United fight back while Madrid crush Marseille

HAMBURG - Manchester United came from a goal down at home to beat VfL Wolfsburg 2-1 in the Champions League while Real Madrid continued their strong start to the season with a comfortable win against Marseille.

Ryan Giggs and Michael Carrich were the heroes for United Wednesday while World Footballer of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo netted a brace for Real in their 3-0 win.

In other action, a Nicolas Anelka goal was enough to maintain Chelsea’s perfect start to the group phase but AC Milan were stunned at home by Swiss side FC Zurich.

United struggled for long periods against Wolfsburg in their Group B encounter at Old Trafford and also had to make an early change when England international Michael Owen went off injured in front of national manager Fabio Capello to be replaced by Dimitar Berbatov.

The substitution at least added more fluency to a stuttering United first-half performance with the Bulgarian putting Carrick clear in front of goal but the midfielder’s effort was well saved by Diego Benaglio in the Wolfsburg goal.

The German champions almost took the lead themselves immediately after the restart but Ricardo Costa blasted over while Anderson’s firmly struck shot in the 54th minute was well turned away by Benaglio.

Instead Wolfsburg found themselves in front shortly afterwards when Edin Dzeko rose above Patrice Evra to head a Makoto Hasebe cross past Tomasz Kuszcsak.

Wolfsburg’s leaded lasted just three minutes, however, when a Giggs free-kick took a wicked deflection past Benaglio.

United pushed on relentlessly in search of a winner and Carrick eventually made it 2-1 for the home side 12 minutes from time with a curling shot from the edge of the area.

“It’s a pity my goal wasn’t enough,” said Dzeko afterwards.

The victory sees United top their group with six points, three clear of Wolfsburg and CSKA Moscow, who beat Besiktas 2-1 thanks to goals in each half from Alan Dzagoev and Milos Kraskic.

Meanwhile in an entertaining Group A encounter at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena, the German giants and Juventus played out a scoreless draw.

“We created a lot of 100-percent chances but didn’t used them which is disappointing,” said Bayern coach Louis van Gaal.

Franck Ribery nearly put the home side in front after 19 minutes when the France international ghosted past two defenders but his subsequent chip over the advancing Gianluigi Buffon also cleared the crossbar.

Juve also had their chances in the first half and Bayern goalkeeper Hans-Joerg Butt had to be at his best on 33 minutes to save a shot by Mauro Camoranesi.

Bayern should have gone ahead on the hour-mark but Miroslav Klose failed to convert a Ribery cross from the left, leaving Munich on four points, level with Bordeaux, 1-0 winners against Maccabi Haifa thanks to a late goal from Michael Ciani.

Real Madrid top Group C with six points after building on their opening 5-2 hammering of Zurich with a 3-0 demolition of Marseille courtesy of three goals in six frantic second-half minutes.

Ronaldo opened the scoring on 58 minutes, capitalising on an error from Marseille goalkeeper Steve Mandanda, and the Portuguese international won a penalty three minutes later, which was converted by Kaka.

Ronaldo got his second of the game on 64 minutes to put the game beyond Marseille and maintain Real’s strong start to the season under Manuel Pellegrini.

Zurich bounced back from their drubbing against Real with a shock 1-0 win at AC Milan, the only goal of the game coming from a Hannu Tihinen backheel after just 10 minutes. The win sees Zurich draw level with their illustrious Italian rivals on three points.

Chelsea sit top of Group D with a maximum six points after a 1-0 victory away to Cypriot side APOEL Nicosia, thanks to Anelka’s superb first-half strike, followed by Porto on three points after late goals from Falcao and Rolando ensured a 2-0 win against Atletico Madrid.