Sevilla knocked down to earth with a bump

Sevilla witnessed first hand the chasm between UEFA Cup football and the Champions League last night with an opening night 3-0 defeat at Arsenal.

The Andalucians won Europe's second-tier club competition for the past two seasons and were tipped to make a big impact among the elite.

But Arsenal dominated almost from the first kick and sealed it with goals from Cesc Fabregas after 27 minutes and Robin van Persie in the 59th before substitute Eduardo da Silva slid home the third in stoppage time just minutes after coming on.

It was Sevilla's first match at this level since they played in the old European Cup some 50 years ago and despite playing their usual high tempo game, they rarely troubled the home side.

Fabregas's long-range strike appeared to be going wide until it took an emphatic deflection off Julien Escude and went in, while Van Persie scored from close range after Bacary Sagna flicked on a Fabregas free-kick.

Czech side Slavia Prague, the other debutants in action, joined Arsenal on three points in Group H with a 2-1 home victory against Steaua Bucharest.

Seven of the eight matches in Groups E to H produced home wins with only Manchester United bucking the trend when Cristiano Ronaldo headed the winner for the English champions against Sporting Lisbon.

Closely marked in the first half, the Portuguese international winger managed to outsmart his former team mates in the 62nd minute to score with a diving header off a Wes Brown cross from the right.

Sporting narrowly missed an equaliser in the 78th minute when Miguel Veloso shot wide after defender Tonel's header was parried by Manchester United keeper Edwin Van der Sar.

Barcelona, who beat Arsenal in the 2006 final, turned on the style in their Group E opener in the Nou Camp in a 3-0 win against Olympique Lyon.

The 2006 winners have only managed to score once from open play in their first three Primera Liga games this season and needed a slice of luck to take the lead against Lyon.

Messi crossed low into the area after 21 minutes and Lyon defender Francois Clerc diverted the ball into his own net.

Frank Rijkaard's side struggled to add to the score until Messi scored a second in the 82nd. Thierry Henry scored his first goal for Barca at the very end.

Rangers came from a goal down to join Barca on three points, beating German champions Stuttgart 2-1 in Glasgow.

After a goalless first half, Stuttgart went ahead in the 55th minute. Rangers were temporarily reduced to 10 men with Barry Ferguson receiving treatment to a head knock when Marion Gomez converted a Sami Khedira cross.

Charlie Adam levelled six minutes later when he curled a shot into the far corner following an enterprising run by Alan Hutton.

Rangers win

Rangers earned the points when Hutton was upended by Fernando Meira and Jean-Claude Darcheville netted the winner from the penalty spot in the 74th minute.

It was a mixed night for Italian clubs. Serie A champions Inter Milan began with a Group G 1-0 defeat in Istanbul against Fenerbahce but Roma's perfect start to the season continued when they saw off Dynamo Kiev 2-0 in the Olympic Stadium.

Francesco Totti and Simone Perrotta were on target in the club's 100th European victory.

Italy midfielder Perrotta sneaked in behind the Dynamo defence to head in a Max Tonetto cross and put the home side in front in the ninth minute.

Totti broke free from some tight marking 25 minutes into the second half to double the advantage with a diagonal right-footed shot.

Roma's victory maintains their 100 per cent record, after they won their first three Serie A games and beat Inter in the Italian Super Cup last month.

Russia's only representatives, CSKA Moscow, went down 2-1 at PSV Eindhoven in Group G.