UEFA Champions League Tuesday: Barcelona Cruises, Inter Milan and Manchester United Stumble

Spain shined bright on Tuesday, the first day of Champions League group play, as the Primera Division’s two representatives posted four goal wins to move to the top of groups C and D. Group A saw two 2-2 draws while the favorites of Group B cruised to home victories.

Almost predictably, the star of the day was Lionel Messi, who responded two minutes after Panathinaikos’s opening goal, tying the match at the Nou Camp on his way to a two goal, two assist day. Barcelona would go on to a 5-1 victory, getting goals from David Villa (the only one in which Messi was not involved), Pedro and Dani Alves.

Either hercules is very good or Barcelona had an off day on Saturday, when the recently promoted Spanish side beat the league’s defending champions, 2-0. Today, Barcelona got back on track against the Greek champions, Panathinaikos, finishing their route with a goal from Daniel Alves.

The Brazilian right back’s stoppage time tally made it 5-1, the Brazilian heading home a ball from Lionel Messi.

Barcelona has turned their match with Panathinaikos into a route. After giving up the first goal to Sidney Govou, the defending Spanish champions have scored four in a row, the last coming in the 78th minute, through Pedro Rodriguez.

The Spanish international had an easy finish after Lionel Messi, who has two goals from his own, rolled a ball under goalkeeper Alexandros Tzorvas , giving Pedro an empty-net finish.

A match that looked destined to finish scoreless has seen Copenhagen take a late lead on Russian champions Rubin Kazan, 1-0 in Denmark.

Dame N’Doye has headed the hosts in front just minutes before full-time, putting the Danes on course for a mild surprise on the first day of group play.

Manchester United right wing Antonio Valencia has been stretched-off at Old Trafford, receiving oxygen after suffering an apparent ankle injury in the second half of the club’s match with Rangers.

Ryan Giggs came on in the 63rd minute, replacing the Ecuadorian as the teams remain scoreless into the final minutes.

it has turned into an embarrassing Champions League debit for Bursaspor, the Turkish champions now down four goals to visiting Valencia.

Three minutes after being subbed-on, Roberto Soldado finished a counter attack, giving the visiting Che a 4-0 lead.

As Manchester United stumbles at Old Trafford (currently drawn 0-0 with Rangers), Valencia continues their impressive showing in Turkey, staking a Pablo Hernández goal to a 3-0 lead over the Turkish champions, begging the question of whether a group thought to be easy for United will prove to be more of a challenge.

The Spanish lead leaders put their match away when Hernández scored in the 68th minute, keeping Valencia on-track to continue a perfect start to their season.

Marko Marin took a ball 35 yards out, close distance to the edge of the box and let a shot go, his bouncing ball beating Carlo Cudicini near post to bring the hosts even with Spurs, 2-2.

The goal happened three minutes into the second half, with a ball heaved from Werder’s backline coming true after Marin created his own goal.

Tottenham dominated the first half in Bremen, but a late goal from Hugo Almeida has pulled Werder back into the match, sending the teams to halftime with a 2-1 Spurs lead.

Werder’s goal came as Wesley swung a ball into the box for the Portuguese striker, the veteran running onto the ball, heading down and past Carlo Cudicini for the goal.

Lionel Messi’s second goal of the half has finished turning-around a scary start for Barcelona, giving the hosts a 3-1 lead going into halftime against Panathinaikos.

The Argentine’s second goal comes from a typical Barcelona movement, with quick passes exchanged between him, Sergio Busquets and Pedro leading to the goal.

Another new Valencia player, striker Artiz Aduriz, doubled the lead Los Che got through Tino Costa, giving the Spanish club an impressive 2-0 win at halftime at Bursaspor.

Costa was at the heart of Valencia’s second goal. After scoring from distance to get Valencia on the scoresheet, Costa put a direct kick off the woodwork, setting up Aduriz for an easy finish, making it 2-0.

Samuel Eto’o, combined with Goran Pandev, has pulled Inter Milan even, burying a right-footed drive past Nikolay Mihaylov, evening the match with Twente, 2-2.

Eto’o’s goal comes moments after fellow attacker Diego Milito had given Twente the lead, heading Theo Janssen’s corner kick into his own net.

Xavi Hernandez’s corner kick was played-on by Sergio Busquest, giving David Villa the opportunity for his for European goal for the Blaugrana. The former Valencia man’s tally puts the Spanish champions up 2-1, turning around Panathinaikos’s early lead.

Diego Milito has headed home Theo Janssen’s corner, though with those players dressing for different sides, that means Inter Milan is down 2-1 to Dutch champions Twente.

Milito scores the second won goal of the day, with Petri Pasanen put his Werder Bremen team down 1-0 to Tottenham.

Barcelona and Greek champions Panathinaikos are drawn at one half-way through the first half at Camp Nou, with Lionel Messi’s 22nd minute goal equalizing an early, surprise tally from Sidney Govou.

The former Lyon attacker blasted a lay-off from Djibril Cisse, giving Pana a 1-0 lead at 20 minutes. Two minutes later, Xavi Hernandez split the Panathinaikos defense, put Messi alone on Alexandros Tzorvas, allowing the Argentine to chip Barcelona even.

Making his first appearance in Europe, Tino Costa has made a memorable debut, scoring from an estimated 35 yards out to give Valencia a 1-0 lead at Bursaspor.

The 25-year-old Argentine moved to the Mestalla this summer from Montpelier. Today’s tally was his first for his new team.

Central defender Luisao, Benfica’s captain, has given the home team the lead at the Estadio da Luz, heading home a Carlos Martin ball from the right flank to beat Vincent Enyeama, giving Benfica a 1-0 lead.

Hapoel Tel Aviv was one of the day’s bigger underdogs and could only manage 21 scoreless minutes before capitulating.

Brazilian Michel Bastos was an injury doubt ahead of Lyon’s match against visiting Schalke, but Claude Puel’s decision to include the attacker has paid-off in the 21st minute. Bastos took advantage of a weak clearance from Christoph Moritz to barely get a shot past Manuel Neuer and over the goal line for the opening score.

After a strong start from Twente, Inter got on the scoresheet early through Wesley Sneijder, but the home team quickly responded in the 20th minute – seven minutes later – when Theo Janssen curled in a direct kick to equalize.

For Internazionale, this is the first match of their title defense, having won this competition last year.

Five minutes after an own goal put Werder Bremen down early, Tottenham Hotspur striker Peter Crouch headed Spurs’ second goal home, scoring from the middle of the penalty area off a ball from the left, giving the visitors a 2-0 lead.

Spurs fell behind early in their road, play-off match at Young Boys of Bern but have turned the tables against Werder, who are missing both of their regular center backs, Per Mertseacker and Naldo.

A Gareth Bale cross from the left of Werder Bremen’s penalty area was put into the Werder net by defender Petri Pasanen, giving visiting Spurs an early 1-0 lead on their hosts.

Bale scuffed a left-footed attempt across the six, with a lunging Pasanen ebating Tim Wiese for the own goal.