BARCELONA, Sept 13, (RTRS): Thiago Silva powered home a header in the second minute of stoppage time to snatch a 2-2 draw for AC Milan at holders Barcelona in the heavyweight pair’s Group H opener on Tuesday.
A sultry Nou Camp was stunned into near-silence after only 24 seconds when Alexandre Pato left the Barca defence for dead and beat goalkeeper Victor Valdes, the fifth-fastest goal in Europe’s elite club competition, according to Opta.
However, World Player of the Year Lionel Messi, Champions League top scorer the past three seasons, created an equaliser for Pedro in the 36th minute with a brilliant weaving run and cross and David Villa netted a superb long-range freekick five minutes after the break.
A dominant Barca were apparently cruising towards victory when Brazil defender Silva leaped above the home defence and crashed a 92nd-minute header past Valdes.

Barca fullback Daniel Alves told Spanish television: “When they score an equaliser in the last minute you are left looking a bit stupid. We have to pick ourselves up and keep working.”
With captain Carles Puyol only just declared fit after knee surgery and his partner in central defence Gerard Pique sidelined, Barca coach Pep Guardiola deployed midfielders Sergio Busquets and Javier Mascherano at the back.
The decision immediately appeared to have backfired when pacy Brazil striker Pato picked the ball up near the halfway line, played it into a huge space behind the defence and raced clear to score.
Straightaway Barca created a slew of chances for an equaliser before Messi, after striking a curling freekick against the post, once again came to the rescue.
The Argentine forward danced through the Milan defence to the byline and squared for Pedro to rifle home with goalkeeper Christian Abbiati stranded.
Barca had recovered their customary domination of possession and a goal had long been coming when Villa stepped up to crack the ball into the top corner from 30 metres.

Chelsea 2, Leverkusen 0
In London, Centreback David Luiz was the unlikely first scorer while Juan Mata added the second with the last kick of the game as Chelsea began their Champions League Group E campaign with a flattering 2-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen at Stamford Bridge.
The curly-topped 24-year-old Brazilian Luiz curled the ball around the German defence and into the far corner of the net after a superb 67th minute build-up involving Ashley Cole and Fernando Torres to put Chelsea on the road to a hard-fought victory in a tough group opener.
Mata made it 2-0 in the third minute of stoppage time.
A minute before Luiz scored, Leverkusen almost took the lead when former Chelsea favourite Michael Ballack advanced on goal with only Petr Cech to beat, but the Czech keeper blocked his former team mate’s shot.
Both teams had the ball in the net inside the opening four minutes, but both goals were disallowed by the officials.
Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas, in charge of his first Champions League match, left veterans John Terry and Frank Lampard out of the starting lineup, and his gamble paid off as a youthful looking Chelsea team picked up three valuable points.
Leverkusen thought they had taken the lead after three minutes when Simon Rolfes headed home but French referee Stephane Lannoy ruled Leverkusen’s players guilty of pushing from the free-kick that led to the disallowed effort.

Television replays failed to show any clear infringements however.
Less than a minute later Chelsea thought they had scored when Torres flicked the ball into the net but Raul Mereiles, who attempted to backheel the ball home, was ruled offside and the goal ruled out.
Torres, who had only scored once for Chelsea in 22 previous matches since his record 50.0 million pounds move from Liverpool in January, worked tirelessly in attack alongside the impressive Daniel Sturridge and went close to scoring with an acrobatic overhead kick in the first half which went just over the bar.
Although he failed to score, he played an important part in both goals and while his manager did not praise him individually afterwards, he did praise his team’s performance.
“It was a difficult game for us but it was a fair result with Chelsea winning. There was excellent work from everybody, an excellent effort, tremendous amount of workrate and possession and shots on goal and I am very happy with everybody,” he told Sky Sports afterwards.

Marseille 1, Olympiakos 0
In Athens, Lucho Gonzalez scored the only goal of the game as Marseille put their domestic troubles aside to claim a hard-fought 1-0 win over Olympiakos Piraeus in their Champions League Group F opener on Tuesday.
Gonzalez converted Jeremy Morel’s low cross from the right just after half-time following a closely-contested opening 45 minutes with few scoring chances at the Georgios Karaiskakis stadium.
His strike proved enough to seal all three points for Didier Deschamps’s team as Olympiakos failed to rally in their first competitive outing of the season.
The hosts’ lone striker Kevin Mirallas had the first clear opportunity to score, in the 21st minute, but the Belgian side-footed his effort wide of the post.
Lacking penetration for much of the opening half, Marseille were reduced to trying their luck from a distance through Jeremy Morel and Benoit Cheyrou.
The pair combined in the 35th minute to create the visitors’ best opening, however, when Cheyrou headed Morel’s cross narrowly over Franco Costanzo’s crossbar.
Loic Remy almost opened the scoring for Marseille two minutes later but his shot cannoned off the right post.
Marseille went in front six minutes into the second half when Gonzalez tapped home at the near post from Morel’s superb right-wing cross.

Dortmund 1, Arsenal 1
In Dortmund, Germany, Substitute Ivan Perisic volleyed in two minutes from time to hand Borussia Dortmund a deserved 1-1 draw against Arsenal in their Champions League Group F opener on Tuesday.
Arsenal looked to be cruising to an unexpected victory after taking a first-half lead through captain Robin van Persie but Perisic thundered in to rescue a draw.
The English club had to endure a barrage of attacks and were lucky not to concede a goal before captain Van Persie struck on 42 minutes, firing in after a defensive blunder by Dortmund captain Sebastian Kehl.
The hosts, 1997 Champions League winners and making their first appearance in Europe’s premier competition in eight years, got off to a flying start in front of 65,000 fans but looked to have been punished for a string of missed chances before Perisic’s equaliser.
With Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger watching the frantic start from the stands due to a suspension, each team missed a glorious early chance. The London side’s Gervinho sneaked into the box but failed to chip the ball over keeper Roman Weidenfeller and in the ensuing quick break Kevin Grosskreutz fired over the bar.

