Champions League gloom for Italy as Milan and Lazio crash

European champions AC Milan crashed to a shock 1-0 home defeat by Club Bruges of Belgium on another miserable night for Italian clubs in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Milan, who like their arch-rivals Inter, Juventus and Lazio came through the first two games unbeaten, were sent reeling at the San Siro by a sizzling first-half goal scored by Bruges's Peruvian forward Andres Mendoza to throw Group H wide open.

Ajax beat Celta Vigo 1-0 in the other match in the section with Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring early in the second half.

Ajax top the group with six points, followed by Milan (four), Bruges (four) and Celta Vigo (two).

Milan's Serie A rivals Lazio also lost, going down 2-1 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge after taking the lead in the first half of their Group G match through Simone Inzaghi.

But Chelsea deservedly won with goals from Frank Lampard and Adrian Mutu midway through the second half.

Sparta Prague beat Besiktas of Turkey 2-1 in the other match putting Chelsea two points clear at the top on six points. Sparta have four, Lazio four and Besiktas three.

With Inter Milan losing 3-0 at Lokomotiv Moscow on Tuesday night, only Juventus among the Italian clubs emerged from the third round of matches unscathed after their 4-2 win over Real Sociedad on Tuesday.

It might have been a bad night for Italy but it was a good one for England.

While Chelsea were beating Lazio in London, English champions Manchester United gave their Scottish manager Alex Ferguson three welcome points with a 1-0 win over his old club Rangers in Glasgow in Group E. Defender Phil Neville was the unlikely match-winner with a superb solo goal after only five minutes.

With VfB Stuttgart beating Panathinaikos 2-0 in the same group, Stuttgart and United now have six points, followed by Rangers on four and Panathianikos on one.

Real Madrid, favourites to lift the European Cup for the 10th time in their history at the end of the competition, maintained their perfect start in Group F with a 1-0 win over Partizan Belgrade in Madrid with Raul scoring in the first half.

Porto won a thriller 3-2 in Marseille to move into second place on four points., Marseille have three and Partizan one.