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On a night filled with surprises, the underdogs relished in the limelight as Champions League debutants VfL Wolfsburg gave Manchester United a bit of a scare before the home side came from behind to win 2-1 at Old Trafford, while Italian giants AC Milan were handed a shock 1-0 defeat at the hands of FC Zurich. Elsewhere in the league, Chelsea cruised to a comfortable 1-0 victory over APOEL FC while Real Madrid crushed Marseille thanks to a brace from Cristiano Ronaldo. Bayern Munich failed to convert the chances that they created as their outing against Juventus ended in a 0-0 deadlock, in what was touted as the big game of the night.

German champions Wolfsburg were easily the brighter side on view at Old Trafford as the hosts made a slow start to the game. Wolfsburg generated a series of early chances, with midfielder Christian Gentner blowing a golden chance to score from about 12 yards away. United's start went from bad to worse when Michael Owen picked up an injury and had to substituted as early as 19 minutes. Both sides were guilty of some sloppy play as the game meandered to a 0-0 score-line at halftime.

Having scored 26 league goals for Wolfsburg last season, it was Edin Dzeko who finally broke the deadlock as he rose above Patrice Evra to head the ball home off a Makoto Hasebe cross. Dzeko's goal acted as a tonic for United and having been stung into action they equalized within three minutes, aided by a Ryan Giggs free-kick. Giggs was lucky to find the back of the goal as the ball hit the wall and went in the opposite direction, leaving the keeper completely stranded. The winner came in the 78th minute courtesy some superb play inside the box by United, as an under pressure Berbatov made a slick pass to Giggs who in turn touched it on to Michael Carrick for the midfielder to brilliantly slot the ball into the far corner.

The win takes United to the top of Group B with 6 points in 2 games and though CSKA Moscow recorded a 2-1 home win over Besiktas, Wolfsburg have shown enough promise to emerge as front runners for second place.

Meanwhile at the Giuseppe Meazza, AC Milan were left stunned by a FC Zurich team which rode on a 10th minute goal by a defender to beat their much fancied Italian rivals. 33-year old center back Hannu Tihinen scored from a Milan Gajic cross, following a corner conceded by Clarence Seedorf to give Zurich the decisive lead. Milan strove hard for the equalizer, earning 21 shots on goal and 11 corner kicks in the process but the Swiss side held on dearly to a hugely memorable victory.

In the other Group C game, Real Madrid slammed three goals past the defenses of Marseille as the game sprung to life after a goalless first half to record their second straight victory in the competition. An excellent through ball by Pepe was enough for Ronaldo to open the scoring in the 58th minute before Kaka converted a penalty following a second yellow card to Souleymane Diawara to double the lead. Ronaldo finished things off with another close range effort helped by an excellent Karim Benzema pass.

While Real are sitting pretty at the top, AC Milan will have it all to do as they play the Madrid giants home and away over the next two Matchdays .

Chelsea's win in Nicosia was a far less eventful one as a fluent Nicolas Anelka strike ensured a comfortable win for the English side. The Cypriots lacked that little bit of quality in the final third, and even though they won 8 corner kicks as against Chelsea's 2, the result was never in doubt. FC Porto made up for their opening day loss to Chelsea with two late goals to trounce Atletico Madrid 2-0 at home and consign the Spaniards to fourth place in the group.

In one of the most awaited encounters of the night, Bayern Munich were left frustrated by a visiting Juventus side as the hosts failed to find a way past the Juventus defence despite having produced a galaxy of chances. Led by the midfield talisman Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben, Bayern started brilliantly and kept the pressure on Juventus right through the first half coming real close to scoring a goal atleast twice, Ribery beat two defenders before chipping Gigi Buffon in goal, only for his cheeky effort to land on the top of the net. Robben came off injured at half-time, and Bayern struggled to create as many clear cut opportunities in the second 45. Vincenzo Iaquinta had a great chance to steal the win for Juventus after being presented a golden opportunity by Daniel van Buyten, but fired his shot high.

With this result, Juventus go home with two draws in two games and have been pushed to third in the standings by a Bordeaux side, who registered a 1-0 home win over Maccabi Haifa. Both Bordeaux and Bayern are tied at the top of Group A at 4 points, with the latter taking the honours courtesy a superior goal difference.

Wednesday's Scores:

Group A
Bordeaux 1-0 Maccabi Haifa
Bayern Munich 0-0 Juventus

Group B
CSKA Moscow 2-1 Besiktas
Manchester United 2-1 Vfl Wolfsburg

Group C
AC Milan 0-1 FC Zurich
Real Madrid 3-1 Marseille

Group D
FC Porto 2-0 Atlántico Madrid
Apoel Nicosia 0-1 Chelsea

File photograph copyright: Barry Zee