Chelsea coasted to a 3-0 win off two Didier Drogba goals, Arsenal needed an own-goal for victory and defending champion FC Porto were held to a 0-0 draw on the opening night of the Champions League season.
Chelsea had the most comfortable win of the night at Paris Saint-Germain as Jose Mourinho continued his European success after guiding Porto to the title last season.
John Terry headed the London side ahead in the 28th minute and Drogba got his first goal moments before half-time, with both strikes resulting from PSG mistakes. Drogba’s superb second-half free-kick sealed a comfortable win.
”It was fantastic, the players controlled the game from the first minute to the last,” Mourinho said. ”We scored goals and had a lot of possession as well as controlling in the defence. We had a lot of the ball and we were top class, every single player.”
In the other Group H match, Porto, without half the team and the manager that beat Monaco to win the European title last season, were held to a 0-0 draw at home to CSKA Moscow.
Arsenal beat PSV Eindhoven 1-0 when defender Alex scored into his own net, while Ezequiel Gonzalez scored both in Panathinaikos’s 2-0 win over Rosenborg in Group E.
Italy’s Inter Milan beat 10-man German champions Werder Bremen 2-0 off an Adriano double and Valencia won 2-0 over Anderlecht in Group G.
In Group F, AC Milan needed a late goal to beat Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0, while Henrik Larsson came on a substitute to score against former club Celtic as FC Barcelona won 3-1 in a match that started 30 minutes late because of crowd congestion.
Arsenal are unbeaten in 45 league matches in England, but have never stamped their authority in Europe — Tuesday’s win garnered more points than their opening three matches did at the start of last season’s Champion League.
While Arsenal missed some early chances, they were forced to defend their slender lead in the closing stages.
”I think we never reached our usual level of play,” Arsenal striker Dennis Bergkamp said. ”They made it very difficult for us. In my opinion, they had no intention to get anything out of this game.”
The lead in Group E goes to Panathinaikos, who are yet to start their domestic season. Gonzalez’s first goal was a dipping shot that beat Rosenborg goalkeeper Espen Johnsen in the 43rd minute. His second, 11 minutes from time, was a powerful shot that hit the underside the crossbar on its way into the net.
In Italy, Netherlands forward Clarence Seedorf scored six minutes from time off a pass from substitute Hernan Crespo to give six-time winner AC Milan a hard-earned 1-0 victory over Shakhtar.
It was the Ukrainian side’s first match in the Champions League in four years.
”We suffered too much at the end, but the important thing is the team won in the end and we started very well, so I’m very happy,” Inter coach Roberto Mancini said. ”The Champions League is really long and tough, so it’s important to start well.”
Barcelona started Larsson on the bench in Glasgow, but he scored the third goal six minutes from the end.
He had come on as a substitute with the score 1-1 — Deco scored the opener for Barcelona in the 20th and after Ronaldinho missed a penalty. Chris Sutton leveled for Celtic halfway through the second half.
Ludovic Giuly regained the lead for the Spanish soccer giant 11 minutes from the end when he finished off a move that involved Larsson, before the Swede, who scored 240 goals for Celtic, added the third.
In Group G, Werder Bremen were a man down after only six minutes.
Defender Valerien Ismael was shown the red card by referee Lubos Michel for tripping Adriano inside the area. Inter striker Christian Vieri had the resulting penalty saved by diving Bremen goalkeeper Andreas Reinke.
Inter went ahead on another penalty — this one taken by Adriano in the 34th minute — after he was brought down by Bremen defender Frank Baumann just inside the box. Adriano’s second was an 89th-minute shot from just outside the area.
Valencia’s first foray into the Champions League in two seasons was under new manager Claudio Ranieri, who reached the semifinals with Chelsea last season.
The Spanish champions went ahead in the 16th minute, with winger Vicente scoring with a low shot after Anderlecht goalkeeper Daniel Zitka parried the ball from Francisco Rufete. Ruben Baraja scored the second at half-time, getting a lucky deflection off Anthony Vanden Borre. — Sapa-AP