Real Madrid loses while AC Milan, Arsenal, Man United win openers

Real Madrid lost its European Champions League opener 2-0 at Lyon on Wednesday night, and AC Milan, Manchester United and Arsenal started the first round with victories.

Fred scored in the 11th minute for Lyon, the French League champion, and Tiago added a goal in the 31st. Florent Malouda also hit the crossbar in the Group E game.

"We could have been further ahead at halftime," Lyon coach Gerard Houllier said. "The first half was sublime to watch. Then we controlled the match and tried to make them do all the running."

AC Milan beat visiting Red Star Belgrade 3-0 in Group H on goals by Filippo Inzaghi in the 17th minute and Yoann Gourcuff in the 41st, and a penalty kick by Kaka in the 77th.

"It was an important victory," AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti said. "It confirmed for me the reliability of all the players at my disposal."

Manchester United rallied to beat visiting Glasgow Celtic 3-2 in Group F. Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink put Celtic ahead in the 21st minute, but Louis Saha's penalty kick tied the score seven minutes later after a questionable foul called on goalkeeper Artur Boruc against Ryan Giggs.

Saha scored again in the 40th off a through ball from Paul Scholes, but Shunsuke Nakamura tied it 2-2 three minutes later with a free kick. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, playing his first European match in nearly three years, replaced Giggs at halftime and put Manchester United ahead for good in the 46th after Saha's shot had been blocked.

"Celtic had a go all night," Manchester United coach Alex Ferguson said. "We did show our quality but there was a bit of slack defending."

Arsenal won 2-1 at Hamburg SV in Group G. Gilberto Silva converted a penalty kick in the 12th minute after Hamburg goalkeeper Sacha Kirschstein was ejected for tripping Robin van Persie as he tried to get around him, and Tomasz Rosicky made it 2-0 in the 53rd on a 20-yard shot. Boubacar Sanogo scored for Hamburg in the final minute.

"It was an important result, and the performance was hard to judge after they had the goalkeeper sent off," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said.

In other games, Steaua Bucharest won 4-1 at Dynamo Kiev in Group E, Benfica tied 0-0 at Copenhagen in Group F, CSKA tied 0-0 at Porto in Group G and Lille tied 1-1 at Anderlecht in Group H.