Arsenal made defensive errors and minutes later Shinji Kagawa broke the offside trap but failed to hit the target from 16 metres out.
Dortmund teenager Mario Goetze, who was reportedly an Arsenal target during the transfer window, sent Robert Lewandowski through with a beautiful pass as the hosts blasted through the Londoners’ defence yet again but the Pole’s effort was cleared on the line.
The visitors, who lacked any real offensive momentum, struck against the run of play when Van Persie intercepted a pass from Kehl and Theo Walcott sent the Dutchman through to fire in the winner.
Dortmund desperately searched for an equaliser in the second half and got it when Perisic struck two minutes from the end to rescue a draw.

Porto 2, Shakhtar 1
In Porto, Portugal, Goals by Brazilian forwards Hulk and Kleber allowed Europa League winners Porto to come from behind and post a 2-1 win against a nine-man Shakhtar Donetsk in a lively Champions League Group G openery.
The Ukrainians started confidently and were ahead on 12 minutes when striker Luiz Adriano pounced on a loose ball after a fumble by keeper Helton, but Hulk levelled the match in the 28th minute with a swerving, thunderous free kick from 40 yards that Oleksandr Rybka touched but could not halt.
Shakhtar were reduced to 10 men when Yaroslav Rakitskiy was dismissed in the 40th minute for a fierce tackle on Joao Moutinho. Porto piled on the misery when winger James Rodriguez made a great run on the left to set up striker Kleber for an easy tap-in six minutes after the break.
The Portuguese champions pushed forward for a third and came close with a dipping free kick from Rodriguez that hit the bar after a foul on substitute winger Djalma which also earned defender Dmytro Chygrynskiy a red card in the 80th minute.

Borisov 1, Plzen 1
In Prague, BATE Borisov denied Viktoria Plzen victory in their first ever Champions League group stage game when a second-half goal from Renan Bressan secured a 1-1 draw in their Group H opener.
Forward Marek Bakos put the Czech champions, who won six out of six in the three qualifying rounds they played, ahead a few seconds before halftime from close range after a perfect cross-pass from the left side by Petr Jiracek.
Plzen exerted early pressure but Borisov’s defence rarely let them near a sight of goal while the Belarussian side wasted opportunities of their own.
“I am disppointed now right after the match but it probably was a deserved draw,” said Plzen skipper and playmaker Pavel Horvath. “(But) I have said I would be happy with every point from the Champions league.
“We had some shooting positions that we should have resolved better, be more productive... maybe we made a few errors in passing that we normally don’t do.”
BATE striker Mateja Kezman, the most experienced man on the pitch who has played for a string of European teams including Chelsea, shot into the side netting on the half hour and had a goal ruled out for offside 15 minutes into the second half.

APOEL 2, Zenit 1
In Nicosia, ywo goals in three minutes by Gustavo Manduca and Ailton allowed APOEL Nicosia to snatch a 2-1 win over Zenit St Petersburg in their opening Champions League Group G match.
Konstantin Zyryanov fired Zenit ahead against the run of play in the 63rd minute with a low shot but the Russians were in front for just 10 minutes.
APOEL swiftly rebounded when Manduca levelled after a scramble and Ailton sparked wild celebrations among the 18,000 APOEL fans by finding the net just minutes later.
Zenit’s Bruno Alves was sent off in the 76th minute but the home side failed to make their advantage count.

Genk 0, Valencia 0
In Genk, Belgium, Belgium’s Racing Genk held out for a 0-0 draw against a largely dominant Valencia in their opening Champions League Group E match.
The Spanish side, who have won their first two La Liga matches, had the bulk of possession and pressure and hit the bar midway through the second half, although it was far from purely one-way traffic.
Valencia’s Daniel Parejo in the centre and more right-sided Roberto Soldado caused Genk’s defence some difficulties, notably when the former forced keeper Laszlo Koteles into a reflex save from Soldado’s cross in the 59th minute.
Valencia’s Adil Rami also hit the bar in the 72nd minute with an overhead kick.
Genk, whose coach Mario Been arrived at the club just two weeks ago, defended capably and threatened more in the second half. Defender Jeroen Simaeys forced a good save from Valencia keeper Diego Alves six minutes from time.

The result, with a first point, drew a huge cheer from the capacity home crowd, who spent the minutes after the match jumping up and down in time with music.
Genk’s Simaeys was similarly upbeat.
“They had more possession than us... they have fantastic players. It was not easy... I am happy with our defensive performance today and I’m pleased with the 0-0,” he said.
Been said he too was pleased with the 11-man effort and the opening of Genk’s account.
“This is something you can be proud of — if you can get a result like this against a top team such as Valencia... We had our chances, they theirs. It was an open match. We are happy with this nice point.”
“I’ve seen a very good Genk side, that dared to play and that gave little away.”
The Belgian champions, now just mid-table in the league, remain without a win in the Champions League. Genk failed to win in their only previous Champions League appearances nine seasons ago and only managed one home goal — albeit in a 1-1 draw with Real Madrid — finishing bottom of their group.