AC Milan opened the defense of its Champions League title with a
2-1 win over Benfica yesterday, and Chelsea and 10-man Liverpool
had to settle for 1-1 draws.
Nearly four months after beating Liverpool to win its seventh
European Cup, scored one goal and set up the other.
Andrea Pirlo celebrates the
goal. [Photo:sina.com]
"(Pirlo) is an irreplaceable player," Milan coach Carlo
Ancelotti said. "He scored a goal, made an assist and directed the
passing well."
Pirlo curled a free kick into the top left-hand corner in the
ninth minute. He then passed to Filippo Inzaghi in the 24th, and
the striker beat Benfica goalkeeper Quim for his 60th goal in UEFA
club competitions -- and 39th in the Champions League.
Inzaghi, who scored twice in the Champions League final and also
in Milan's 3-1 European Super Cup win over Sevilla three weeks ago,
is two goals short of Gerd Muller's European record.
Second-half substitute Nuno Gomes tapped in a consolation goal
for Benfica in injury time.
Filippo Inzaghi [Photo:
sina.com]
The win gives Milan three points in Group D, the same as
Shakhtar Donetsk, which beat Celtic 2-0 with goals in the first
eight minutes from Brandao and Cristiano Lucarelli.
Chelsea drew 1-1 with Rosenborg, and Liverpool finished 1-1 at
FC Porto. Liverpool midfielder Jermaine Pennant was sent off in the
58th minute for a second yellow card.
Real Madrid defeated Werder Bremen 2-1 with a 74th-minute goal
from Ruud van Nistelrooy, who also helped set up Raul Gonzalez for
the Spanish club's first goal.
Also, it was Marseille 2, Besiktas 0; Schalke 0, Valencia 1; and
Olympiakos 1, Lazio 1.
Raul gave Madrid the lead in the 16th minute after taking a low
cross from Van Nistelrooy for his 57th Champions League goal.
Werder Bremen immediately leveled when Boubacar Sanogo prodded the
ball in from close range in the 17th.
Raul celebrates his goal.
[Photo: Xinhua]
Van Nistelrooy's winner was his 50th goal in the Champions
League. He slotted in a short pass from Raul to make up for missing
a handful of chances in the match.
"The team worked for this win. They knew it wasn't going to be
easy," Madrid coach Bernd Schuster said. "They worked, they fought,
they did some things I liked a lot, some I didn't so much, but we
deserved it in the end."
In the other Group C game, Luciano Zauri scored a late goal to
help Lazio hold Olympiakos to a 1-1 draw. Zauri beat the offsides
trap and slotted the ball past Olympiakos goalkeeper Antonis
Nikopolidis in the 77th minute.
Olympiakos had gone ahead when Luciano Galletti scored in the
55th.
Andriy Shevchenko scored a second-half equalizer to earn the
draw for Chelsea in Group B.
Miika Koppinen gave the visitors the lead in the 24th minute at
Stamford Bridge when he beat John Terry to a cross and volleyed the
ball past Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech.
Shevchenko leveled in the 52nd with a header after taking a
cross from Florent Malouda.
"I think they (Rosenborg) were not a problem, we were the
problem," Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said. "Because it's a game
you can win (by) five, six or seven."
David Villa scored in the second half to give Valencia a 1-0 win
at Schalke in Group B.
Photo shows Van
Nistelrooy(L) celebrates his goal with his teammate Raul in the
game. [Photo: Xinhua]
Villa scored against the run of play in the 63rd after
collecting a long ball from Luis Miguel. He outpaced Heiko
Westermann and shook off a challenge from Schalke goalkeeper Manuel
Neuer before slotting home.
Liverpool fell behind in Porto when goalkeeper Pepe Reina fouled
Tarik Sektioui and Lucho Gonzalez converted a penalty kick in the
eighth minute.
Dirk Kuyt headed in from close range in the 17th to level. Steve
Finnan sent in a cross from the right that was headed across the
goal by Sami Hyypia to Kuyt.
"We are pleased because we played 30 minutes with 10 men," Kuyt
said. "Porto is a really strong team and at least we didn't lose.
If we can beat them at home we will be OK."
Marseille beat Besiktas in the other Group A match, with
second-half goals from Julien Rodriguez and Djibril Cisse.
Rodriguez scored from close range in the 76th after Samir
Nasri's corner bounced back off the post and fell to his feet.
Cisse broke through in injury time and poked the ball inside the
near post.
Today, Wayne Rooney returns for Manchester United, which plays
at Sporting Lisbon, while Sevilla plays its first game European
soccer's elite competition since 1957 at Arsenal and 2006 champion
FC Barcelona hosts Lyon.
Also it's: Rangers vs. Stuttgart; AS Roma vs. Dynamo Kiev; PSV
Eindhoven vs. CSKA Moscow; Fenerbahce vs. Inter Milan; and Slavia
Prague vs. Steaua Bucharest.
(Shanghai Daily via Agencies September 19, 2007)
