Resurgent Juve beat Real

Juventus put behind them their recent troubles when last night they beat Real Madrid 2-1 to take charge of Group H as holders Manchester United, Villarreal and Arsenal scored comfortable victories to inch closer to a last-16 place.

Bayern Munich strengthened their grip in Group F with an impressive 3-0 win over Fiorentina while Olympique Lyon twice came from behind to beat Steaua Bucharest 5-3 in Romania.

In Turin, the evergreen Alessandro Del Piero latched on to Amauri's pass and curled the ball into the top corner from 20 metres after five minutes to put Juve ahead against the Spanish giants.

Juve, who had not won in five matches coming into the game, punished a lethargic Real again after 49 minutes when Amauri's header from Pavel Nedved's cross was deflected in off Gabriel Heinze. Ruud van Nistelrooy nodded home for Real but Juve held on.

Real's former Juve defender Fabio Cannavaro was booed all night by the home crowd for quitting the Turin club following their demotion for match-fixing two years ago.

A minute's applause was held before kick-off after at least two Switzerland-based Juve supporters were killed and several injured when a coach crashed on its way to the game.

The Serie A club take over at the top of the group with seven points from three games with the Spanish champions on six. BATE Borisov drew 1-1 at Zenit St Petersburg in the other group match.

Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov took his Champions League goal tally to four in two games as the holders thrashed Celtic 3-0 at Old Trafford to stay top of Group E.

United's record signing followed the brace he scored at AaB Aalborg on his Champions League debut for the club with two more as Celtic's miserable away record in the competition continued.

Wayne Rooney also extended his prolific scoring run with the third goal for United as Celtic slumped to their 18th defeat in their last 19 away games in the Champions League.

Berbatov scored on the half-hour and again after 51 minutes with England international Rooney completing the scoring 14 minutes from time to take his personal total to nine goals in his last seven appearances.

United are sharing top spot with Villarreal on seven points after the Spanish side saw off the stubborn challenge of AaB Aalborg 6-3 with substitute Joseba Llorente coming off the bench to score a hat-trick.

Arsenal stormed to a 5-2 victory over Fenerbahce in a thrilling match which put the London side in a strong position at the top of Group G.

Arsenal took a two-goal lead within the first 11 minutes thanks to two similar goals from Emmanuel Adebayor and Theo Walcott who were picked out with long passes which cut through the home side's defence.

Fenerbahce grabbed a goal back after 19 minutes when a shot from Semih Senturk deflected off defender Mikael Silvestre into his own goal. Within three minutes, Abou Diaby had restored the visitors' two-goal cushion.

Arsenal pulled further away four minutes into the second half with a goal from Alex Song before Daniel Guiza scored a second for Fenerbahce in the 78th minute. Aaron Ramsey sealed the Turkish side's misery in the dying seconds, scoring Arsenal's fifth in stoppage time.

Cool finishing and a touch of luck in defence helped Bayern Munich strengthen their grip on Champions League Group F with a 3-0 win over Fiorentina.

Miroslav Klose raced through the middle to open the scoring in the fourth minute, Bastian Schweinsteiger cracked in the second midway through the first half and Ze Roberto made certain of victory in the 90th minute.

While Bayern were lethal in front of goal, they made regular mistakes at the back and were fortunate when Adrian Mutu headed wide from a great position with 15 minutes to go.

With three games played, Bayern lead the group with seven points two ahead of Lyon.