While Chelsea had things their own way in the 4-0 win over French club Bordeaux, Liverpool were forced to come from behind to down Marseille 2-1.

Steven Gerrard played a captain's role, scoring twice for the Merseysiders at the Stade Velodrome.

Marseille had taken the lead early on through skipper Lorik Cana, but Gerrard - already Liverpool's record scorer in Europe - grabbed a fine equaliser with an outstanding 25-yard curler.

Then six minutes later he cracked home a twice-taken penalty to give Liverpool something to hang on to.

And they needed to fight hard as the French side battled bravely in the second period, but Liverpool clinched the victory with a defiant rearguard action.

Headers from Frank Lampard and Joe Cole set Chelsea on its way as it cruised past Bordeaux to earn manager Luiz Felipe Scolari his first Champions League win.

Failure in Europe's elite competition has signalled the end for the previous three Chelsea bosses but there were no scares for Scolari at Stamford Bridge, whose debut in the competition was straightforward after the hosts established a lead.

Florent Malouda and Nicolas Anelka added late goals to give a fair reflection to the scoreline.

Barcelona recorded a 3-1 victory over Iberian neighbours Sporting Lisbon at the Nou Camp on Tuesday.

Goals from Rafael Marquez and Samuel Eto'o had put Barca in control, and although Sporting threatened to put the cat among the pigeons by pulling a goal back through Antonio Tonel, Xavi's late strike ended any chance of shock comeback.

Internazionale started their quest for Champions League glory with a fortunate 2-0 win at Panathinaikos.

Jose Mourinho's side went ahead through a Mancini goal in the 27th minute, but was forced to defend for the remaining hour as the home side searched in vain for an equaliser.

Adriano then sealed the win in the 85th minute with his first touch of the game to give Inter all three points on a difficult night in the Greek capital.

Werder Bremen failed to break their opening-day Champions League jinx as they were held to a goalless draw by Group B rivals Anorthosis Famagusta.

Last year's Bundesliga runner-up spurned chance after chance at the Weser Stadion as the Cypriots, making their debut appearance in the group stage, clung on for a desperate point.

Bremen striker Claudio Pizarro was the culprit in chief as he missed a hat-trick of presentable first-half chances as the home side failed to win on matchday one for the fifth consecutive year.

A Sergio Aguero brace helped Atletico Madrid hit the ground running as a terrific performance from the Argentina midfielder saw his side rip apart PSV Eindhoven 3-0.

Aguero gave the Spanish team the best possible start in the ninth minute and doubled his tally towards the end of the first half before Nuno Maniche killed the game off nine minutes after the break.

The only bad news for the Spanish team came on the half-hour mark when Diego Forlan limped off with a hamstring injury.

Two moments of Brazilian magic secured Shakhtar Donetsk a deserved 2-1 victory in its Group C match against Basle.

Fernandinho set the ball rolling for the Ukrainian champions with a stunning free-kick after 25 minutes while fellow Brazilian Jadson doubled the advantage on the stroke of half-time.

Despite being outclassed for much of the match, Christian Gross' Basle side enjoyed good support from the St Jakob-Park faithful throughout and repaid their fans for their loyalty with a late consolation strike by David Abraham.

And Romanian side CFR 1907 Cluj, in their Champions League debut, toppled AS Roma 2-1 thanks to goals from Juan Culio.

After conceding the opener to Christian Panucci, Culio equalised on 27 minutes then found the winner four minutes after the restart.