sub").children().length == 0 ) {$("div#article-sub").remove();} Manchester United and Chelsea both began their UEFA Champions League campaigns with narrow victories on Tuesday.[LNB] Real Madrid are among the favourites to take the crown, and are up and running, while Bayern Munich also took maximum points on Matchday One.[LNB]Wolfsburg and AC Milan prevailed in tricky ties, while Juventus were held by Bordeaux and Atletico Madrid were unable to see off APOEL Nicosia.[LNB]Manchester United were promised a tough test in Turkey by Besiktas, and that is precisely what they got.[LNB]Paul Scholes' well-placed header saw them to a 1-0 success in their Group B opener, but Sir Alex Ferguson's men were far from their best on the road.[LNB]Chelsea overcame horrendous weather conditions at Stamford Bridge to claim a narrow 1-0 win over Porto.[LNB]The Blues were forced to bide their time before forcing a way through, but Nicolas Anelka's strike seconds after the restart handed Carlo Ancelotti's side three points.[LNB]Fernando saw red late on for the Portuguese outfit to compound a wretched night.[LNB]Bayern Munich have taken an early lead in Group A after they saw off Maccabi Haifa 3-0.[LNB]The German giants were pushed all the way in Israel and were thankful to Daniel van Buyten and a Thomas Muller brace for bailing them out of trouble.[LNB]Juventus thought they had done enough to see off Bordeaux, but were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw.[LNB]The Italians forged ahead through Vincenzo Iaquinta, only to then see Jaroslav Plasil haul Laurent Blanc's side level.[LNB]Wolfsburg made the perfect start to life at Europe's top table as they beat CSKA Moscow 3-1 in the other fixture in Group B.[LNB]Grafite proved to be the star of the show as he bagged a hat-trick, coolly slotting home the opener, converting from the penalty spot after he had been pulled down in the box and firing home on the turn to kill off the Russians[LNB]Alan Dzagoev did hand CSKA a lifeline midway through the second half, but it proved to be nothing more than a consolation.[LNB]Cristiano Ronaldo was on target once again for Real Madrid as they produced a Jekyll and Hyde performance against FC Zurich.[LNB]The Portuguese winger opened the scoring with a trademark free-kick, before Raul and Gonzalo Higuain had Los Blancos in complete control before half-time.[LNB]Xavier Margairaz gave the home support something to shout about when he fired home from the spot in the second half and a remarkable comeback was on the cards when Silvan Aegerter grabbed a second soon after.[LNB]Ronaldo, though, profited from some sloppy goalkeeping in the final few seconds and Guti lofted home a delicate chip to put the seal on a 5-2 success.[LNB]Elsewhere in Group C Marseille slipped to a 2-1 defeat against AC Milan at Stade Velodrome.[LNB]Filippo Inzaghi had the Serie A outfit in front inside half and hour, before Gabriel Heinze levelled.[LNB]It was to be Inzaghi, though, who had the last word as he bagged his second of the game against the run of play.[LNB]Atletico Madrid and APOEL Nicosia make up the numbers in Group D, alongside Chelsea and Porto, and they could only produce a goalless draw on Tuesday.[LNB]

Source: SKY_Sports