Inter, Barca battle to a 0-0 draw

Inter and Barcelona fought out a scrappy 0-0 draw in their Champions League Group F opener last night with Samuel Eto'o and Zlatan Ibrahimovic failing to manage a shot on target against their former sides.

Both teams had decent chances but lacked conviction in the final third with Barca's Ibrahimovic lashing wide on his first visit back to the San Siro since his swap deal with Eto'o.

His early miss led to a chorus of boos but the home crowd could only marvel at some of Lionel Messi's touches, although the Argentine scooped a sitter over the bar following Thierry Henry's cross-shot in the second half.

Holders Barca had a penalty appeal for handball turned down while substitute Dejan Stankovic had the best opportunity for the Italian champions when his thunderous drive flew just wide shortly after he had come on.

Dynamo Kiev are the early leaders in Group F after powering to a 3-1 victory over Rubin Kazan after a lacklustre first half.

Russian champions Rubin took the lead in the 25th minute when Alejandro Dominguez converted a free-kick several metres out.

Dynamo failed to impress with poor passing and an inexperienced midfield until the last 20 minutes when goals from Ayila Yussuf, Gerson Magrao and Oleh Gusev followed in quick succession.

Arsenal fought back from two goals down to beat Standard Liege 3-2 in Group H.

Eduardo da Silva, playing two days after his ban for diving was lifted on appeal, spoiled Liege's hopes of at least a point when he popped up in the 81st minute to fire home from close range.

The Belgians stunned the London side with two goals in the opening five minutes from Eliaquim Mangala and Milan Jovanovic.

A goal on the stroke of half-time from Nicklas Bendtner gave a lacklustre Arsenal hope for the second half.

Defender Thomas Vermaelen levelled for the English side in the 78th minute before Eduardo grabbed the winner.

Olympiakos Piraeus secured a narrow 1-0 win over AZ Alkmaar in the other Group H match.

Vassilis Torosidis's 79th-minute goal proved enough to claim all three points for the home side, who were under the guidance of interim coach Bozidar Bandovic after parting company with coach Temuri Ketsbaia on the eve of the match.

New coach Zico, whose arrival on a two-year contract was announced just hours before kick-off, watched from the stands to see his new charges claim victory.

Dirk Kuyt struck in first-half stoppage time as Liverpool opened their European campaign with an unconvincing 1-0 victory over Debrecen at Anfield.

Liverpool were not at their best against the Hungarian champions and will need to improve if they are to advance from a group which also contains Fiorentina and Lyon.

Only a fine one-handed save by Jose Reina prevented Peter Czvitkovics embarrassing Liverpool in the 30th minute.

Fifteen minutes later Kuyt hit the target from eight metres after keeper Vukasin Poleksic had denied Fernando Torres.

Lyon leave it late

In France, Lyon needed a late goal by Miralem Pjanic to beat 10-man Fiorentina 1-0.

Fiorentina had striker Alberto Gilardino sent off just before half-time for a challenge on Jeremy Toulalan.

Lyon, though, could not break through until the 76th minute when Bosnia midfielder Pjanic struck from close range.

Overall, the crowd at the Gerland stadium witnessed a relatively dull affair featuring six yellow cards.

Brazilian duo Luis Fabiano and Renato scored the goals to give Sevilla a 2-0 win over Champions League debutants Unirea Urziceni in Group G.

The Romanian champions made life tough for the hosts but were undone just before the break when Renato set up Luis Fabiano for the opener.

Midway through the second half, Fabiano's header from a corner was glanced in at the far post by Renato, to make sure of the victory.

From the same group, Rangers stunned Stuttgart with an equaliser from Madjid Bougherra late in the second half to draw 1-1.

Russian Pavel Pogrebnyak slotted home to give Stuttgart the lead on 18 minutes, after Brazilian-born Cacau took advantage of a deflected Sasha Papac clearance to race forward and feed the striker inside the box.

Stuttgart, in the same group as Rangers on both of their previous Champions League appearances, were punished for their passive second-half play when Bougherra combined well with Jerome Rothen to fire home the equaliser in the 77th minute.