Pato Leads Milan to Milestone Champions League Win over Madrid

By Adeleke Afolayan
Half a century after their first meeting, AC Milan picked up a dramatic 3-2 win over Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu with Brazilian ace Alexandre Pato scoring a brace in the entertaining encounter.

In the 11th match-up of two sides with the most Champions League wins at 16 triumphs, Raul put Real in front early on courtesy of some dreadful goalkeeping from Dida in the Milan goal.

The Brazilian keeper however made some amends with a series of fine saves as Real looked to wrap up the encounter in the first half before Milan got back into the game with a long range effort from Andrea Pirlo and a gift of a goal for Pato three minutes apart just after the hour mark.

Dutch defender Royston Drenthe however got Real level soon after before a dramatic last five minutes saw a legitimate Thiago Silva goal ruled out only for Pato to seal the win for Milan moments after.

The win lifts Milan to the top of Group C with six points ahead of Real with six as well while Marseille and FC Zurich follow with three points after a lone Gabriel Heinze goal gave Marseille its first win of the group stages.

Other matches saw Chelsea romp to a 4-0 demolition of Atletico Madrid with Salomon Kalou scoring a brace and Frank Lampard becoming the Blues' all time leading scorer with the third on the night.

Juventus meanwhile got a first European win in seven attempts in a 1-0 win over Maccabi Haifa while Bordeaux boosted its chances of reaching the next round; and denting Bayern Munich's, with a comeback 2-1 win with Bordeaux's Ciani scoring for both sides and Bayern finishing with nine men.

Manchester United also edged closer to the knock-out stages with a first win in six attempts over a Russian club in that country courtesy of Antonio Valencia's late effort off some neat team work involving Nani and Dimitar Berbatov. The result leaves the Red Devils a win away from qualification after Wolfsburg drew goalless at home to Turkish side Besiktas.