Lyon’s flair seals victory over Real
The basis for Lyon’s win came in a startling first-half performance during which Cris, Sydney Govou and Florent Malouda ran the Real defence ragged, and the doughty Iker Casillas was peppered with nine shots on goal.
If it had not been for Casillas, Lyon really would have been out of sight but as it was Gerard Houllier’s men made the breakthrough in the 11th minute when Brazilian Fred beat Real defender Fabio Cannavaro on the turn and delicately chipped the ball over the head of the fast-advancing Casillas.
Portuguese international Tiago scored Lyon’s second a minute later, sliding in to sidefoot a delicate Govou chip past a despairing Casillas.
The result mirrored the 3-0 thrashing Lyon handed the nine-time European champions last season.
“It’s good to win because it gives us confidence for the rest of the group games,” said Houllier.
Steaua Bucharest went top of Group E hitting three first-half goals to crush Dynamo Kiev 4-1 in Kiev.
Sorin Ghionea, Valentin Badea and Nicolae Dica scored in the first 43 minutes to give the Romanians a 3-1 lead before Dica finished off the home side with his second score 11 minutes from time.
Sergei Rebrov, Dynamo’s all-time leading scorer, notched his 30th goal in European competition in the 16th minute but it was little consolation for Ukraine’s most popular club.
While Manchester United edged out Celtic 3-2, FC Copenhagen got their Champions League Group F account up and running with a point against Benfica with a 0-0 draw at the Parken Stadium on Wednesday.
The Portuguese side came closest to breaking the deadlock when midfielder Paulo Jorge hit the post in the second half but the hosts had more than enough chances of their own in a match they will be disappointed not to have won.
In Group G, while Arsenal beat Hamburg 2-1, Porto will be disappointed after playing out a goalless draw against CSKA Moscow.
The 2004 Champions League winners were desperate to begin this season’s campaign with a win at home but the Russians, and in particular their goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev provided stubborn resistance.
CSKA will be grateful to have departed from Portugal with a point under their arm in a professional defensive display.
AC Milan began their Champions League campaign with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Greek side AEK Athens in Group H.
Playmaker Andrea Pirlo, a key figure in Italy’s triumphant World Cup campaign, and centre-back Alessandro Nesta were both rested by Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti and not even named among the substitutes.
But headed goals in the first half from Filippo Inzaghi and Yoann Gourcuff put Milan in control, before Kaka’s 77th-minute penalty wrapped up the three points from their Group H opener.
AEK had their moments, but a home victory never looked in doubt.
Milan, whose Serie A title hopes have been severely dented by an eight-point penalty for match-fixing, next face French side Lille in a fortnight.
Honours were shared 1-1 in the other Group H game between Anderlecht and Lille after a fine fightback from the French club.
Nicolas Pareja headed Anderlecht in front in the closing minutes of the first half.
However, Lille rallied strongly in the second period and deserved an equaliser which came when substitute Nicolas Fauvergue found the net with 10 minutes to play.
There was not much action in the early stages of the match but, after a speculative attempt by Peter Odemwingie of Lille from distance, it was the hosts who carved out the first really close shave.
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