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Another thrilling night of Champions League action concluded on Wednesday with an out of-form and out of sorts AC Milan coming to the Santiago Bernabeu without even a sniff of a chance against the new Galacticos at Real Madrid and putting on a performance and some in the second half to leave with an incredible win. At the Stade Jacques Chaban-Delmas Bordeaux missed two penalties and still beat Bayern Munich 2-1 with the German giants ending the game with 9 men. While Chelsea threw a bucket load of pressure on Atletico Madrid boss Abel Resino by dishing out a 4-0 hammering at Stamford Bridge.

The fixture between AC Milan and Real Madrid was the stand out contest coming into Matchday 3 with the two gian

ts of European football colliding in Madrid for the first of two back to back games. With 16 European Cups between them, the pedigree on offer was always going to be special. However Milan came into this game as huge underdogs, having not yet clicked as a unit under the tutelage of new coach Leonardo, and with the oldest squad of any side in the Champions League on display.

They did put out an attacking 4-3-3 formation with Filippo Inzaghi leading the line with Pato and Ronaldinho for company, and Clarence Seedorf making a welcome return to his former club as part of a three man midfield. Madrid came into this game without the injured Cristiano Ronaldo, but with Rual, Karim Benzema and Kaka on the pitch there was no shortage of attacking talent.

Real completely dominated the first half, and were unlucky to be denied a blatant penalty after Benzema was fouled by Zambrotta. Real were however given a gift minutes later as Dida, making a rare appearance in a Milan shirt after dropping down the pecking order, had a super howler moment. A speculative shot by Real youth product Esteban Granero was caught by the keeper, but while coming out with the ball, it bounced off his knee and straight into the path of a wandering Raul, who couldn't believe his luck, tucking the ball sending the Real fans wild.

Madrid continued to pile forward in the opening 45, but despite numerous efforts never really tested Dida. Milan had been completely played off the pitch, and despite all the star names on show had barely turned up for the game. The second half started as if the first had never ended, and Madrid played kick-about dominating possession and creating little half chances, but barely stepping out of second gear.

It took a moment of magic to bring life into the game, as a 30-yard strike from Andrea Pirlo in the 62nd minute saw the ball sneak past Iker Casillas' near post and completely out of nowhere suddenly there was a match on. The Milan players came to life after the goal, and young Brazilian superstar Pato strode past Casillas to tuck away a second minutes later and Milan had a shock lead. While Casillas, a spectator sitting on one end of the field was perhaps caught napping when the first one went in, he was completely at fault for the second, charging off his line and beaten by Pato who simply danced around him and stroked the ball home.

A shell-shocked Madrid in a silent Bernabeu came charging back and found an equalizer in the 76th minute as substitute Royston Drenthe was neatly picked out by Raul from a set play clearly from the training ground, and he smashed the ball home through a crowd of players with Dida too slow to react.

Milan should have retaken the lead in the 85th minute when Thiago Silva leaped brilliantly to head the ball into an empty net from a corner when Casillas came through a mix of Madrid players and was bundled over by his own teammates, but the referee made a shocking decision to rule out the goal. The players got into a bit of scrap following the non-goal, and Ronaldinho would be lucky to get away with an attempted slap on Raul when UEFA re-looks at the footage. Raul and Nesta got booked as a result of the pushing and shoving that followed, and if it wasn't for old warhorse Seedorf who separated the players, it could have been a lot worse.

Milan did however get their just rewards three minutes later as some terrible defending from Real left Pato free on the back post, and after having missed from a similar position when the score was still 2-1, he smashed the ball home this time to give Milan an incredible win.

In the other Group C encounter, Marseille came away from Zurich with a handy 1-0 win thanks to a 69th minute goal from former Manchester United and Real Madrid defender Gabriel Heinze. That result coupled with the Milan - Madrid result throws this group wide open with the French side joining Zurich on 3 points and the two super heavyweights also locked at 6 points apiece.

Over on Stamford Bridge, Chelsea routed Atletico Madrid 4-0 thanks to a brace from Salomon Kalou. England international Frank Lampard scored as well, his first goal from open play this season, and an own goal from Luis Perea completed the destruction. Atletico started that match rather well with Diego Forlan and Sergio Aguero both creating some good early chances, but some clinical finishing from the extremely under rated Kalou gave the Londoners an impressive win. A brace from Hulk gave Porto a 2-1 home win against Nicosia, virtually guaranteeing Chelsea and Porto a spot in the next round from Group D.

In Group B Manchester United scored the only goal today as they came away from Russia with a hard working win thanks to a late strike from Antonio Valencia. With Wolfsburg and Besiktas playing out a 0-0 draw in Germany, United have a 5 point lead at the top of the Group and are certain to qualify. With just 3 points separating the other three sides, second place in the group is still up for grabs for anyone who has the heart to make a play for it.

And finally in Group A, Michael Ciani scored twice, the second time in the right net to lead Bordeaux past Bayern Munich in a very disappointing encounter. Bayern had no shots on target and just 3 on goal in the entire 90 minutes, playing 58 with 10 men and 2 more (plus time added on) with 9 as Bordeaux missed two penalties failing to give themselves a two goal cushion. Juventus also picked up a home win against Israeli giants Maccabi Haifa as both Juve and Bordeaux leaped above Bayern in the points table.

With the next set of fixtures a reversal from Matchday 3, you can be sure that all the losing sides will be out for revenge, and a number of qualifiers are also very likely to be decided.

Wednesday Scores:

Group A
Bordeaux 2 - 1 Bayern Munich
Juventus 1 - 0 Maccabi Haifa

Group B
CSKA Moscow 0 - 1 Manchester United
VfL Wolfsburg 0 - 0 Besiktas

Group C
FC Zürich 0 - 1 Marseille
Real Madrid 2 - 3 AC Milan

Group D
Chelsea 4 - 0 Atletico Madrid
FC Porto 2 - 1 Apoel Nicosia

File Photograph Copyright: Barry Zee