Ronaldinho scored a hat trick to confirm Barcelona as one of the favourites to win this year’s Champions League, beating Italy’s Udinese 4-1 on Tuesday.
Other former European champions Juventus, Bayern Munich and Manchester United also won in the second round of Europe’s top club competition.
It was an all-Brazil night at Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium.
Brazilian-born Deco, who holds a Portuguese passport, also scored for the Catalans. Brazilian Felipe scored Udinese’s lone goal.
”I’m pleased, firstly because of the win, and secondly for helping the team with my goals,” Ronaldinho said. ”It’s a good result for the team and we have to keep working.”
Ronaldino’s spectacular free kick sent Barca on its way, curling in a 20-metre shot in the 13th minute. Felipe equalised in the 24th, chipping in from a corner kick to take advantage of lax Barcelona defending.
Ronaldinho put Barca ahead again, scoring on a sharp-angled shot in the 32nd after Samuel Eto’o cut the ball back into the area. In the 41st, Deco scored on his own swerving free kick.
Barca cruised through the second half after Luis Vidigal was sent off early on his second yellow card, leaving Udinese with 10 men. Ronaldinho scored his third on a penalty in injury time.
In the other Group C match, Greek team Panathinaikos won 2-1 at home over Werder Bremen on a fifth-minute penalty by Ezequiel Gonzalez and a goal three minute later from Vangelis Mantzios.
Miroslav Klose scored in the 41st for the Germans.
Barcelona leads the group with six points in two games.
Juventus and Bayern Munich moved atop Group A with six points from two games. They face each other in the next two Champions League rounds.
Juventus, which has now won its first seven games of the season, got goals from David Trezeguet (27th), Adrian Mutu (82nd) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (85th). Juve has won five consecutive league games, and two straight in Europe.
”We could have closed out the match in the first half,” Juventus coach Fabio Capello said. ”At the end when the game did open up, we showed how we are capable of playing.”
Martin Demichelis’ 32nd-minute goal lifted the German champions 1-0 over Belgian club FC Brugge. Bayern dominated the game but the goal came from a blunder by ‘keeper Tomislav Butina. The Croatian charged out on a corner, missed the ball, and Demichelis scored from close range.
”It wasn’t a shining moment for us,” Bayern coach Felix Magath said of the match.
Added Brugge player Sven Vermant: ”If you go into a group with Juventus and Bayern, you don’t expect to finish first or second.
Our real game is against Rapid Vienna.”
In Group B, Arsenal stayed perfect with six points in two matches. Fredrik Ljungberg gave Arsenal the lead after only two minutes and Robert Pires made it 2-0 on a 69th-minute penalty.
Ajax’s Markus Rosenberg scored in the 71st for the former European champions.
In the other Group B game, tiny Swiss team Thun upset Sparta Prague 1-0 on Selver Hodzik’s goal in the 89th. Thun — playing its first season in the Champions League — narrowly lost two weeks ago to Arsenal 2-1.
In Group D, Manchester United had to rally to beat Benfica 2-1 on Ruud van Nistelrooy’s goal in the 85th. Ryan Giggs gave United a 1-0 lead in the 39th, with Simao Sabrosa leveling in the 59th.
The match stirred memories of the 1968 European championship final, which United won at Wembley stadium.
The victory eased pressure on United manager Alex Ferguson, who was booed off the field in United’s loss over the weekend to Blackburn.
”When you lose a game you have three or fours days to make amends and we did so tonight,” he said.
With Villarreal drawing 0-0 at Lille in the other Group D match, Manchester United leads with four points. Benfica has three, followed by Villarreal with two and Lille with one.
On Wednesday, it’s Fenerbahce vs PSV Eindhoven and Schalke vs AC Milan in Group E; Real Madrid vs Olympiakos and Rosenborg vs Lyon in Group F; Anderlecht vs Betis and Liverpool vs Chelsea in Group G; Porto vs Artmedia Bratislava and Inter Milan vs Rangers in Group H.
Liverpool vs Chelsea is a rematch of last year’s all-English Champions League semifinal, in which Liverpool upset Chelsea.
Liverpool then won the final, rallying to beat AC Milan on penalty kicks after trailing 3-0 at halftime. – Sapa-AP