Holders Barca largest scalp on night of away-day joy

Champions League holders Barcelona slumped to a stunning 2-1 defeat at home yesterday to Russian champions Rubin Kazan on a night when seven of the away sides came away with a point or better.

Liverpool were another to suffer as having gone 1-0 up before half-time they slumped to their fourth successive defeat - their worst run in 22-and-a-half years - 2-1 to Lyon, with Cesar Delgado netting in time added on.

Both Barca's domestic rivals Sevilla and English Premier League giants Arsenal all but assured themselves of a place in the knockout stages as Sevilla romped to a 3-1 victory away at German side Stuttgart with Sebastien Squillaci notching a double.

Group G rivals Rangers look down and out after suffering their second successive heavy home defeat - 4-1 to Romanian debutants Unirea Urziceni, coached by former Chelsea star Dan Petrescu.

Arsenal meanwhile were held at 1-1 in Holland by AZ Alkmaar - whose owner's bank went bankrupt on Monday - as a Cesc Fabregas goal looked to have given manager Arsene Wenger an early 60th birthday present as he prepares to blow out the candles tomorrow.

Wenger's side top Group H with seven points from three matches, a point clear of Olympiakos, who were the only home side to buck the trend by winning - a 2-1 victory at home to Standard Liege.

However, while Wenger may be upset to have conceded the late equaliser, Alkmaar have just two points and Standard Liege a point.

There were a record amount of early goals in the eight fixtures, indeed it was a record for the competition as five went in during the first six minutes.

Debrecen's Peter Czvitkovics was one of them becoming the first Hungarian in nearly three years to get on the scoresheet as he stunned Fiorentina within two minutes.

Both Inter and Barcelona were behind early on.

The Italians twice had to equalise with Argentinian defender Walter Samuel getting their second shortly after half-time after his team-mate Lucio had scored an own goal to give Dynamo Kyiv a 2-1 lead at half-time.

Barca had former Inter hero Zlatan Ibrahimovic to thank for putting them back on level terms with Rubin Kazan shortly after half-time as the Swedish star netted to rub out Alexander Ryazantsev's second minute effort.

However, unbelievably it was the visitors who appeared to take strength from this and struck with a second goal through Gokdeniz Karadeniz 17 minutes from the final whistle.

Inter's Serie A rivals Fiorentina also had to come from behind away at Hungarians Debrecen but they then pulled away to lead 4-2 at the break with Adrian Mutu scoring a brace.

It was enough to keep Fiorentina in second place in their group, three points behind Olympique Lyon with Liverpool facing a real struggle to qualify for the knock-out stages.