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On a rainy night across Europe, English heavyweights Manchester United and Chelsea maintained their perfect records in the group phase of the UEFA Champions League to move closer to the last 16. Elsewhere, AC Milan staged a thrilling comeback to inflict a first defeat of the season on Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu, the venue for this season’s final.

The results

Group A
Bordeaux 2-1 Bayern Munich
Juventus 1-0 Maccabi Haifa

Group B
CSKA Moscow 0-1 Manchester United
Wolfsburg 0-0 Besiktas

Group C
Zurich 0-1 Marseille
Real Madrid 2-3 AC Milan

Group D
Chelsea 4-0 Atletico Madrid
Porto 2-1 APOEL Nicosia

The big game
Real Madrid 2-3 AC Milan
Goals: Raul 19, Royston Drenthe 76 (Real Madrid); Andrea Pirlo 63, Alexandre Pato 66 and 88 (Milan)

This classic match-up did not disappoint. On an evening when Real’s star signing Kaka was reunited with his former team-mates, the Spaniards struck first, Raul seizing on an error by Milan keeper Dida to roll the ball into an empty net. With an hour on the clock and the hosts seemingly in control, the match took an unexpected turn. Trying his luck from fully 35 metres out, Andrea Pirlo saw his dipping shot surprise Iker Casillas at the near post to pull the Italians level.

And when Casillas misjudged Massimo Ambrosini’s superb flighted ball over the top of the Merengue defence, livewire Brazilian forward Alexandre Pato was on hand to slide the ball into the unguarded net and give Leonardo’s men the lead. Their pride stung, Real surged forward in search of an equaliser, which duly came when Rosyton Drenthe thumped a low drive past Dida from Raul’s precise corner-kick.

Chances came at both ends as the pace continued to quicken, and after the two sides each had goals disallowed, that man Pato popped up with a late winner, side-footing Clarence Seedorf’s delicious chipped pass into the roof of the net.

The other games
Bordeaux took a two-point lead at the top of Group A by edging an injury-ravaged Bayern Munich side 2-1. After inadvertently putting the Germans ahead with a misplaced header, Girondins defender Mickael Ciani promptly redemeed himself by levelling the score with a nonchalant back-heeled flick from a corner. Ciani’s central-defensive partner Marc Planus then stole in ahead of the Bayern defence at a set-piece to stab the French champions in front. And had Hans-Jorg Butt not saved two second-half penalties, the final scoreline could have been even worse for the visitors, who had two men sent off.

Juventus moved into second place after earning a narrow 1-0 win over a bold Maccabi Haifa side. Giorgio Chiellini scored the only goal of the game with far-post header, though I Bianconeri needed a typically classy save from Gianluigi Buffon late on to cling on to the points.

Shorn of the services of several first-teamers, Manchester United drew on their vast European experience to chisel out their third straight win in Group B. Their victims on this occasion were CSKA Moscow, the only goal of the evening coming when Ecuador international Antonio Valencia fired home Dimitar Berbatov’s fine flicked header four minutes from time. In the other game in the section, Wolfsburg and Besiktas cancelled each other out in a goalless draw.

While Real Madrid were tripping up at home, Marseille were doing their Group C chances a power of good by earning a valuable 1-0 win away to Zurich. Argentinian defender Gabriel Heinze’s superb volley proved the difference between the sides. Despite the defeat, the fourth-placed Swiss are still in contention in a surprisingly open section.

Meanwhile, Chelsea would seem to have Group D all wrapped up after extending their 100 per cent record with a typically ruthless 4-0 win at home to struggling Atletico Madrid. Salomon Kalou set the Blues on their way with his first European double, before Frank Lampard and a Luis Perea own goal underlined their superiority on the night.

Porto weathered torrential rain and a battling performance by APOEL Nicosia to tighten their grip on second place. After falling behind early on the Portuguese hit back to secure a 2-1 victory, both goals coming from Brazilian striker Hulk, the first of them the result of a fine team move.

The stat
66 - Legendary Real Madrid forward Raul won his duel with fellow veteran gunslinger Filippo Inzaghi by scoring his 66th goal in Europe’s premier club tournament. The scorer of 226 goals in La Liga, 44 for Spain and 27 in other official competitions, the No7 now has 363 career strikes to his name.

