A last ditch Thiago Silva header rescued a point for Milan who drew 2-2 against reigning Champions League winners Barcelona in their opening Group H encounter.
Chelsea made a winning start to their latest bid for Champions League glory as second-half goals from David Luiz and Juan Mata secured a 2-0 win over Bundesliga side Bayer Levekusen but Arsenal, the other English team in action yesterday, could only muster a 1-1 draw at Borussia Dortmund.
In Spain, Milan made a surprisingly fast start. With just 24 seconds on the clock Pato exposed Barca’s defensive frailties to score the fifth fastest Champions League goal ever in front of a stunned Nou Camp crowd.
Barca were on the back foot but bounced back with Lionel Messi more often than not at the heart of their best moves.
It was he who jigged through the Milan defence to set up Pedro Rodriguez for the equaliser and then after 50 minutes Villa appeared to have given them the win with a fine 30-yard free-kick.
However in stoppage time Silva leapt highest to power home a corner to give Milan a share of the spoils.
At Stamford Bridge, Brazilian international Luiz fired English Premier League giants Chelsea ahead with a goal on 67 minutes, curling a low shot beyond Leverkusen keeper Bernd Leno after a neat lay-off from Fernando Torres.
Torres then set up Chelsea’s second of the night deep in injury time, accelerating clear of the Leverkusen defence before unselfishly cutting back for Mata who sidefooted home into an open goal.
Dortmund’s Croatia midfielder Ivan Perisic came off the bench to score a late equaliser which grabbed the hosts a 1-1 draw with Arsenal in Group F.
Despite dominating the first 25 minutes, Dortmund found themselves 1-0 down at half-time as Arsenal snuffed out the hosts’ early chances and then converted one of their few chances.
The clock marked 42 minutes when Theo Walcott’s pass split the defence and the Dutchman picked his spot perfectly to drill his shot past goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller on 42 minutes.
Despite passionate support at their 65,000 sold-out Signal Iduna Park stadium, it was not until the 88th minute that the hosts finally broke the visitors defence. The 22-year-old substitute Perisic finally converting one of Dortmund’s string of chances.
Marseille are topping Group F after Argentine midfielder Lucho Gonzalez’s second-half goal lifted Marseille to a morale-boosting 1-0 over Olympiakos.
The French side got the goal they deserved six minutes after the restart when Jeremy Morel set up Lucho with a cross from the left side.
The midfielder, finding the finishing touch which had deserted his team-mates in the first half, knocked the ball in through a narrow gap between Costanzo and the post.
Hulk made up for missing a penalty to score a vicious free-kick as Porto came from behind to launch their Champions League campaign with a 2-1 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in Group G.
The Brazilian hit the bar before seeing his spot-kick come back off the post, only for the Ukrainian champions to take the lead when Adriano pounced on an awful error by Porto goalkeeper Helton.
However, Hulk made amends when he sent an unstoppable shot past Olexandr Rybka with a little under half-an-hour gone.
Pinheiro Kleber then tapped home in the second half in a match which saw Shakhtar finish with nine men, Yaroslav Rakitskiy and Dimitro Chygrynskiy both given their marching orders.
Apoel win
In the other match from Group G, Apoel Nicosia scored twice in three second-half minutes to come from behind against Zenit St Petersburg and open their campaign with a deserved 2-1 win.
Gustavo Manduca scored one and created the 75th-minute winner for Ailton as the hosts recovered from conceding to Konstatin Zyryanov against the run of play.
Zenit were dealt another setback when Bruno Alves was sent off for a second yellow card with 14 minutes to go, but they piled on late pressure and might have snatched a point had Viktor Fayzulin’s shot gone in rather than hit the bar.
Summaries
Chelsea 2
Luiz 67; Mata 90;
B. Leverkusen 0
Genk 0
Valencia 0
Olympiakos 0
Marseille 1
Gonzalez 51;
Red card: Fanni (M) 90.
B. Dortmund 1
Perisic 88;
Arsenal 1
Van Persie 42;
Porto 2
Hulk 28; Kleber 51;
S. Donetsk 1
Adriano 12;
Red cards: Rakitskiy (S) 40; Chigrinski (S) 80.
A. Nicosia 2
Manduca 73; Almeida 75;
Zenit SP 1
Zyrianov 63;
Red card: Alves (Z) 76.
Barcelona 2
Pedro 36; Villa 50;
Milan 2
Pato 1; T. Silva 90;
V. Plzen 1
Bakos 45;
Bate Borisov 1
Bressan 69;
Group E
Chelsea vs B. Leverkusen - 2-0
Genk vs Valencia - 0-0
28/09/11: Valencia vs Chelsea
28/09/11: B. Leverkusen vs Genk
19/10/11: B. Leverkusen vs Valencia
19/10/11: Chelsea vs Genk
01/11/11: Valencia vs B. Leverkusen
01/11/11: Genk vs Chelsea
23/11/11: B. Leverkusen vs Chelsea
23/11/11: Valencia vs Genk
06/12/11: Chelsea vs Valencia
06/12/11: Genk vs B. Leverkusen
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Chelsea | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Genk | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Valencia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| B. Leverkusen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Group F
Olympiakos vs Marseille - 0-1
Bor. Dortmund vs Arsenal - 1-1
28/09/11: Arsenal vs Olympiakos
28/09/11: Marseille vs Bor. Dortmund
19/10/11: Marseille vs Arsenal
19/10/11: Olympiakos vs Bor. Dortmund
01/11/11: Arsenal vs Marseille
01/11/11: Bor. Dortmund vs Olympiakos
23/11/11: Arsenal vs Bor. Dortmund
23/11/11: Marseille vs Olympiakos
06/12/11: Olympiakos vs Arsenal
06/12/11: Bor. Dortmund vs Marseille
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Marseille | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Arsenal | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Bor. Dortmund | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Olympiakos | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Group G
Porto vs S. Donetsk - 2-1
Apoel vs Zenit SP - 2-1
28/09/11: Zenit SP vs Porto
28/09/11: S. Donetsk vs Apoel
19/10/11: S. Donetsk vs Zenit SP
19/10/11: Porto vs Apoel
01/11/11: Zenit SP vs S. Donetsk
01/11/11: Apoel vs Porto
23/11/11: S. Donetsk vs Porto
23/11/11: Zenit SP vs Apoel
06/12/11: Porto vs Zenit SP
06/12/11: Apoel vs S. Donetsk
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| A. Nicosia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Porto | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| S. Donetsk | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Zenit SP | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Group H
Barcelona vs Milan - 2-2
Vik. Plzen vs Bate Borisov - 1-1
28/09/11: Bate Borisov vs Barcelona
28/09/11: Milan vs Vik. Plzen
19/10/11: Milan vs Bate Borisov
19/10/11: Barcelona vs Vik. Plzen
01/11/11: Bate Borisov vs Milan
01/11/11: Vik. Plzen vs Barcelona
23/11/11: Milan vs Barcelona
23/11/11: Bate Borisov vs Vik. Plzen
06/12/11: Barcelona vs Bate Borisov
06/12/11: Vik. Plzen vs Milan
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Barcelona | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Milan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Bate Borisov | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Vik. Plzen | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Fixtures
Playing today – 20.45
Group A
Manchester City vs Napoli
Villarreal vs Bayern Munich
Group B
Lille vs CSKA Moscow
Inter vs Trabzonspor
Group C
Basel vs Otelul
Benfica vs Manchester United
Group D
D. Zagreb vs R. Madrid
Ajax vs Lyon