Manchester United slumped to a 2-1 loss at Portuguese champion FC Porto on Wednesday in the Champions League first-leg knockout stage, while Deportivo, Lyon and Chelsea all notched wins.
Benni McCarthy netted goals in each half for the Uefa Cup champion after United’s Quinton Fortune opened the scoring in the 14th minute against the run of play.
The Red Devils, coming off a slump in form in the English Premier League, failed to impress at the new Stadium of the Dragon.
United were mostly outplayed by Porto, who are unbeaten in the Portuguese league this season.
McCarthy rifled a first-time shot past goalkeeper Tim Howard for the equaliser in the 29th minute and beat two Manchester United defenders to head in a Nuno Valente long ball in the 78th minute.
”What Benni did was great, but it was team work that won,” Porto coach Jose Mourinho said. ”We’ll be playing the same way at Old Trafford.”
The second leg is on March 9.
In other results on Wednesday, Deportivo beat Juventus 1-0 in A Coruna, Spain, while early own-goals settled the two other matches.
Albert Luque scored the winner for Deportivo with a 37th-minute volley.
French club Lyon earned a valuable 1-0 away win when Real Sociedad’s Argentine defender Gabi Schurrer netted in the 18th minute.
Lyon’s impressive display ended Sociedad’s 26-game unbeaten home record in European competition, which stretched back to 1975.
English side Chelsea also won 1-0 in Stuttgart because of a defensive error. Fernando Meira diverted the ball into his own net after 12 minutes when trying to clear a hard, low cross from Glen Johnson intended for Hernan Crespo.
”We lost confidence after that early own-goal,” Stuttgart coach Felix Magath said. ”We played well but we just didn’t have that last spark.”
On Tuesday, Bayern Munich allowed Real Madrid to draw 1-1 with a late goalkeeping error from Oliver Kahn; Edu scored twice as Arsenal beat Celta in Vigo 3-2; in Moscow, Marat Izmailov and Vladimir Maminov scored to give Spartak a 2-1 win over Monaco; and Sparta Prague drew 0-0 with defending champion AC Milan in the Czech Republic. — Sapa-AP