Ronaldo scored twice as nine-time winner Real Madrid came from behind to beat Olympique Marseille 4-2 in the opening round of Champions League games on Tuesday.
Defending champion AC Milan, chasing its seventh title, earned a 1-0 victory over four-time winner Ajax Amsterdam and Manchester United netted four first half goals on the way to a 5-0 beating of Panathinaikos.
Chelsea, now fuelled by the millions of oil tycoon Roman Abramovich, gained a 1-0 win at Sparta Prague thanks to a late goal by French defender William Gallas.
But the star performers of the night were the biggest names of all.
Madrid fell behind to Didier Drogba’s 25th strike for Marseille at the Bernabeu stadium but didn’t panic.
Roberto Carlos leveled four minutes later with a left-foot volley from David Beckham’s cross and Ronaldo tapped home in the 34th minute to put Madrid ahead.
The Brazilian striker fired the second in the 57th after great build-up play by Roberto Carlos and Zinedine Zidane had carved open the Marseille defense.
Roberto Carlos controlled the ball inside his own area with a neat overhead flick and fed Zidane deep in the Madrid half. The French star went on a long, weaving run to the edge of the Marseille area and then teed up Ronaldo to fire home a left-footed shot.
Luis Figo hit the fourth with a twice-taken penalty after Roberto Carlos had been hauled down by Marseille’s Croatian goalkeeper Vedran Runje.
Daniel van Buyten scored a second for the French league leader seven minutes from the end but Marseille looked a well-beaten team.
”I’m delighted with my goals and the victory,” Ronaldo said. ”We had a difficult start. We conceded a goal. But we managed to battle back and it was good for us to be ahead at halftime.”
Making his first Champions League appearance for Madrid since his much-publicised move from Manchester United, Beckham also was happy with the performance and the victory.
”This was the first game of the Champions League and we had to get off to a good start and we did so,” Beckham said.
”We’ve got to be happy with that. The way we came back showed character.”
The England captain said it didn’t bother the team that it conceded two goals at home.
”We’re not concerned. It’s only other people that are getting concerned about that. We’re confident of going out there and playing good football and scoring goals. Of course you’re going to concede goals in games because you’re up against good teams.”
Beckham said he had no doubt the team would hit back.
”We’ve got the players and a great team to do that and it was good we showed the fighting spirit as well today,” he said.
In the other Group F game, Partizan Belgrade hit back to earn a 1-1 tie with FC Porto.
Francisco Costinha gave the Portuguese a 22nd-minute lead only for Andrija Delibasic to hit back for the Serbian champion so that Madrid has the early standings lead.
Milan striker Filippo Inzaghi made it six goals in four games — including four for Italy — after Ajax keeper Bogdan Lobont had failed to hold a powerful shot from co-striker Andriy Shevchenko in the 66th minute.
”It was a beautiful play between me and Sheva,” Inzaghi said.
”It’s a magical moment for me and Milan. I hope it continues.”
With FC Brugge and Celta Vigo tying 1-1 — Celta winger Juanfran scoring both goals — the result meant that defending champion Milan holds the early lead in Group H.
Goals by Mikael Silvestre (13th minute), Quinton Fortune (14th), Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (34th) and Nicky Butt (40th) put Manchester United in control at Old Trafford and Eric Djemba-Djemba’s late goal added to a shutout Champions League debut for American goalkeeper Tim Howard.
”I think our overall performance was excellent,” said Reds manager Alex Ferguson. ”We didn’t do the same as we did in the first half. But it was a sensible performance.”
In the other Group E game, Scottish champion Glasgow Rangers came from behind to score two goals in the final 16 minutes and beat VfB Stuttgart 2-1 at Ibrox.
The Germans went ahead just before half time when Marcelo Bordon’s free kick hit the post and Kevin Kuranyi tapped home the rebound.
But Christian Nerlinger, a former Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund player playing against his countrymen, took advantage of a mix-up in Stuttgart defence to score the first goal the German club has conceded all season.
Five minutes later Danish international Peter Lovenkrands added the second with a brilliant solo run and shot.
Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri made seven changes to the team that beat Tottenham 4-2 on Saturday and his team struggled at Sparta Prague until Gallas fired the winner five minutes from the end.
On a good night for Italian clubs, Lazio gained a 2-0 victory at Turkish champion Besiktas. Dutch defender Jaap Stam netted the first in the 37th minute for his first Champions League goal and Stefano Fiore added the second 13 minutes from the end.
The results mean and Lazio and Chelsea are tied on three points. — Sapa-AP