Barcelona got their Champions League campaign off to a winning start on Wednesday with a comfortable 2-0 defeat of Werder Bremen in group C.
Brazilian international Deco got the opening goal of the game after 13 minutes following some clever build-up work from Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto’o.
Nelson Valdez missed a golden opportunity to equalise on 35 minutes for the home side when he fluffed a pinpoint cross from Ivan Klasnic.
Deco also hit a post in the second half before Ronaldinho made it 2-0 from the penalty spot 13 minutes from time after Lionel Messi was felled in the area by Bremen’s Christian Schulz.
Udinese celebrated their Champions League debut with a 3-0 defeat of Panathinaikos Athens in the other group-C match, with Vincenzo Iaquinta netting a hat-trick for the hosts.
Udinese, joint top of Serie A after winning their opening two matches, went ahead through an Iaquinta header on 28 minutes, and two further goals from the Italian international on 73 and 76 minutes sealed the points for the Italians.
In group D, Manchester United had Wayne Rooney sent off during their 0-0 draw away to Villarreal after the England star picked up two yellow cards in the space of a minute, the second one for applauding referee Kim Milton Nielsen for giving him the first card.
United came closest to scoring shortly before the end of the first half when Villarreal goalkeeper Mariano Barbosa missed a cross, which hit Ruud van Nistelrooy and headed towards goal, but Gonzalo Rodriguez cleared the ball on the goal line.
A last-minute goal from Fabrizio Miccoli helped Benfica to a 1-0 win over Lille in the other group D match.
In group B, Arsenal scraped a 2-1 at home to Thun after being forced to play the entire second half with only 10 men following the harsh dismissal of Robin van Persie.
The Dutchman kicked Alen Orman in the head while going for a high ball just before the break and was immediately shown the red card.
Six minutes after the restart, Arsenal were in front when Gilberto Silva rose to head home Ashley Cole’s corner, but the Swiss side were level within two minutes when Gunners goalkeeper Manuel Almunia was wrong-footed by a looping shot from Nelson Ferreira.
Just as it looked as if Arsenal would drop valuable points, Denis Bergkamp netted the winner in the second minute of injury time.
In the other match in group B, Miroslav Matusovic gave Sparta Prague a 1-0 lead over Ajax Amsterdam when he sent in an unstoppable shot from nearly 30m.
However, Wesley Sneijder equalised for the visitors in stoppage time with a fierce shot from the edge of the area.
Juventus defeated Brugge 2-1 in their group A opener, while Bayern Munich defeated Austria Vienna 1-0, although the home side missed a glorious chance to secure a draw when awarded a spot kick eight minutes from time, but Jozef Valachovic fired wide.
Substitute Jose Guerrero scored for Bayern on the hour mark after just eight minutes on the pitch. — Sapa-DPA