Madrid delight as Arsenal, Bayern and Chelsea soar

Real Madrid CF made a lightning start against AC Milan to earn a 2-0 victory on a night when they, FC Bayern München, Arsenal FC and Chelsea FC all secured their third UEFA Champions League group stage wins of the season.

Madrid led Milan by two points in Group G at kick-off and within seconds of Cristiano Ronaldo's 13th-minute free-kick putting the home side ahead, Mesut Özil's deflected show doubled their lead. Milan have now been joined on four points by AFC Ajax, who handed AJ Auxerre a third defeat, 2-1 in Amsterdam.

Last season's runners-up Bayern have opened up a six-point lead in Group E with a 3-2 triumph at home to CFR 1907 Cluj, coming from behind thanks to two own goals in the space of five first-half minutes. FC Basel 1893 secured an impressive 3-1 victory at AS Roma to join the Giallorossi and CFR on three points.

In the other two groups, teams on six points were pitted against each other and in both cases victory went to London clubs. In the early game, former PFC CSKA Moskva player Yuri Zhirkov picked a good day to open his Chelsea account in a 2-0 win at FC Spartak Moskva, now only three points ahead of Olympique de Marseille in Group F after their 1-0 defeat of MŠK Žilina.

Arsenal are clear at the top of Group H after easing to a 5-1 victory against FC Shakhtar Donetsk, taking their goal tally to an precedented 14 from three games. SC Braga are within three points of Shakhtar after ending their wait for a maiden group win, beating FK Partizan 2-0. Partizan will have a chance for revenge on 3 November when all these fixtures are reversed while on Wednesday, Olympique Lyonnais and FC København will themselves aim for a third win.