Goal of the night
Chelsea 1-0 Atletico Madrid (Salomon Kalou 40)

Chelsea’s passing game finally clicked five minutes from half-time when Ashley Cole scampered in behind the Atletico defence and latched on to a blind pass by Frank Lampard. The England left-back surged towards the by-line before cutting the ball into the path of the unmarked Salomon Kalou, who side-footed home to complete a textbook move.

Key Matchday 4 encounters
Group A: Bayern Munich have no option but to go for the win when they entertain Bordeaux in a fortnight’s time. The French side, on the other hand, will be happy with a draw.

Group C: The return match between continental heavyweights AC Milan and Real Madrid should prove one of the highlights of the season so far.

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Guys, Champions League match-day 3 is suddenly upon us, and as a Red Devil, i am worried. I have never been to Moscow before, but i have seen endless pictures of the Russian capital, i imagine how cold it gets there and by implication, how difficult it can be to play football.

Popularity: 40% [?]

In my years of watching the beautiful game, i have seen real bizarre things. Today was really one of the most bizarre happenings on the field of play. I really feel sorry for Liverpool because they could ill-afford what befell them today at the hands of Sunderland.

A Darren Bent short hit a red beach ball that had Reyna fooled into diving to save the beach ball,instead of the deflected ball that ricocheted into the net for the only goal of the match.

This incident raises a lot of questions concerning referees and the decisions they sometimes allow to stand. In my opinion, the goal should never have been allowed to stand. Its so unfair.

A fourth defeat of the league season will only add to the question marks over Liverpool’s title credentials after they were outplayed without injured midfielder Steven Gerrard and striker Fernando Torres.

Ahead of a week in which they face a crucial Uefa Champions League tie against Lyon and host Manchester United, they only added weight to critics who label them a two-man team.

Liverpool were lethargic and looked at unease with a 5-4-1 formation manager Rafael Benitez had opted for as he tried to cope with injuries and tiredness after the recent internationals.

Benitez was probably hoping that full-backs Glen Johnson and Fabio Aurelio, as well as wingers Ryan Babel and Yossi Benayoun, would have more of an impact going forward.

But Sunderland, with a near-capacity 47,000 crowd behind them, did not let Liverpool settle and aggressively took control of the game before being rewarded with the lead in somewhat fortunate circumstances.

Bent’s shot went in off a beach ball and, to compound Liverpool’s misery, it was one punched on to the pitch by one of their own fans. A clear case of one causing one’s own downfall you might say..

Oh! for the records, Chelsea were beaten by Aston Villa, while Manchester United and Arsenal both won at home respectively.

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When last was AC Milan beaten at home n Europe? I personally cannot remember, but hat was exactly what happened yesterday in match-day 2 of the Champions League. What a fall.

Below is a review of all the actions as they happened yesterday.

Juventus took a bit of a battering at the hands ofBayern Munich before coming away from the Allianz Arena with a goalless draw.

The home side had the best of the first half, with Franck Ribery going closest when he put the ball on the roof of the net after a mazy dribble through the defence. But it was Bayern goalkeeper Hans-Joerg Butt who made the best save of the half, a full stretch effort from Mauro Camoranesi.

The second half was not quite as lively as the first, although the home side again had the upper hand and Miroslav Klose missed the best chance of the game when he somehow put Ribery’s cross from the left wide of the goal from a central position.

Bordeaux left it late to beatMaccabi Haifa 1-0, with defender Michael Ciani heading home seven minutes from time. The Israelis finished with 10 men, as Baram Kayal received a straight red card two minutes from time for a foul on Benoit Tremoulinas.

Even before Manchester United had kicked off their 2-1 win over Wolfsburg , the other game in their group was already over.

CSKA Moscow beat Besiktas of Turkey 2-1 with two stunning goals, one in each half.

Alan Dzagoyev put his side in front early on with a delightful lobbed effort over Rustu in the Besiktas goal, before Serbian winger Milos Krasic ran from the halfway line, sidestepped a defender and shot straight under the keeper.

Ekrem Dag’s stoppage-time volley gave the travelling fans something to cheer but made little difference to the outcome of the game.

Group C saw the shock of the night, as Milan lost 1-0 at home to FC Zurich.

Former West Ham loan player Hannu Tihinen scored the decisive goal in the first half, with a cheeky backheel from a Milan Gajic corner.

Three goals in six second-half minutes – two of them from Cristiano Ronaldo – saved Real Madrid from any difficulty as they strolled past 10-man Marseille 3-0.

Ronaldo’s opener was a right-foot finish after a route one ball by Pepe, and Kaka doubled the lead from the penalty spot as Souleymane Diawara received a second yellow card for bringing down the former Manchester United star.

Kaka then turned provider as his one-two with Karim Benzema set up Ronaldo for his ninth goal since joining Madrid in the summer.

Chelsea made heavy going of their 1-0 win over Apoel Nicosia, with Nicholas Anelka’s first half strike proving the difference between the teams.

But Atletico Madrid’s poor start to the season continued as they conceded two late goals in a 2-0 defeat at Porto.

Madrid were forced to send on 18-year-old substitute goalkeeper David de Gea after 25 minutes when Roberto went off injured.

Tomas Ujfalusi and Juanito both failed to take good chances for the visitors, and at the end they were made to pay for it.

Having failed with two efforts in quick succession, Hulk passed to Falcao, who netted a back-heel from six yards out.

Nine minutes from time the same combination almost made it 2-0, but de Gea put Falcao’s effort behind for a corner. From the resulting kick, Bruno Alves hit the post and Rolando netted the rebound.

So Christiano Ronaldo has taken his goals tally to 9 since joining Madrid, you just have a feeling he is starting from where he left off at United.

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Football’s governing body handed out a ban until 2011 after they found the Blues guilty of inducing Gael Kakuta to break his contract with Lens in 2007.

But Chelsea could get a reprieve if they delay lodging any appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).

Cas has indicated that if Chelsea take the full 21 days to appeal, their ban may be frozen while a decision is made.

“It depends on the filing date of the appeal,” Cas secretary general Matthieu Reeb told BBC Sport.

“If we have an appeal within the next week, it seems realistic we will have a hearing in November and a decision in December.

“If it goes a little longer, we’d have to wait until next year but then we’d have a problem with the January transfer period.

“So there is a possibility of Chelsea requesting a stay of the Fifa decision so it is frozen until the final decision of Cas is rendered.

“This means the enforcement of the Fifa decision would not be immediate. It could be postponed and then if the sanction was finally confirmed by CAS, the suspension would be postponed to the next transfer window.”

As it stands, Chelsea are barred from registering any new players, nationally, or internationally, during the January or summer 2010 transfer windows.

The Blues have already confirmed that they will launch the “strongest possible appeal” and they have 21 days to do so from when they receive Fifa’s full decision.

The Cas decision can be appealed only before the Swiss Supreme Court.

Manchester United could also face an investigation after it emerged that another French club, Le Havre, are going to ask Fifa to look into Paul Pogba’s move to Old Trafford last month.

Fifa say they are yet to receive any complaint over the transfer of the 16-year-old midfielder.

United told BBC Sport last month that Le Havre’s accusations that they had stolen the French youngster were “complete nonsense”.

A French football agent, who wishes to remain anonymous for professional reasons, told BBC Sport: “If Lens or Le Havre were legally able to sign the two players to contracts they would definitely have done it already.

“But French law prevents players from signing contracts if they under 16 and haven’t achieved the requisite level at school.

“The clubs can make agreements with these players that say they will give them a contract when they have attained the right educational qualification of turned 16.

“It is a pre-contract. It is called an ‘accord de norm sollicitation’ in French. It is a written agreement between club and player.

“That is what Kakuta and Pogba had. Fifa is clearly now saying these accords are as good as contracts, while Chelsea and Manchester United are saying they are not.”

Fifa punished Switzerland’s FC Sion for a similar offence to Chelsea’s in April and the club was told it could not sign players until the 2010 off-season.

Sion have appealed to Cas, which has frozen the sanctions while it considers the case, allowing the club to trade before the current season began. A ruling is expected later this year.

Italian club Roma were banned from signing players for two transfer windows in 2004, over their move for Auxerre’s Philippe Mexes, after they appealed to CAS and their suspension was reduced to one window.

The arbitration panel will be made up by one judge selected by Chelsea, one by Lens and the chairman will be CAS.

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